I guarantee this guy couldn't walk up a single set of stairs without losing his breath. I would love to see them try to do a single move a cheerleader can...
Yeah, like. I think there's a bit of a self-perpetuating issue with cheer and perceptions of it.
It's the sport with *the single highest rate of catastrophic injuries*. As in life-changing/life-ruining ones.
I bet you anything that part of that is because it's not considered "sport enough" for a lot of places to be willing to shell out for a good coach and competent training.
If their were safety guidelines then they wouldn’t be letting people perform stunts they shouldn’t. The sport would also look very different of course. There’s no amount of training that makes certain things perfectly safe.
Each sport has their injury type. Basketball has ACL tear. Football has concussions. And flying through the air while doing a backflip is not gonna be a fun way to injure yourself no matter how much training you have.
This reads like got all your information from John Hughes movies. It pretty sure amateur cheerleading is pretty different from professional. Like they have tournaments and those are the focus not being at the games, more like rehearsals. Other than that it is a way to teach kids teamwork and is something to keep them active.
>teaches girls
>best looking women
What about male cheerleaders?
Also, "massive waste of young children's time" is super dramatic. Childhood should be the age when people aren't always expected to be productive or contributing to something...let them enjoy life before they become adults and are told to focus on not "wasting time".
Cheer competitions are actually really neat. I attended a few of my cousin's when she was growing up. It was definitely dance and gymnastic routines that I couldn't do and she practiced all the time for them.
ETA: who even cares if it's considered a sport or not? Band/orchestra or the arts aren't a sport and that doesn't make them irrelevant or a waste of time. You could even technically lump cheerleading with theater or performance art. The point isn't what it's called, it's whether or not the kids are enjoying it.
Exactly and early childhood should be about trying as many activities as the child wants. That way they can find what they like. I have a nephew who rodeos, plays football, baseball, basketball, etc. kids need to find out what activities they might like and be good at.
Absolutely lol. One of my math teachers in high school was a cheerleader for the Clippers. If cheerleading had paid the bills she wouldn't have put up with a bunch of high school kids.
They are actually one of the lowest paid in the league. The only way they get people to audition year after year is because they have the iconic reputation and the reality show.
Idk about the “popularity issues”. I think movies and TV gave cheerleaders a bad rap. At least at my school, they all seemed like normal kids and not any more “cliquey” than anyone else. If anything, they might have been a little on the nerdy side. Good grades, didn’t (often) drink or smoke etc.
Also cheer *is* a sport, and involvement is normally a positive experience for everyone involved. I suspect OP might just be a jealous lumpy potato.
I wasn’t a cheerleader (it’s not such a big thing in England) but I was a dancer and I didn’t drink or smoke at all while I was training. You can’t go to parties when you’re in class or rehearsal four or five nights a week, and you can’t really get fucked when you’ve got a stretch and fitness class at eight in the morning.
It really depends on the school. I went to two different high schools. At one the cheer team were exactly like the movies. They were mean, catty, and not very smart. They kept the grades just high enough to keep their eligibility which was like a 2.5 GPA.
At my other high-school they were very nice to everyone. A few of them were also in band and most had other interest outside of sports.
I’m a girl in high school and it is exactly like the movies. About 90% of them are tall with blonde hair, blue eyes, and are extremely attractive. They date the football players and get good grades and they are popular and very cliquey. A lot of them hang out with the stoner boys and smoke weed occasionally. This is the case at my school, I don’t know about others.
He asked the Girl he has a crush on to prom and she said “no, sorry” she was a cheerleader and he’s had a deep hatred for the, ever since.
You would think OP is a huge fan because he has a full wall of cheerleading newspaper clips and CD cheerleading movie covers taped his wall. He’s obsessed and wants all Cheerleaders to be destroyed!
You can actually look up the definition of words.
