2010: The Year Of "Is Cheerleading A Sport?"

There are many monumental occasions that I could remember to mark what was 2010 for me. I moved into a new condo, I watched BOTH of my brothers get married, and I attended 4 funerals of people and family members that I was incredibly close to. But on an a professional level, 2010 will also be remembered as "The Year of 'Is Cheerleading A Sport'."

Internally, we've always that discussion amongst friends. Athletes going home from practice, noting that the basketball team gets 'better locker rooms than we do' or how a teacher wouldn't excuse an absence for an all star cheerleading competition because 'it wasn't a school sport.'

Never before has that issue mattered, at least not legally, until the recent Connecticut court case. I won't go to the lengths of explaining that entire trial, except to note that the actual case at hand had nothing to do with all star cheerleading or what we as all star coaches, gym owners, event producers and athletes do during our well invested time with our teams. It had to do with Title IX standards and a specific squad's goal to be recognized by their university.

But to all of us, and to the media, it brought up a very legitimate issue. Is Cheerleading A Sport? There are a multitude of responses from the passionate "If what we're doing isn't a sport, then what's the point of even doing it?!!??" to "We aren't a sport yet, silly. We don't meet the proper criteria" to "Who cares if its a sport or not. It doesn't affect my life." Nobody's ever questioned whether or not cheerleading (and all-star cheerleading, more importantly) is athletic and cheerleaders are athletes.



Watch the video above and then I'd love for you to join the conversation below with your input: Is All Star Cheerleading A Sport? If so, why? And If not (and nobody will throw egg shells if you don't think so--I promise), why not? What technical elements of a legitimate sport do you think the current all star competition format is missing? What could we do as a community to earn the respect and legitimacy we want from society?

The best ideas are born by suggestions that are outside of the box. Well, take those outside the box ideas, and share them in our Join The Conversation Box below...