I think junior high school is perhaps the most awkward time in one’s life, where we tend to look back on things we said, thought, believed, and did that make us say, “WTF?” I have a number of those moments in junior high, not limited to the fact that I wore men’s black Dickies pants on the regular (it was my skater-girl phase).
Another phase was my sudden desire in seventh grade to try out for the school cheerleading team. Fitting in and wanting to be liked at that age were byproducts of a low self-esteem and just wanting friends. I remember telling my parents that I wanted to try out and, while they were supportive, I could tell they were surprised—after all, cheerleaders are supposed to be “peppy.” I was and am far from being a “peppy” person by nature. But alas, I went to the tryouts wanting to be a cheerleader.
When I got home that day, after the first day of tryouts, I knew cheerleading wasn’t for me. Not because I couldn’t smile, but because I couldn’t remember the steps of the dance we needed to know for tryouts. So cheerleading was off the list. Instead, I invested more time into becoming a softball player and cross country runner.
As I grew older, I began to wonder why I would ever want to be a cheerleader; I started playing into the myriad of stereotypes against cheerleaders: They’re all popular and mean, they’re dumb, they just smile all the time, and besides, cheerleading isn’t even a sport. But as corny as it may sound, I learned a valuable lesson the day my sister became a freshman varsity cheerleader.
Let me explain, my sister is the type of person who if you tell her she can’t do something, you can best believe she will give it her all to prove you wrong. While it can be frustrating, it is one of the things I admire most about her. I cannot tell you the amount of times my sister was told she would never be a cheerleader because of her looks, her feet (physical issue), or that she didn’t “seem like a cheerleader.” For four years and beyond, my sister proved everyone wrong.
My sister was a base for cheerleading, meaning she was one of the people who would help throw others into the air. My sister eventually became strong enough to throw one person in the air by herself. She would come home from practice and tell me how her coach had conditioned them that day and share the intense workouts she was doing. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Cheerleaders do that? Really?” Over a short amount of time and after a few heated arguments between a passionate cheerleader and steadfast softball player, I developed a lot of respect for my sister’s sport and shed the stereotypes I was carrying around. As a coach, I now understand even more the importance of having a respect for other sports.
And yes, I say sport. I bring all of this narrative up because you would think in this century we would have moved beyond our jaded 1950s perception of cheerleaders. But based on observations from recent conversations with other coaching figures (particularly male) that doesn’t seem to be the case. It appalls me that coaches (male or female) at any level still think this is an appropriate perception to have. No coach or authority figure has the right to demean or discount another sport. And again, yes, cheerleading is a sport; I’ll keep saying it until it sinks into people’s brains.
It seems as though cheerleading is still as disrespected as ever and I think fixing this problem will start with banning stereotypes. Following are the most common stereotypes associated with cheerleading and The Benchwarmer’s disbanding of those stereotypes. Let’s start with my favorite one first.
No. 1: “Cheerleading isn’t really a sport.” They don’t just show up and wave pretty pom-poms in the air. These teams run, condition, tumble, lift weights, and practice every day just like other teams. Also, in case you haven’t noticed, performing back flips and throwing people in the air isn’t easy and does indeed require athleticism. Again, if you are a cheerleading naysayer, I kindly invite you to throw someone up in the air, catch them without injuring them or yourself, and make it look good. I bet you can’t.
No. 2: “Cheerleaders are girly-girls/are popular.” No, cheerleaders are not always uber-girly and nor are they always popular. My sister can attest to this. Stereotypes plague sports, and they just aren’t true, like not all softball players are lesbians and football players aren’t all brainless jocks.
No. 3: “Cheerleading isn’t hard.” Oh? How nice of you to make that assumption. See No. 1 above and remember, cheerleaders are responsible for encouraging the morale and spirit of sports fans even when their team sucks. That takes practice and determination just like any other sport, maintaining composure in the face of challenge and adversity.
No. 4: “You have to be happy all the time to cheer.” I played into this stereotype the most. Do they have to smile a lot? Yes. Does that mean that cheerleaders like to smile all the time? No. They’re human too and no one smiles all the damn time.
No. 5: “All male cheerleaders are gay.” Say what? Where do people come up with that, honestly? No, they are in fact not all gay, and even if they were I don’t see how it matters. They still run, tumble, and stunt and can hold girls up with one arm. That requires athleticism and practice; sexual orientation has nothing to do with it.
No. 6: “It’s not a huge time commitment.” Wrong. Again, cheerleaders practice five days a week plus attend all sporting events (at most schools), not to mention many cheerleaders play on competitive teams year round as well. They practice and perfect their game just as much as any other sport.
No. 7: “The uniforms are ‘skanky.'” I never understood it either until someone explained it is purely for matters of safety. With stunts and flips, the risk of a uniform-related injury is much greater. Fun fact: Cheerleading is the most dangerous sport for females, even more than soccer (which usually has the highest rate of head injuries). The tighter the uniform, the less risk of injury.
The bottom line is this: Cheerleading is unequivocally a sport. It requires the same time committment, practice, mental stamina, and physical endurance of any other sport. I think it’s disrespectful to the integrity of athletics to judge something as “not a sport” or less of a sport. Especially if it’s based off of skewed stereotypes and a lack of education about the sport itself.
The argument over cheerleading as a sport is passe and overdone. In my opinion, there is no longer an argument. Stop being rude, stop discounting other sports, and stop perpetuating the stereotypes. Cheerleading is a sport, and if you don’t like it, you may kindly teleport back to whatever primitive athletic century you came from.
But what do I know? I’m just a Benchwarmer who cheers on the cheerleaders.
Contributor Kristina Sewell can be reached through Managing Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 24-31, 2017.