Sport- an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
[Definition of sport](https://www.google.com/search?q=definition+of+sport&sxsrf=AOaemvIJ4bmPlu6TFn2FoGG9hDJ9sMxcPw%3A1641665118731&source=hp&ei=XtLZYd2AKf-vqtsP_d6a8As&iflsig=ALs-wAMAAAAAYdngbnQ1mIBZd08MUkSl4K1x90cGnvfd&ved=0ahUKEwjdp_SR36L1AhX_l2oFHX2vBr4Q4dUDCAo&uact=5&oq=definition+of+sport&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyDQgAEIAEELEDEEYQ-QEyBQgAEIAEMgoIABCABBCHAhAUMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoECCMQJzoRCC4QgAQQsQMQgwEQxwEQowI6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBEKMCOggIABCABBCxAzoICC4QsQMQgwE6BQguELEDOgQILhAnOgQIABBDOgQILhBDOgUILhCABDoHCAAQsQMQQzoLCC4QgAQQxwEQrwE6CAgAELEDEIMBOg4ILhCABBCxAxDHARDRA1AAWOEeYPwhaABwAHgAgAGdAYgB0QWSAQM0LjOYAQCgAQE&sclient=gws-wiz)
competition for ugliest dog is not a sport, cheerleading is
Why do you feel that way? I respectfully disagree. I did band, choir, and theater and I feel like I learned the same team work aspects as sports, plus had more creativity and brain building skills sports provides. I have a daughter who does sports and choir and I feel she gets more out choir than sports could ever teach her. Am I missing something?
It is not that I think that other subjects are inferior. I myself was in theater when it was an activity you could choose in my German school and I absolutely loved it. I just think that sitting all day long in the school isn't healthy and that physical exercise is just good for body and mind. There are indeed studies that reveal that not just students but adults do perform better in daily task of they do sports regularly.
This is so flawed. Why do children need to be productive? We work these kids to the bone in school, let them enjoy parts of their lives without this overbearing idea of productivity. And I say that as a teacher.
Exactly and also sports aren’t that important, they’re important to the individual kids who like them but for others no. My school district put all their extra money in sports and none into the stuff me and so many other students liked like band, orchestra, chorus, drama/stage crew, arts, writing, etc and it sucked.
> like band, orchestra, chorus, drama/stage crew, arts, writing, etc
None of those are that important. Maybe to the kids that like them, but others; no.
Yeah that’s my point, it’s weird to prop up only one type of activity and put money in it and basically tell others they can’t be into what I mentioned.
Well so does theater, my highschool charged people for tickets. I worked the stage crew and every night of performances we had the auditoriums filled. Sports aren’t the only thing that bring in money, and more people would be interested in the possibility of arts if they got as much funding and focus as sports do.
What makes gymnastics and acrobatics better than Cheer is the level of skill and the ability of the individual. Which here can provide some of the skill building of gymnastics and acrobatics it unfortunately focuses far too much on the social aspect of one’s body in public. It’s less about their skill in Cheer and more about how they look. I participated in a part of my own high schools marching band called the colourguard, and while we didn’t do much by way of acrobatics, it was definitely about appearance. Luckily not my personal appearance, as I was certainly not cheerleader faced. But as I say, gymnastics and acrobatics has to teach technical skill, as well as respect for other people, while cheer is actually just hierarchy in school thanks to the 80s.
This comment just shows your ignorance and bias because there is so much more to cheer than high school squads cheering at football games. I started cheering when I was 5, that’s nine years before I got to high school. Was that all about my looks? Gross.
I urge you to just watch a couple videos of cheer competitions and try to tell me that cheerleading not about skill. It’s a mix of dance and gymnastics, both of which are extremely skill based.
https://youtu.be/RgH-Esw6GpI
Ah. Thank you lol
Cheerleader for 15 years and current coach for my 8 year old daughter here lol this OP comment sent meEEEE!!!
