Competitive Cheerleading Being a SportImagine screaming fans in a big arena with an ESPN camera with a huge trophy on the line. No, it's not the FIFA World Cup :c is the cheerleading world championship. Many are not aware of the two different types of cheerleading. One type is called secondary cheerleading. This is when guys and girls cheer on their middle school or high school team. They will be on the sidelines cheering on their team and cheering on the people watching the game and the students. Sideline cheers are primarily for football and basketball games. High school cheerleading does pretty much everything like competitive cheerleading, which is stunting, tumbling, dancing, and jumping, but they don't compete with anyone. Another form of cheerleading is competition. This is where All-Star gyms compete with a 2.5 minute routine. In these routines, cheerleaders perform intense tricks and stunts, including somersaults, jumps, throws and dancing. The team in the division with the highest score wins the competition. This athletic display, often seen on FOX and ESPEN, is proof that the standards of cheerleading have changed. The definition of a sport is “a sport involving physical effort and skill in which one individual or team competes against another for entertainment.” (google.com). Modern cheerleaders practice several times a week. In the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research article, “The various carries, throws, catches, tumble runs, and jumps that make up most performance routines require a high degree of athletic skill. Cheerleading is no longer a spontaneous activity; it involves tryouts, long practices and specialized training camps similar to ...... middle of paper ...... over the past few years it has grown at an extreme pace and now includes male and female participants. Even though I have shown that there are two types of cheerleading: secondary and competitive, I know that cheerleaders like me have appeared on ESPN for a fact. Modern cheerleading squads perform their athletic technique to the best of their ability and are often featured in competitions for titles and awards. This and many other factors help to refute arguments that deny the recognition of cheerleading as a sport. Cheerleading has changed so much in recent years that it has become a booming industry that continues to grow as participation increases over time. Finally, cheerleading is an activity whose athleticism far exceeds that of many other recognized sports, but which requires the technique and strength for which nationally recognized sports are daily praised and deserves that same respect..