Works+Consulted

Chowdhury, N. "Cheerleading: a Sport or not?" //Associated Content: Sports//. 3 Dec. 2006. Web. 22 Oct. 2009. . Associated Content published sources of information and online articles for varied websites and organizations. “Cheerleading: a Sport or not” looked at the debate over cheerleading and chose to take the side that cheerleading was not a sport and was just a recreational activity. Not directly using this source, I reviewed it and found that some of their viewpoints could be argued to make cheerleading be considered a sport. Their arguments were strong but not strong enough to deny cheerleading as a sport all together. This article helped get me thinking about other ways to argue cheerleading as a sport.

Drehs, Wayne. "Athletes are Cheerleaders, too." //ESPN//. ESPN.com, 15 Mar. 2004. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. . //ESPN// is the most highly regarded sources for sports updates, statistics, and information about teams. ESPN argues that although cheerleaders cheer for sports, they are athletes too. With the athleticism required to be a cheerleader, and the hard work, commitment, and perseverance that they put in, cheerleaders are considered participants of a sport. I reviewed this article and took much consideration and knowledge from it, but by the time I had read it, most of the information I read had already been information gathered from other sources.

Johnson, Tatsumi. "Is Cheerleading Considered a Sport in High School?" California Cheer Gym. //VideoJug//. Web. 22 Oct. 2009. http://www.videojug.com/expertanswer/the-sport-and-spirit-of-cheerleading-2/is-cheerleading-considered-a-sport-in-high-school. “Is Cheerleading Considered a Sport in High School” was broadcasted by a high level cheerleading coach of a championship winning cheerleading squad, Tatsumi Johnson. //VideoJug// is a website that provides instructional and educational videos to better someone or further their knowledge on a subject. Johnson discussed the athleticism of cheerleaders and how much dedication and commitment they have. She talks about the different levels of cheerleading and how each is considered to be a sport. One of the good points that Johnson brings up is that sports, such as football or soccer, have different positions in the field. It could be argued that cheerleading is not a sport because there are not positions in a field, but, there are positions that are in a stunt group.

LiveScience Staff. "Girls' Most Dangerous Sport: Cheerleading." //Live Science//. Live Science, 11 Aug. 2008. Web. 22 Oct. 2009. . LiveScience is a part of the Tech Media Network which is a combination of editorials, ecommerce, advertisements, and articles from publishers and advertisers. LiveScience published “Girls’ Most Dangerous Sport: Cheerleading” which describes the high risk of injury in the sport and statistics of how many people are being injured in cheerleading. This is all because cheerleading is a contact sport. In the article, there is a break down in percentage of how many, out of the whole grouping of each type of catastrophic injury, has been reported since 2006. For example, cheerleading accounted for 52.4 percent of strains and sprains. //TCPalm//. Web. 22 Oct. 2009. [].  In Tampa, Florida, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) argues that cheerleading is a sport and that schools need to treat it as one in complete form. There are many schools that do not treat cheerleading as a sport and that hinders the progress of the squad and ability for the cheerleaders to reach their goals. Also, there are some schools that acknowledge cheerleading as a sport but do not treat it as one and place either too many restrictions on it or do not give it the proper credentials necessary. Tampa argues that schools need to treat cheerleading as a sport because it is harming the goal sets of so many young individuals. Although there is much criticism about the athleticism and ability for cheerleading to be considered a sport, the fact is, cheerleading is a sport and there is no denying it anymore.