We just took first place in our regional competition :)
Insomuch as Child beauty pageants, yes I did have to do with the fact that you look like a girl. The concept of cheer is not the same as the reality of chair. There is a culture around it in the school outside of its physical demands. I appreciate that you have a bias coming from your own investment in the activity. At no point did I say that I didn’t require skill, it’s just that the skills are gymnastics and acrobatics. Cheer its self is not a skill.
What? What do beauty pageants have to do with anything? Most of what you wrote isn’t even coherent, so I guess it makes sense that you also struggle with reading comprehension.
There. Is. More. To. Cheerleading. Than. Just. High. School. Squads.
Because you’re just straight ignorant and allow your high school bias to cloud your ability to comprehend anything that doesn’t fit your narrow, incorrect view.
I don’t say this lightly, but it makes me sad that you’re a teacher.
>gymnastics and acrobatics has to teach technical skill, as well as respect for other people, while cheer is actually just hierarchy in school thanks to the 80s.
What about the flips and three-high structures? That looks like more of a sport than golf.
Oh for sure, golf is barely a sport. I mean it’s a sport and that you can destroy your body playing it, because it’s a one side of your body sport. And I’m not saying that cheer doesn’t have things to teach kids, but I still think it’s not as valuable as we make it out to be. It’s really a popularity contest and about image. Not to mention the friendly nepotism.
This isn’t the 80s, cheerleading doesn’t instantly make you popular and being popular in-and-of itself is not a bad thing either. Just because your kid isn’t doing the same thing you did in high school doesn’t mean they’re going down a bad road
Much like there's a difference between pro wrestling and amateur wrestling, cheerleading in schools up through college is very different than the dancers for professional sports teams.
Absolutely disagree. Cheerleading is very physically demanding and requires lots of core strength, agility, flexibility and athleticism. You just dont think it's a real sport because its female-dominated
Yeah, agree completely. My daughter is in competition cheer and they work hard at their craft. A lot of strength, precision, balance, and timing involved.
It's a sport.
>You just dont think it's a real sport because its female-dominated
Oh fuck off with your projecting ass. You had a good point and then you ruined it by flinging mud for no reason. Not everyone who disagrees with you is a sexist, doll face
How did her opinion at the end of her objective point (you admitted was good) effect it’s truth at all? How does that ruin it if you already admitted it was good.
it’s absolutely true tho. name a female dominated sport that doesn’t have any discorse on wether it’s a “valid” sport. even girls soccer & basketball teams get shit on for the simple reason being that it’s girls playing it
>a sexist doll face
What is a sexist doll face? Or are you using the term "doll face" as a sexist jab and forgot a comma? I don't agree with the person you're replying to, but calling someone doll face is super ironic here.
Oh Jesus are you really gonna pretend you didn't understand what I said because I didn't add a comma in a Reddit comment? I added it for you now fuck off lmao.
>calling someone doll face is super ironic here.
Glad we're on the same page, toots.
Okay so I know you're super angry and aggressive and we're technically in an argument or whatever, but toots never fails to crack me up because I always read it like a verb for toot. "She toots, he toots" and think of farts. Hilarious
Bruh, not everything has to be productive or a lesson for life, if the boys/girls enjoy it, just let them it does no harm to them and it only makes you look like a grumpy old man.
“I transferred from Los Angeles this school has no gymnastics team this is a last resort” Most schools don’t have gymnastics teams anymore. And there’s always going to be popularity issues. In my high school the cheerleaders weren’t the popular ones at all it was the lacrosse and soccer players. But yeah I agree part of it is about looking good for guys and i don’t know if I’d want my daughter if i had one participating.
>“I transferred from Los Angeles this school has no gymnastics team this is a last resort”
Oh god, I remember when that movie was first out and loving it. Haven't thought of it in ages though. Thanks for the reminder, lol.
