Over the past few months, I have had more and more people ask me about my sport, cheerleading. A common question is "what do you say to someone when they say that cheerleading is not a sport?" This is what I tell them: "High school cheerleading accounts for 65.1 percent of all catastrophic sports injuries among high school females over the past 25 years." This is just high school cheerleading, which is not as competitive as all star cheerleading. "By far the sport that causes the greatest amount of serious injuries for females in the U.S [is cheerleading]." "The majority of the injuries happen to those who serve as bases, rather than the flyers." Even though football players and basketball players suffer more injuries, cheerleading injuries can result in deadly consequences. Football, basketball, and baseball are considered sports, yet some of them require you to be in a certain shape. As people are being flown 10-20 feet in the air and giving their life to 3 people below them, I would say it's pretty dangerous. "The stunts that are required of cheerleaders are combinations of weightlifting and gymnastic tumbling. The stunts require extreme flexibility, balance, strength, and focus- and especially for flyers since many of them are preformed from a height at least twice the size of them." Cheerleading is looked at like a sport for someone who would like to not do P.E, but here is the deal. You actually have to try out for the team. There is no "water girl" or "bag holder". You make the team or you don't. "The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research study proved that cheerleading is certainly the most dangerous sport for women; more dangerous in fact, than all the other women's sports combined." Cheerleading is in fact a dangerous sport, but many people view it as an activity. Let's get to some calculations here. The Cheerleading Worlds is a worldwide competition usually heals at the end of April. It is broadcasted on ESPN which stands for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. If you couldn't tell, the word sport is in that acronym, and if cheerleading weren't a sport, it would not be broadcasted. To be qualified as a sport you need the following:

1. It must be a physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space, or overcoming the resistance of mass (stunting and tumbling)

2. 'Contesting' or competing against/with an opponent (competitions)

3. It must be governed ambe rules that explicitly define the time, space, and purpose of the contest, and the conditions in which a winner is declared (time limits, mat sizes, and score sheets)

4. Acknowledgment that the primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants (The Cheerleading Worlds)

If I still have not changed your mind about the sport that I love, please look up a video of Worlds 2015 and you will see what I am talking about. I hope you leave today with some questions answered. Please sign below if you agree with what I am saying. Now the real question is : is cheerleading a sport