Competitive

CheerleadingBy: Hannah

Definition of a Sport

Sport is defined as a physical activity that is governed by a set of rules and often engaged in competitively.

Criteria set up by the Women’s Sports Foundation to be consider at sport

1) A physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of a mass……Check cheerleaders do stunting!

2) A contest or competition against or with an opponent…. Check have national competitions!

3) Is governed by rules which define the time, space and purpose of the contest and a winner is declared…. Check they have time limits, certain mat size and a score sheet!

4) The primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the skills… Check competitive cheerleaders do competitions against other teams.

About Poll

Is Cheerleading a Sport?

Yes, definitely. (25590) 62%

No, not at all. (13791) 33%

Depends on who you ask. (1174) 2%

I don't know and I don't care. (545) 1%

Total Votes: 41100

Poll from about.com

Cheerleading requires…..

Cheerleaders must be able to do tumbling, back flips, lifts and tosses among other things. Cheerleaders must be as strong as a football player and flexible like a gymnast.

Cheerleaders spend more time practicing than any other sport. The NCAA’s(National Collegiate Athletic Association) rules limit practice to only 20 hours a week. At the University of Maryland cheerleaders practice for 3 hours a day 5 days a week, add in games and extra practice time to get ready for competitions they practice 20-25 hours a week.

Technical skill, physical fitness and real guts!!

Rules and regulationshttp://www.varsityallstar.com/aspnet_client/FreeTextBox/upload/documents/L1-VAS-Score-Sheet.pdf

The mat has to be 42ft by 54ft, and the routines can be no longer than 2 mins and 30 secs.

Benefits to Colleges

The USA Cheer and the National Collegiate Athletics and Tumbling Association are asking the NCAA to recognize competitive cheerleading as an emerging sport for women.

Offering competitive cheerleading would help colleges and universities comply with Title IX. Title IX states that they must offer as many women’s sports as men’s.

There are roughly 3 million cheerleaders in the United States. 1.5 million are considered competitive cheerleaders. There are 1,500 All-Star programs in 613 gyms with athletes as young as six years old.

There are 72 national or regional competitions for college, high school, and youthteams. The UCA is the biggest competition, it is held at Disney World and broadcastedon ESPN.

Some famous former cheerleaders are ; Katie Couric, Halle Berry, George W. Bush.

Cheerleaders

Injuries from Cheerleading

Cheerleading is the number 1 cause of serious sports injuries to girls. There are 5 times more emergency room visits than any other sport, 65.1 percent of high school girls and 66.7 percent of college girls. In 2007 there were 103 fatal, disabling, or serious injuries were recorded among female athletes, 67 of those were from cheerleading. In 2005, 25 percent of money spent on athlete injuries can from cheerleading

Most common injuries to cheerleaders:Strains/sprains: 55%Soft tissue: 18.4%Fractures/dislocations: 16.4%Lacerations/avulsions: 3.8%Concussions/closed head injuries: 3.5%Other: 5.5%

Videos

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UdZurwJGGI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGlDKCjTh2Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAO_k19hD1k&feature=relmfu

The three flyers, the person being thrown, are high in the sky. The male cheerleaders are there to catch them. Both have to be very strong. Timing and placement are very important.

Websites I usedwww.sciencedaily.comwww.cheerleading.about.comwww.nytimes.comwww.usatoday.comwww.teenink.comwww.celebritydailypost.comwww.christopherdummond.comwww.Nndb.comwww.cheerleading.dogan.tylerisd.schoolfusion.uswww.varistyallstar.com