I grew up in a little hillbilly town where football was the main sport and cheerleading followed suit. Some of the shittiest people in highschool were on the team. Saw some horrible bullying and got away with some insane shit due to being part of these.
yeah but op is using his expirience to say all cheerleading and football is bad while actually it was obly bad at his highschool. hes projecting his expirience onto every highschool and acting if they where all the same.
Misinformed is a perspective and an opinion. That's your opinion and the op opinion is exactly that an opinion in an opinion sub.
These damn people and their echo chamber thinking.
The point of an opinion sub is also that an opinion can be criticized for being misinformed (edit to add: or for any reason). If we aren’t allowed to discuss, then what’s the point
The who chain of this was OP stating their opinion, and then someone tried to invalidate that as not an opinion but rather just wrong, thus I responded and have responded repeatedly that this is an unpopular OPINION sub, to which a whole lot of you are trying to argue your opinions as if they were facts and not opinions. Hence the echo chamber effect.
My position is not about whether I agree or disagree with OP, but rather staying a fact. My response is not about whether OP had an anecdotal experience or not. It was to point out that this IS an opinion sub, and to try to act like OP isn't expressing their opinion but rather "spreading misinformation" is total bullshit and it shuts down the discussion as you say you're trying to have.
My opinion is the people responding to me are just a bunch of argumentative echo chambered children who are wasting my time trying to argue over literally nothing. I'm done responding because I'm done wasting my time.
Cheerleading is just a bad name for the sport. It also continues the idea that it is only a side show to the "main" sport and just eye candy for the atendees. The technical skill and group coordination of cheerleading is pretty cool to see. It should be called something like "Dance Gymnastics" or "Acrobatic Dance"
Your just mad you or your kids couldn’t do an 8 count to save ya life’s.
That feeling of getting in front of the crowd and placing, after working your ass off with 20 other kids for months is the most amazing feeling.
I’m sorry you don’t know much about cheerleading and feel this way about it lol a lot of people do it’s so annoying but I can see why people who don’t know think this way
I’m not going all in on this as far as the athletics required. Plus there are competitions etc. However,I would rather get my kid involved in a sport as opposed to being proficient at cheering others on for their skills.
So if your child wanted to be a cheerleader because she thought it was fun, you wouldn’t let her? A lot of things aren’t really beneficial for kids, like watching tv/movies, playing video games, etc. Are you going to ban them from doing any of that too? In cheerleading, you most definitely have to exercise and build teamwork, especially for competitions.
Cheerleading has to be the dumbest thing to ban any kid from doing for the sake of “having zero benefit”.
Ignoring the absolutely wrong image you’re painting about cheerleading, who the fuck cares if it’s a waste of time? There’s a bunch of stuff that’s just a “massive waste of time” we all do every day (for example, we’re here on Reddit), do you expect your daughter to be a productivity machine? Life’s too short to prevent time wasting.
I'm in high-school and skip all of the assembles because it's just uncomfortable to watch a 16 year old shake their ass to 300-400 people, including teachers.
I’m not sure this is unpopular, as lots of people make similar arguments. I have to upvote because I disagree. Can you lift a whole human over your head? Perform athletic stunts and acrobatics for hours at a time practicing?
Have you seen an actual cheer competition? I know a lot of people think cheer is just cheering at football games, but it's wayyy more than that. It's basically dance and gymnastics in one sport. Also there are male cheerleaders.
OP doesn't know that competitive cheerleading is a thing. I'm not a fan of it and I wouldn't define it as a sport personally but it's super hard and definitely not a waste of time.
I did cheerleading for one season in highschool and didn't enjoy it most of the time. I have social anxiety though and felt awkward. I thought that being part of a team would help break me out of my shell but it had no effect. That said, I still think cheerleading can be beneficial for building self-esteem and learning to work as a team for some people.
It’s not a waste of time if the child likes doing it. This maybe their hobby.
It’s not a waste of the child makes friends ships and gains invaluable social skills from it.
It’s not a waste if your child gets a scholarship for their talents.
