<p>Are they kidding? I would love to see that judge do half the stuff the cheerleaders at D’s school do. I have never had a child who was a cheerleader, and I am still raising the BS flag.</p>
<p>"HARTFORD, Conn. – A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled competitive cheerleading is not an official sport for schools looking for ways to meet gender-equity requirements.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill said competitive cheerleading is too underdeveloped.</p>
<p>The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by members of the volleyball team at Quinnipiac University. The players sued after the school announced last year that it would eliminate the team for budgetary reasons.</p>
<p>The school replaced it with a competitive cheer squad to stay in compliance with the 1972 federal law that mandates equal opportunities for men and women in athletics.</p>
<p>Quinnipiac has 60 days to come up with a plan to keep the volleyball team and comply with gender rules."</p>
<p>This makes me angry. Not recognizing cheerleading as a sport is simply a way for schools to get around the requirements of providing qualified staff and equipment for their cheerleaders. Instead it gets put in the “club” catagory and these athletes are left to fend for themselves.</p>
<p>Cheerleading and competitive dance teams should be sanctioned “sports” for Title IX. These are athletic activities that girls/women want. Some schools have trouble attracting enough females to traditionally male sports in order to meet Title IX requirements.</p>
<p>The title of this thread is misleading. The Court ruled that in THIS CASE, cheerleading was not a sport. Quinnipiac University cut its women’s volleyball team to make way for a competitive cheer squad. The volleyball team filed suit for several reasons. First, Qpac had been doing some pretty sketchy “accounting” of the number of male vs. female athletes. Second, the cheer squad was not an established, competitive athletic team, but the volleyball team was – not to mention that part of the purpose of a cheer squad is to cheer for men’s teams, which kind of defeats the purpose of Title IX. I don’t think the court is saying that cheerleading is never a sport, just that in this particular case, it doesn’t count as a sport for Title IX purposes.</p>
<p>If cheerleading is not sanctioned as a sport by the NCAA, I can see the judge’s point. However, “competitive” cheerleading is NOT where the girls cheer for the boys’ teams - “competitive” cheerleading is where cheer squads compete against each other. Moreover, at the college level, most competitive cheerleading squads are co-ed, although there are usually a lot more girls than boys. </p>
<p>Competitive cheerleading SHOULD be treated as a sport. It’s one of the most dangerous “activities” teens do - I read somewhere that you are more likely to have a serious injury as a cheerleader than in almost any other “sport”. (Don’t flame me, I can’t quote where I read it, but I’ve seen it a couple of times). By not officially calling cheering a sport, it opens it up to unqualified coaches and lax safety rules. Cheerleaders do stunts that regular gymnasts don’t do - because they’re dangerous.</p>
<p>Cheerleading should be recognized and regulated as a sport by high school and college athletic associations, like the NCAA, for the safety of its participants. But until it is, I guess the judge has a point.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how the courts have defined varsity sports for consideration for Title IX … are there rules about how often and much they practice and about their coaching … and did the Quinnipiac squad meet these standards?</p>
<p>Second, to me cheering has sort of a double life … some squads do compete in competions … and they also cheer/peform at other sports events at schools. I can not think of any other varsity teams that are part of other team’s events.</p>
<p>Maybe the judge is thinking Quinnipac is trying to maintain the cheerleaders for men’s bball and football at the expense of another women’s team which is soley focused on competation and not supporting men’s sports.</p>
<p>The Olympics has volleyball. Volleyball , requires players to cooperate and respond to each other, extensive rules include type of ball and court design, & techniques or strategy that can be used.</p>
<p>My kids have attended schools that dont have cheer, but they did have volleyball.</p>
<p>This ruling is actually good for competitive cheer and women’s sports at the same time. competitive cheer has skirted the sports issue for years. It is on the way toward being considered a competitive sport. It needs a defined season ( that can be done), and independent governing body (which it badly needs) and coaches for the teams. Until that happens, it is not a sport. I hope these things do happen. Too often in college cheer, the cheerleaders attempt dangerous stunts without proper supervision and withour the protection of the university. This ruling gives concrete steps that need to be taken to advance this sport. </p>
<p>As someone who sees Title 9 as a great thing for equality in this country and who understand the positive benefit of sports in society, I think that keeping College Volleyball alive and well benefits colleges. It may not bring in tons of money like football, but I am sure that CC will agree that our student athletes learn time management, discipline and self-control from their participation. I don’t see this as an end to the fight to make cheerleading as a sport, but rather as a roadmap.</p>
<p>Careful going down that route… the Olympics have many things that could hardly be considered “sports” and then they don’t have a few sports. Baseball and softball come to mind… Football comes to mind. Do the Olympics have soccer?</p>
<p>^Baseball and softball were only just eliminated as olympic sports for summer 2012. Soccer (referred to as football for the Olympics) is played. </p>
<p>Just a side note to clarify-there is no set criteria in deciding which sports shall be featured at the Olympic Games, save for the initial requirement that a sport must be governed by an international sporting organization (i.e. FIFA for soccer, FIBA for basketball) that is recognized by the International Olympic Committee.</p>
<p>This is why American football isn’t included in the Olympics, and why not being included in the Olympics doesn’t automatically disqualify an activity as “not being a sport”.</p>
<p>Cheer is definitely a sport. And you have to be a team, also. You say that Volleyball is a sport and Cheer is not? I don’t know of any other sport that has practice all year long, compete for themselves and still support other sports in the school. Cheer needs flexibility and strength. Honestly, I think competition cheer should definitely be considered a sport. No, you do not hit balls across the court, but you still have to pick up girls, do toe touches, back hand springs,etc… that most people cannot do.</p>
<p>I’m in marching band. Well, Color guard. And marching band is only the first season. There is percussion ensemble, but that is completely different. Unless you mean Pep Band.</p>
<p>I believe a problem is that the “competative” cheer team, at least at a school, is often also the team that stands on the sidelines and cheers at other sporting events. No way can the activity be primarily competative unless a school had multiple squads, and that’s just ripe with other issues.</p>
<p>There’s another big problem with making cheerleading a sport. Doing so would also place the same restrictions on those teams that are placed on other sports, i.e. limits on practice times and an enforced off season. Ever watched those girls on the competative teams tumble? I’ve got 2 ex-gymnasts at home who wince and cringe with each pass. Cheerleading is a high-injury activity, and we can definitely see why. They do not tumble safely. The low landings are especially scary. Yes, giving the team sports status would get them qualified coaches, which would be a great thing. And yes, they really need an outside governing body. But the limits on practice and an enforced off season could make the sport even more dangerous. An athlete coming back to the gym after a break of a even a few months due to injury has always lost skills and strength. What happens to a squad with an enforced off season and no summer practice? Cheerleaders doing tumbling and stunts really need year round practice to perform those skills with some degree of safety. They couldn’t do that if they were on an offical “team.” </p>
<p>I think the judge’s ruling is reasonable within the guidelines established by Title IX, but I also suspect that offical “sport” status may not be what is best for the activity.</p>