Posted on 06/14/2013 2:38:02 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Newser) – There are teams, uniforms, competitions, physical exertion, and plenty of injuries. But is cheerleading a sport? The NCAA says no. The American Academy of Pediatrics says yes. And now the American Medical Association will decide for itself, with a vote at its annual House of Delegates meeting this weekend, NPR reports. The decision is more than just semantics: Classifying cheering as a sport would mean more training for coaches in how to reduce and prevent injuries.
That would probably be a good move, given the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research says "high school and college cheerleaders account for approximately two-thirds of the catastrophic injuries to female athletes," according to NPR. Also on the AMA's meeting schedule: A debate on whether to back a ban on selling energy drinks to people under the age of 18, which physicians from the New York State Medical Society say are linked to an increasing number of ER visits, Forbes reports. The AMA can't actually regulate drink sales, notes Forbes, but it's a powerful lobby and its backing could add some serious heft to the proposed ban.
I vote yes.
Agreed
If synchronized swimming is a sport so is Cheerleading.
It’s no more a “sport” than is hopscotch.It’s an activity.
This should really be up to our masters and wizards of smart: Congress
Is gymnastics a sport? Cheerleading has a lot of the same physical demands and risks.
...Yell Leaders, led by a Yell King, and Song Girls...
Shakes head... oui!
It's a sport. One worth over a billion dollars.
It incorporates gymnastics, which is a sport, but it's more difficult. And dangerous.
/johnny
I could see where the MSM Obama cheerleaders get injured knees from being on them all the time
or tendinitis from patting Barry on the back so often.
I think Hillary would make a great Yell Leader as would Howard Dean.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is run by extreme leftists, which is a good indicator that they only care about “the agenda”, not pediatrics, or even medicine.
Their last big issue was that their members in Florida were “ethically” required to ask parents and children about gun ownership in their homes, which would then be annotated to the child’s medical record, accessible to government agencies at will. If they refused to answer, pediatricians could refuse them services.
Florida passed a law to stop this, which was overturned by a federal judge on the grounds of “protecting the doctor-patient privilege”. A meaningless thing, if government can access medical records.
Bottom line: if the American Academy of Pediatrics embraces *anything*, watch out!
So... Golf, tennis, skiing, and most Olympic sports....
They aren’t really “sports” either?
I’ve been at some major college football games where the cheerleaders were obviously recruited from the gymnastics squad. Their routines were physically very demanding.
My son lettered in varsity chess each of the four years he was in high school. I was the coach. Our team placed second in Arizona during his last year. We got a permanent banner hung in the gym.
I was never offered training in "how to reduce and prevent injuries"! ;>
The big thing they’re deciding here is about injury rates (which in competitive cheerleading are actually extremely high) and subsequently the amount of training coaches of kids need and amount of medical personnel around for practice and competition. Given the quantity of concussion and broken necks the answer should be yes, it might just be an activity in the greater scheme of things, but it’s one with a lot of risks coached by people not taking proper safety precautions.
sports have winners and losers if they are in a cheerleading competition it could be considered a sport during that event, but at a game without competition against the other team, it's merely an activity...
I believe there are more injuries in cheerleading than most sports. Getting thrown in the air and doing flips is quite dangerous.
Isn’t this just about “more funding” and a move away from the beauty contest aspect?
From what I've seen today, it's more physically demanding and incorporates gymnastics and is way more dangerous in terms of falls, concussions, etc.
That said, WHY IS CURLING STILL CONSIDERED AN OLYMPIC SPORT? For that matter, why was it EVER?
A banner in the gym? Chess??
Wow. Now that’s a stretch. Chess as a sport. Who Knew?
Its not a sport. A sport had to meet certain criteria, and one is that it has to be judged objectively, not subjectively. Ice hockey is a sport. american idol is not.
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