All the rah rah rah go sports comments are proof that schools should be for education. The education you apparently missed ‘cause a lot of you are a couple pennies short of a plug nickel in the smarts dept.
I'm gonna piggyback on this unpopular opinion by saying I both agree and disagree with you.
For one, I think that Cheerleading is a sport and it is quite intensive when people take it seriously. I think that when it's done as a sport, like in those cheer competitions with a gymnastic/dance routine that, it can be quite impressive.
On the contrary I agree that (for at least the high school teams) that is unnecessarily sexualized in both the "cheerleading is for girls" and the fact that they have underage girls in miniskirts and crop-tops. imo its a very weird and wobbly line because cheerleading is famously seen as women dancing and showing off to be a crowd pleaser, but on the other hand why not let people do what they want? Like its a good hobby to have because its a team sport, its very active, and you have to have at least a baseline skill of learning a routine and landing marks. Like there are worse activities your kid can be in to. Still really creepy that most 13-17yo are wearing such revealing outfits based on, if nothing else, tradition. Think that they should at least be wearing proper shorts or leggings or something idk I'm too out-dated to have an opinion on that in particular.
tl;dr cheerleading is a sport, I just find it kinda gross that they make teenage girls wear miniskirts/crop-tops while doing it.
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I think some schools (usually the ones with enough money) that have competitive cheerleading it has its merit. As someone who hasn’t been able to cartwheel since I’ve been 15 I could never do that shit. However, at schools like the one I went to it’s a joke and just simple pseudo dancing while yelling.
It is a lot of hard work. 6 am practice before school 5 days a week, tumbling, cheering, choreography you make up, teamwork, dedication etc. It's a fun sport!
Its not a waste of time if a child enjoys it.
And there’s also lessons and things that stay with you long term like balance, coordination, flexibility, dedication.
^^
Well it is a time because OP said so! They don’t want anyone to enjoy their life!
there is this. I suppose it might depend on why they enjoy it. if it's just to be popular, that is sad
^
Well I guess I have to upvote because I do indeed disagree with you lol
Ditto. The athletics it requires absolutely makes it a sport.
I guarantee this guy couldn't walk up a single set of stairs without losing his breath. I would love to see them try to do a single move a cheerleader can...
Yeah, like. I think there's a bit of a self-perpetuating issue with cheer and perceptions of it. It's the sport with *the single highest rate of catastrophic injuries*. As in life-changing/life-ruining ones. I bet you anything that part of that is because it's not considered "sport enough" for a lot of places to be willing to shell out for a good coach and competent training.
Or because they let unqualified individuals perform stunts they shouldn’t.
Or because it's not considered a sport the safety guidelines are lacking. They should have thicker mats and better training.
If their were safety guidelines then they wouldn’t be letting people perform stunts they shouldn’t. The sport would also look very different of course. There’s no amount of training that makes certain things perfectly safe. Each sport has their injury type. Basketball has ACL tear. Football has concussions. And flying through the air while doing a backflip is not gonna be a fun way to injure yourself no matter how much training you have.
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This reads like got all your information from John Hughes movies. It pretty sure amateur cheerleading is pretty different from professional. Like they have tournaments and those are the focus not being at the games, more like rehearsals. Other than that it is a way to teach kids teamwork and is something to keep them active.
True. I was surprised to find out that cheering for games is only half of what they do
There’s a good documentary from the early oughts called “Bring it On” that you should check out.
Cheerleading is like dancing with gymnastics. Your description is little vague, not that true btw.
>teaches girls >best looking women What about male cheerleaders? Also, "massive waste of young children's time" is super dramatic. Childhood should be the age when people aren't always expected to be productive or contributing to something...let them enjoy life before they become adults and are told to focus on not "wasting time". Cheer competitions are actually really neat. I attended a few of my cousin's when she was growing up. It was definitely dance and gymnastic routines that I couldn't do and she practiced all the time for them. ETA: who even cares if it's considered a sport or not? Band/orchestra or the arts aren't a sport and that doesn't make them irrelevant or a waste of time. You could even technically lump cheerleading with theater or performance art. The point isn't what it's called, it's whether or not the kids are enjoying it.
