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

The most minor of sports that get nothing more than a paragraph or two in briefs at least started as sports. Cheerleading? It started as a way to support those who were playing sports. If Bobby Boucher starts organizing waterboy tournaments, does it become a sport? It might take agility and coordination and all that to quickly get water to the players without spilling any, and it might take strength to lift those big ol' Gatorade jugs. But sport? No. Just like cheerleading.

 

Where I used to live, bowling is a sanctioned sport, but they never covered a lick of it. It's not because they don't know about it. They just don't spend time covering something that's not widely considered a sport, and thus, isn't of that much importance to the readers.

Those who were truly interested in the cheerleading competition — moms, dads, grandmothers, whatever — will be there watching in person anyway.

 

I see your point IJAG and, honestly, that's why I'm struggling with whether to give it coverage/how much, etc., but the state association here also sanctions "Renaissance Games" which is a competition that includes athletics as well as academic pursuits. We don't cover the Renaissance Games and I'll never believe that it is a sport even though it is sanctioned. Also, I'm not even sure how seriously the state association is treating it considering it has no schedules or rosters posted for any team in the state on its web site (which includes schedules, rosters, standings and select stats for all sanctioned sports except ... wait for it ... Renaissance Games).

Cheerleading has a better argument for being considered a sport the Renaissance Games, but I think the comparison to bodybuilding is a valid one.

I could even see doing a feature about stuff like cheerleading or bodybuilding, but the dilemma I'm facing is that I know one article would never be enough.

The problem is assessing reader interest. Frankly, I'm not tech savvy enough to put up a poll on our web site. I think I have a pretty good idea of what interests our readers, but when something is new, it's always hard to tell. I'll probably start asking around to see if there's interest there, but I'm not sure how good of a sampling it would be.

Plus, hopefully, my buddy at the other paper will let me know what the meet is like and if it's something worth covering.

MM, I'm trying to remove my feelings on the nature of cheerleading as sport and make the call based on reader interest. That, however, is easier said than done, as I pointed out above, since I have no definitive way to determine that interest until I either A) ask people about it, C) see how many people show up to a meet, or 3) field phone calls from irate, yet strangely perky readers demanding coverage.

At this point, it looks like I'm going to skip the season opener and try to get a feel for it over the next week or two before making a decision.

 

One measure would be if anyone other than parents attends the competitions.

Another thing about cheerleading that is a problem -- is that high school and college teams win "national championships" all the time. There are dozens. Not sure how legit they are. I assume some of them are simply money grabs by the organizations.

When two local colleges and three local high schools win national cheerleading championships in the span of several weeks, something seems amiss.

But if it is some kind of county meet and it is a state sanctioned sport, I would try to run photos with the results -- preferable in somewhere other than sports.

 

Pern,

Forgive my ignorance here, but when the state sanctions something like Renaissance Games, is it calling it a varsity sport? Can someone letter in Renaissance Games, or is it a competition in the same way a geography bee is a competition?

 

Honestly, I'm not sure about receiving a letter for it or anything like that. I think it pretty much means that the state association handles organizing and funding the postseason tournaments or meets, the athletes are eligible for Injury Fund reimbursments if injured, that kind of stuff.

The state also (generally speaking) keeps much of the information relevant to the team (schedules, rosters) on their web site allowing fans, parents, media to have easy access to that kind of info.

 

OK, shottie, I think we're arguing different points.

Am I saying it should get EQUAL coverage? No. Everything's a judgment call to that extent. But I don't think it can be completely ignored if it's sanctioned as a state, if there is a state tournament for it, etc.

 

Well, on the Kentucky High School Athletic Assoc. site, cheerleading is called a sport activity, not a sport. So that's how we get out of it.

We let cherrleading teams put a pic in the scrapbook section of our paper. That's all it deserves.

 

Ok, when I was in High School I played football, track, wresling, and you got it I was a stuntman on the cheerleading squad... yes I was a male cheerleader whatever you want to call it in the 21 century.

I got to tell you that lifting the girls up in a full extension, catching them when the stunt is done is not easy and I think I got a better workout being on that squad then I ever did being a football player. So after being on the squad I would say its a sport.

Cheerleading is just as much a sport as NASCAR, GOLF and Wresling to tell you the truth. I know that its done with points instead of a real score but its still a sport depending on where your located.

If your in a city where Cheerleading is taken as serious as football in Texas then you got to do it. But don't use a reporter that could be doing something that is more important to your area. Send a photographer and have him do a paragraph or something on the event and call it a night.

FYI My first daily newspaper story was actually the College cheerleading tryouts.

 

Ahh, Title IX. Glad somebody brought that up.

Cheerleading is not a sport, and it never was.

The function of cheerleading was (and still primarily is) for bouncy babes to come out and bounce their bouncy boobies and booties around in front of the Big Stud Athletes on the Varsity Football and Varsity Basketball teams (Varsity BOYS' basketball, that is, although at the time it was not necessary to make the distinction) to make them feel Even More Studly and go out and kick butt for good ole Hillbilly High.

Well, that was before Title IX, which mandated (when eventually enforced) that some actual money get spent on girls' varsity sports.

All of a sudden, the Cheerleader Mommies' eyes lit up. Here was a nice plump juicy Money Pie they could sink their claws into, if somehow the idea of Cheerleading as a Varsity Sport could be launched off the ground.

So all of a sudden, the cheerleading teams started going to Competitions. All of a sudden, judging standards were concocted/dreamed up, creating a competitive framework for an activity which had never needed or even imagined one before.

And all of a sudden, the Cheerleading Mommies started showing up at athletic department meetings, demanding a piece of the girls' athletic budgets, since they were now a Real Live Sport, going to Real Live Competitions. No more bake sales. No more car washes. Now they could march into the AD's office every year with a grocery list of things they just had to have for their "varsity sport."

Of course, that meant that the girls who preferred to play basketball, volleyball, soccer, softball, swimming, gymnastics, track, cross country, you name it, had to cut the financial pie a bit smaller in order to give the Cheerleading Mommies their cut of it, but what the hell.

And also, there was ALREADY a sport, which usually played in the winter, which required the girls to learn body control, conditioning, precision movements, carefully planned-out routines, and then be scored on a competitive basis. This sport was called Gymnastics, and had existed for decades as a legitimate athletic competition.

But when the Cheerleading bulldozer arrived (accompanied many places by its even more preposterous and sexually-pandering offshoot, 'Dance Team' -- otherwise known as Junior Stripper Academy), at most schools, Gymnastics died off, because many of the participants went off and did Cheerleading (in no small part because it was about 100 times less demanding).

Talk to a few of the coaches of legitimate girls' sports in your area, and see what their opinion is of cheerleading as a "varsity sport."

If you can find any high school gymnastics coaches, talk to them. They almost always respond to cheerleading with the same enthusiasm the head football coach would have for launching rugby as a fall varsity sport.

 

They sanctioned it as a sport in my state this year too. Cheer coach stopped by today to give me local school's competition schedule. None of them in the local area. I told them the same thing I've told gymnastics, skiing, equestrian...anything else that competes out of coverage area and doesn't draw many people. Send me info and I'll see if I can fit it in. Some have stepped up and done that, so I gladly give them whatever space I can. Not much of a burden on me and keeps them off my back.

 

I'm all in favor of putting cheerleaders in briefs