Cheerleading

I've never been a cheerleader, but I have been a dancer, and my sisters have cheerleaded. It is definitely a sport. And it is a lot harder than it looks.

 

I was a cheerleader in High School. Cheer leading was barely considered a sport in my high school. We were not included in the schools athletic department and so the school did not help with any of the funds for our competitions, uniforms, or travel. We were barely allowed to travel to the away games with the team and when we were we were not allowed to sit on the bus with the team, we had to sit in the back seats of the bus. There was literally a certain amount of empty seats that could be between us and the teams.
In order to provide ourselves uniforms we had to either do fund raisers on our own time or do things for the school such as cleaning the trophy cases (Which by the way, had trophy's that the cheerleaders won from our competitions featured in it).
At games, people would literally abuse us. Not even kidding. They would yell mean, and sometimes suggestive, things at us which I wont repeat. One day a boy came down from the stands and pushed the girl next to me over to the ground. Our coach just stared and said nothing about it.
That was the night when over half the team, including me and my sister who were the captain and co-captain, turned in our uniforms and left in the middle of the game.
Everyone was always saying it wasn't a real sport, it was overrated, it was just an excuse for girls who don't have any real talent to have something to do and wear a short skirt.

Now that I've finished my rant, let me tell you what we did for the school:
We cheered on the teams that were very rude to us. We showed school pride. We threw pep assemblies for the teams and the academical achievements of our school by ourselves, with the money we raised with our fundraisers. We went to tournaments and won trophy's for the cases. And, in spite of how stupid people could be sometimes, we always had a good fan base on the stands, and we were the one team in the school who did things for the school like cleaning and fundraising and putting dances together. And what we did was the bare minimum for what some cheerleaders who are properly supported do.

Now that I've finished up my rant, here is how cheer leading is a sport.
To be a sport an activity has to be physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of a mass.
In these, I dare anyone to say that this is not a physical activity involving all of that stuff.
Awesome Cheerleading Stunts - YouTube
cheer stunts - YouTube
First off you have the spotter, the person in the video who is always standing not far off but not actually doing much in the stunt that you can see. This person is required in all stunts to ensure the extra safety blanket for all people involved in the stunt.
Then there's the base, or the bases. This role requires a lot of strength and endurance. Its usually best done by a guy or multiple guys but that isn't always the case. I remember filling in as a base a few times. It takes hours and hours of practice to be able to pull off these lifts safely and make it look good.
Last but not least, the flier. This was my role in high school. Once again, this requires a lot of strength and endurance and a crap ton of balance. Usually it is done by the smallest member of the team. In order to not fall on your face or break your neck, you have to know exactly what you are doing and do it. And that's just the stunts. Lets not forget the gymnastics, the dances, the routines, and the cheers.

There has to be some sort of competition against or with an opponent (can be yourself).
The competitions. Enough said.

A sport is governed by rules which explicitly define the time, space and purpose of the contest and the conditions under which a winner is declared.
Don't ask me to go there. But yes, cheer leading fits this requirement too.

The acknowledged primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants
Blah Blah Blah.

Anyone who says cheerleading isn't a sport, I dare you to try to do what they do.

There's my opinion.