“Be aggressive, be be aggressive.” Almost everyone has heard that common cheer at a sporting event with cheerleaders. You can always find a group of cheerleaders in every middle school, high school and college. You will most likely see a group of girls in skirts throwing other girls in the air, assisting them with pom-poms and cheering on their team.
There is always the common debate on whether or not people consider cheerleading an actual sport. Some points that can be made in favor of cheerleading being a sport are that they are in competitions shown to the public, such as on ESPN, and you usually have to try out to be put on the team.
There are also points that can be brought upon cheerleading not being a real sport such as it is nothing but girls trying to get people to cheer along with them and all they do is care too much about how their make-up and bows look instead of the game. The topic of cheerleading being considered a real sport or not has raised debates with different opinions.
Cabrini College shows their interest in cheerleading on campus. They have a cheerleading club that girls can be a part of to express their interest in this activity. Like most girls on a cheerleading squad do, cheerleaders most likely have a very strong opinion about the debate over whether or not their hobby is considered real or not. Strong opinions were found when interviewing an actual member of the Cabrini College cheerleading squad.
Nikki Mosco, freshman political science major at Cabrini, said, “Yes I consider cheerleading a real sport because just like all the other sports we practice, we cheer at games and we take part in competitions. Girls also get injured sometimes, which can show that it is not as easy as everyone makes it out to be.” Because of her strong opinion of making sure people do not look down upon her hobby just because it can be seen as a bunch of peppy girls running around in skirts, she was asked her response to how she has handled other people that have opinions opposite from her when it comes to the debate.
Mosco said, “I hear people say cheerleading is not a sport all the time. It makes me a little angry when hearing it too.”
There are preparations that go into those girls going out on the sidelines of a football game and throwing girls up in stunts and performing their dances at halftime. There are practices that must be attended and cheers with numerous arm placements to be memorized. So next time you watch “Bring it on” or attend your school’s football games think about all the preparation that goes into those girls trying to get you fired up to cheer on your team. Just like the cheer states to “be aggressive” there is hard work that goes into their performances.
