Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Critique: How is this not a Sport?
Many have argued the issue on whether or not cheerleading should be qualified as a sport. A blog that I came across on Jezebel, written by Chloe, sheds some light on this issue. According to the blog a federal judge in Connecticut ruled that because cheerleading is not a sport, Quinnipiac University was in violation of Title IX rules that require equal funding be awarded to men´s and women´s sports team. And because the University wants to replace women´s volleyball with competitive cheerleading it was in violation of that, since cheerleading is not a sport. The author´s logic behind the argument is good but poorly supported by any evidence. If the author would have given more evidence on this issue instead of just opinion, I believe that it could have been more persuasive. She states that it is a sport because of the talent and competiveness that is required in cheerleading and I concur with her. In my high school we of course had a cheerleading squad, and they like all other sports team had to practice, work hard and compete against other cheerleading squad. This sport requires time and dedication just like other sports do, and like the author states this sport has its injuries risk just like say football and hockey. The author gives a poor argument that just because it has a ¨shitty and sexist¨ history doesn’t make it less of a sport. I don’t think that the uniform should define whether it’s a sport either. In that case, you can cut out gymnastics, volleyball and even track that all require short shorts or showing more skin. Clearly that will be just ridiculous since they are all sports! The authors issue is not a new one that has surfaced, but it is one that has been in debate for many years on whether or not it should be qualified as a sport. The ruling that this University gives would be precedent for future rulings as well. I hope that they rule that it is not violation so that it can spark a revolution with all others who believe that cheerleading is not a sport. I do feel that it is unfortunate that the volleyball team will be cut, but to say that cheerleading is not sport is just ¨flat wrong¨ as the author states.
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I can't really respond about the tone of the author because I cannot read the article. But with the quotes that you pulled from the article, I agree that it could have been supported a little better. LIke you, I definitely agree that cheerleading, gymnastics, track and volleyball should all be termed as sports. If you look at the dictionary definition of a sport, cheerleading can beyond a doubt be termed as a sport. I love your analysis of the article, I just wish that there was a link here for us to read it. Like you, I wish that there was more evidence for why cheerleading should be a sport.
ReplyDeleteI agree that cheerleading should be qualified as a sport, from what I read from your blog it seems that the writer of the feminist blog did not have good supportive evidence. But I can totally see where you are coming from with agreeing that cheerleading is as much of a sport as any other “sport,” like track or football. I personally was never a cheerleader but I did want to try out in high school but I was too busy and involved in other activities, but my really good friend was a cheerleader and she had to dedicate her time to that and she had practice everyday and even during the weekends and she had to run laps, and do many other athletic things. So I think cheerleading is just as much of a sport as volleyball or track, because either sport the person has to dedicate their time and effort and practice it.
ReplyDeleteGood explanation of why you think cheerleading should be a sport.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't much coverage of the blog though, so I come away not knowing much about what Jezebel said. Also, without the link to the blog, I couldn't view it.
I agree that cheerleading is definitely a sport. I think that many people believe that it is not truely a sport because it is a "girl's" sport and I hear plenty of men joke that women sports are not real sports. However, cheerleading takes a great deal more athletism than do some other "real" sports such as golf. Therefore I completely agreee that the idea that cheerling is not a true sport is completely unsupported.
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