All people who have finished high school have encountered the question: Is cheerleading a sport? You may think of cheerleading and think pom poms and skirts but are we ignoring the actual talent and competition within it? What do you think? Before you answer I’d like you to listen to the opinions of some students around Tallwood. Let’s get into the interviews!

“Cheerleading is not a sport because well one its not-gymnastics is more of a sport than cheerleading. Well, like, competitive cheer is more of a sport than actual like regular cheering like “Go team!” You know what I mean?” said Paula Podhajecki 10th grade student here at Tallwood and our football team’s equipment manager.

“You’re just cheering for football. I think like cheerleading is just you’re cheering for football, and it’s not competitive and you just cheering on the other team and what not,” said 11th grader Patrick

“Anything with physical activity of you and exerting yourself, I consider a sport. The only thing really not a sport is playing video games. So I mean cheerleading, you do you,” Said Raymon Ray 11th grade basketball player at Tallwood high school. He later adds a little aggressively: “I’m pretty sure a lot of the people that say cheerleading isn’t a sport couldn’t do cheerleading.” Some students feel strongly in the defense of cheerleading seeing that it is a challenging activity whether you choose to call it a sport or not.

It’s clear that some students view cheerleading more critically especially if you’re talking about sideline. Most students however could agree that competition cheer was a sport even if there was dispute over whether sideline cheer could be placed in the same category. What do you think though? Thsgazette would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!