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The age old question -- to cover cheerleading or not?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by bigpern23, Jan 8, 2008.

  1. Cadet

    Cadet Guest

    Don't get me started on cheerleading! ;)
     
  2. jlee

    jlee Well-Known Member

    As a teen, my school district recognized pretty much every outside activity as a "sport" to give kids in those activities a waiver out of gym class. So I'd never take a government's label seriously as to what is a sport.
     
  3. KYSportsWriter

    KYSportsWriter Well-Known Member

    I knew there was a reason i liked cadet.
     
  4. Cadet

    Cadet Guest

    I realize that not every kid is going to be a sports star, and that different kids need different opportunities to excel. I'm not against the concept of cheerleading/dance programs, or promoting school spirit, but I am against the ones that seem to cater to boys sports, that gyrate to songs that would make my grandma blush all while wearing ever-skimpier outfits. I realize those are exactly the reasons why many male sportswriters like cheerleaders, but as a woman and a feminist I don't like what cheerleading stands for.

    And as a sportswriter, there is no way in hell cheerleading should get precious space in the sports section.
     
  5. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    It is an athletic activity, like dance.
    Not only no, but hell no.
     
  6. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Nooo... in the sports section. But if your paper has a community-news page where they run submitted photos from charity golf tourneys, Kiwanis events, etc., put cheerleading results and photos there. That gets it into print and subsequently every cheerleading mom's scrapbook, and if that's not enough, well, pshaw.
     
  7. JBHawkEye

    JBHawkEye Well-Known Member

    Somehow, every year the state competiton results end up in the sports dept. e-mail. And every year I forward them to the education editor and they end up on the school page with all of the other non-sport honors.
     
  8. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    A lot of state associations sanction cheerleading, debate, forensics, quiz bowl, etc. Some sanction student government also. Those are all activities that are that don't belong in the sports section.
     
  9. Cansportschick

    Cansportschick Active Member

    bigpern, I have covered cheerleading for a few years for my publication. However, we did not focus on one team per say but the all the teams and the league in general. The only times we have covered team exclusive stuff has been profiles of cheerleading stars. Also, we did a major story on judging cheerleading because a lot of readers wanted to know what criteria teams are judged on in competitions.

    Now there are a lot more males partaking in cheerleading in the high school divisions in my area.

    Cheerleading involves a lot of stunts, jumps, dance, pyramids and choreography. You could kind of relate cheerleading to figure skating. Teams are marked down for safety violations such as falls from stunts, time limit errors or if there is excessive spotting (even more deductions if one spotter is not properly watching their top, or if after a stunt fall a cheerleader touched the floor). In the choreography judging, there are nine areas that teams must satisfy in competitions. Another thing judges looks for in cheerleading is proper technique and body positions of bases and tops. Execution of stunts is important and is scutinized closely by the judging panel.

    The most common mistake is sloppy motions. However, a judge told me that teams shouldn't just look to solely work on the big stunts, but work on the little things.

    So why am I saying all of this. Cheerleading is a sport and the amount of practice, training and coniditioning time each member of a squad puts in is comparable to a player in any other sport. The teams that I cover in my area have hired Nubody's fitness trainers to help with conditioning. Cheerleaders, both male and female, take this sport seriously. I know I asked several coaches about any stigmas that are attached to the "sport" and the one thing they said without a doubt was that "cheerleading is not considered a sport". Also, I talked to many cheerleaders (males and females) who were fustrated with that stigma attached to it and they are trying to refute it through preformance in this sport.

    Personally, I didn't think cheerleading was a sport until I started covering it. Now my mind has changed. I know that many people think that cheerleading is solely for school spirit. Luckily high schools in my area have spirit squads for that, while cheerleading is separate from that and it is sanctioned as a sport in the high school sport governing body.

    My publishing boss commissioned someone to do a survey of what readers wanted to see. A major qualm was that readers were getting tired of seeing the same old sports covered and the negative aspects covered. However, our publication is trying to make a profit. So coverage of the mainstream sports has to continue (hockey, soccer, basketball). However, each issue, we do try to focus on a non-mainstream one and so yearly, one issue is about cheerleading.

    Mind you, as I am commenting on this, I understand that in each posters' area cheerleading stands for different things or as a nonsport.

    bigpern, my thought is that you shouldn't cut down on the coverage of the mainstream sports, but in the interest of attracting/keeping readers you may want to consider covering a bit of cheerleading. You may want to do a story on whether cheerleading is a sport, the judging aspect or what goes into cheerleading training. We also did a story on a rookie just starting the sport of cheerleading without any previous training and talked about her experiences positive and negative and also the challenges she faced.

    Cadet, I too am a feminist (based on my previous degree concentration partly on gender studies) but I don't agree with your take on it, especially with what you think it stands for and I offer that the reason I disagree with you is that my coverage of the sport has not revolved around cheerleading is a sexist, demeaning form of "activity" for young women, nor has it revolved around it catering to boys sports (which might I add, it doesn't here as spirit group does that) As I said before, young men are taking part in the sport too.

    Maybe we need more sports journalists and publications who are more objective to cheerleading...And don't cover the negative, sexist aspects of it. I know that the attitudes of cheerleading are predominately negative and it will never probably change, but more objectivity is needed here because kids that are in the sport truly put out their blood, sweat and tears in this sport.
     
  10. Idaho

    Idaho Active Member

    My standard answer:

    As soon as basketball games break out at halftime of a cheerleading competition, cheerleading is not a sport. It is a physically demanding activity designed specifically to support sports, not become one of them.
     
  11. 2underpar

    2underpar Active Member

    cheerleading stars? I'm humored by this term.
    Sally Sweater made first-team all-state cartwheeler?
     
  12. almost two full pages in to this and no sign of the shocker girl?

    Damn, this place is slipping.
     
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