I attended a local high school football game this past Friday and sat down a with a few neighbors to chat while we watched the game. (Ok I never really watched it – I don’t like football). About midway through the second quarter, my husband commented on how few cheerleaders we had. Granted, our school district is rather small, but there were only 5 girls on the squad. I looked across the field at the opposing team from a larger school (who were slaughtering us at the time) and they had about 16 girls lined up in front of the crowd.
Being relatively new to public school, I asked my neighbor (who works at the school) if it was normal for our team to only have 5 cheerleaders. She said they actually used to have a lot more members of the cheerleading squad back when girls sports were less popular. Now that sports have opened up girls teams for golf, volleyball, soccer and basketball, more girls are concentrating on sports than cheerleading. (This is the part where someone jumps in and says “cheerleading IS a sport!” – have fun with that.) She said it seems now that cheerleading is just an activity anyone can do if they want. They don’t even hold tryouts! Wow – that is so not the way things were when I was in high school. I knew girls who would kill for those coveted pom-poms. (Not me. I was too busy making the boys basketball team. ;) )
So is anyone else noticing this trend? Are girls choosing to play the game rather than cheer for it?
39 comments
Parris
Very interesting site ! Good work ! Congratulations :),
abercrombieautumn
Okay, going back to the original post. I think that cheerleading has not taken a back seat to other womens sports. In my hometown, it is super hard to get on the squad. The only reason it was easy for me (a girl that had never cheered before and only danced for 1 year) was because many girls in my grade were discouraged because they had tried out previously and didn’t make it with mass numbers. Also, my squad’s uniform is not in the least skimpy. We have skirts that come up to our natural waist line with underarmor like top that goes on first and covers everything with another shirt on top that has our logo. We also switched from traditional brief spankies to boyshort so that they covered more. I think also that cheerleading is both a sport and not a sport depending on the type you do. I am just on my squads sideline division. That is not a sport if yo ask me because you aare a support system for the sport in question, BUT if you are on a competitive squad, then you are in a sport because you are competing. Lastly, someone said that cheering is mostly dancing and singiing…but actually I would like to clarify that if you sing your words, it is harder for the squad to get their message across tot he crowds so singing is not something cheerleaders do whilst cheering.
Back to the main point though, cheerleading is not taking a back seat to other women’s sports, at least in my town. The freshman squad has 11 and the other has over 20. Thanks!!
leah
sorry i forgot to add im from englad and to even find a cheer team over here you have to look for about a week just to find one and you think u have it hard
leah
hello im tirteen years old i have some thing to say about this i am looking for a sqaud to join in derby but cant find one i think most girls want this only we dont do anoguth im quite grown p about things like this is say dont give up i wishi could join your sqaud and help
leah age 13 form derby alvaston
Rick Cain
Why not call them Cheerleading Dance Squads, since thats what they are, and a background in dance definitely is a plus. They should be able to attract more boys that way as well. Male cheerleaders or variants thereof are common at the collegiate level, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be so at highschool & below.
Susan
damn, my picture didn’t show up…but look up a bow and arrow!!!
Susan
Cheerleading??? a prissy sport???
I don’t think so
imani
i agree. I am also glad that your niece did not decide to try out for cheerleading because if she didn’t really want it then she may have taken the place of someone who did. I strongly advocate doing all extracurricular activities because you really want to do it. Not because you just happen to be good at it.
Lissa
Ok, here is what wikipedia (most certainly not the expert on the topic, but another point of view) says about a sport. And yes, Wikipedia also list cheerleading as a sport.
Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determiner of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports and motor sports where mental acuity or equipment quality are major factors. While researching if cheerleading is a sport or not (I’ll admit that I will take all the information and admit if I am wrong or if I have more information that will change my point of view, is that not what learning is about?) So enough about this topic, we can all agree to disagree on this. Back to the original thread, I believe that girls have more choices when it comes to sports and I believe that they are choosing other sports because of these options. My niece has been doing gymnastics for 8 years, she would rather be on the high school swimming team or tennis team, then to be a cheerleader. I think that is interesting due to the fact that she would probably make the team. I still love my BMX’ers and hope more girls push the envelope with sports and compete in the sports that they love and that push them physically and mentally.
:d/
imani
Lol measure away then! /:) Lets see how much of an impact your “measuring” will have on my life… on to something i actually care about…
YOU have entirely missed MY point. Cheerleading is not taking a back seat to womens sports because it IS a womens sport. Roller derby racers and runners DO have to dress that way IF it’s a part of their uniform just like cheerleaders do have to dress that way IF it is a part of their uniform. Some cheerleading uniforms are more modest than others. A friend of mine who cheered for a christian school, her uniform was a long sleeved top and shorts.
Modesty is always appropriate?….okay i dont know what planet you live on. But there is NO style of dress that is ALWAYS appropriate for every situation. That is why there are so many options for style of dress.
Assure away, but from what i see I beg to differ. :-?