This article discusses all of
the positive aspects of cheer and why it is that it should be considered an official sport. |
When asked to name a sport, most people would say football, basketball, or perhaps soccer. What most people may not realize is that cheerleading is just as much a sport as any other and is labeled the most dangerous women’s sport by news stations across the country. While this may be true there are also very beneficial reasons to participate in it.
Cheerleading isn’t all bad in fact it can actually be really good for you. Cheerleading consists of many factors that can benefit you in a variety of ways, like your health and wellbeing. Cheerleading allows you to improve your flexibility and balance and is a good way to increase cardiovascular activity, keeps your weight down, and builds muscle (Livestrong.com), (Healthline.com). With all of the tumbling, dancing, stunts, and jumps build your cardio up over time. While the routines cheerleaders perform are only 2 minutes and 30 seconds, a buildup of practices everyday will increase your cardiovascular endurance (Healthline.com).With all of the cardio based activities, cheerleaders run a lower risk of obtaining a heat and lung related medical condition later on (Livestong.com). The stretches that are done at cheer practices to help with stunting, tumbling, jumps, or even splits all help to improve flexibility (Healthline.com). with the cardiovascular activities required for cheer, cheerleader are able to easily maintain a healthy body weight and prevent diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, or even some cancers (Livestrong.com). Even building your muscle has a list of benefits. Lower body, shoulder, and core muscles are almost crucial to do cheerleading (Healthline.com). With all of the stunting, tumbling, and jumping you can gain quite a bit of muscle and even prevent arthritis and osteoporosis. By building muscles, you can reduce you muscle pain and make everyday activities much easier (Livestong.com). Cheerleading teaches athletes traits, such as sportsmanship and trust, and allows the student athletes to show their school spirit. Cheerleading gives kids and teenagers a chance to be a leader and teach them leadership qualities for their team. It also gives them a chance to improve their communication skills while working with their team: and yes cheerleading is very much a team sport. The entire team must cooperate, work together, and trust each other in order to have a successful season (Healthline.com). Teenagers associated with cheerleading tend to have better behavior. As shown in a test 92% or high school athletes avoid the use of drugs. Cheerleaders tend to also have better time management, leading to better grades in school, and better sleep patterns than most high schoolers today (Livestrong.com). Since cheerleading is such a social sport, it almost forces teenagers to improve their social skills, make more friends, and gain peer support (Livestrong.com). Cheerleaders are responsible for the crowd’s response to the event. Depending on how well the team is able to do this that can help lead their team to victory. If they are well and can get the crowd to respond back, they can make the difference between bad or good sportsmanship (Go.Grolier.com). A girl that is a cheerleader normally has a high self-esteem or is able to gain one by doing cheerleading. The image of the cheer team/ cheerleader would make the girls feel better about themselves with the makeup and perfect hair that they must wear for games or competitions. Cheerleaders are dressed in their colorful uniforms with their pompoms and megaphones with their big bow to try and gain a crowds attention (Go.Grolier.com). A stereotypical cheerleader is blonde, beautiful, tan, flexible, popular, and overall perfect. By girls doing cheer they feel as is they are able to/ come close to obtaining these qualities (prezi.com). Many people forget that cheer is very much a sport and like most anything else, it has its pros and cons. Cheerleading is very pricey, may lead to bullying, and is very dangerous, but when it boils down to it there are so many other aspects to look at when deciding to participate in cheerleading. Cheer has many beneficial aspect to your health boosts your self-image and is a rich learning experience for your child future, providing him/ her with traits and other skills they can use for the rest of their lives. Whatever view you have on cheer couldn’t change the fact that it is a fun way to provide your child with exercise and the chance to reach out, make friends, and show off their school spirit. |