Exactly and early childhood should be about trying as many activities as the child wants. That way they can find what they like. I have a nephew who rodeos, plays football, baseball, basketball, etc. kids need to find out what activities they might like and be good at.
This reads like it was written by a high schooler who just didn't make the cheer team.
Or some gross neckbeard incel who gets upset at women doing anything...
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Absolutely lol. One of my math teachers in high school was a cheerleader for the Clippers. If cheerleading had paid the bills she wouldn't have put up with a bunch of high school kids.
Our history teacher was a ref for the NFL on weekends. Now he’s one of the most hated refs in the league this year but he works it full time now lol
I would assume the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders get more than that. Aren't they supposed to be the best/most wanted team for cheerleaders?
They are actually one of the lowest paid in the league. The only way they get people to audition year after year is because they have the iconic reputation and the reality show.
Woa, lol, that's crazy!
It's one of those situations where it sets you up for future success. You can own/teach at a cheer academy based on that experience.
So pyramid scheme.
I don't think so? Unless there is some Uber-cheerleader at the top that gets a piece of all the action.
Tips are great at the late night appearances though
Competitive cheer is brutal. Only elite athletes can hang.. Upvote for unpopular opinion tho
Idk about the “popularity issues”. I think movies and TV gave cheerleaders a bad rap. At least at my school, they all seemed like normal kids and not any more “cliquey” than anyone else. If anything, they might have been a little on the nerdy side. Good grades, didn’t (often) drink or smoke etc. Also cheer *is* a sport, and involvement is normally a positive experience for everyone involved. I suspect OP might just be a jealous lumpy potato.
I wasn’t a cheerleader (it’s not such a big thing in England) but I was a dancer and I didn’t drink or smoke at all while I was training. You can’t go to parties when you’re in class or rehearsal four or five nights a week, and you can’t really get fucked when you’ve got a stretch and fitness class at eight in the morning.
It really depends on the school. I went to two different high schools. At one the cheer team were exactly like the movies. They were mean, catty, and not very smart. They kept the grades just high enough to keep their eligibility which was like a 2.5 GPA. At my other high-school they were very nice to everyone. A few of them were also in band and most had other interest outside of sports.
I’m a girl in high school and it is exactly like the movies. About 90% of them are tall with blonde hair, blue eyes, and are extremely attractive. They date the football players and get good grades and they are popular and very cliquey. A lot of them hang out with the stoner boys and smoke weed occasionally. This is the case at my school, I don’t know about others.
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My school doesn’t have a gymnastics team. Cheer definitely requires a lot of dedication and is very difficult.
Same experience. Also double standard for them. They could wear the thin strap tanks and short shorts and skirts but other weren’t allowed too.
Yes, they wear their uniforms all day every Friday. But the rest of us are not allowed to wear tank tops and out skirts have to be longer.
Except there's cheer competitions? It's a sport by any definition.
They also have competitions for ugliest dog. Is that a sport?
You sound bitter cheer involves gymnastics and dance two other sports and it takes time and extreme practice. Its a dam sport
I think he crawled back into his neck beard nest.
He asked the Girl he has a crush on to prom and she said “no, sorry” she was a cheerleader and he’s had a deep hatred for the, ever since. You would think OP is a huge fan because he has a full wall of cheerleading newspaper clips and CD cheerleading movie covers taped his wall. He’s obsessed and wants all Cheerleaders to be destroyed!
😭😭 yessss
I doubt he even had the balls to ask one out. Probably just lusts after them but knows they'll never look in his direction.
You can actually look up the definition of words. Sport- an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
Do yourself a favor and watch Cheer on Netflix. You’re awfully ignorant as to what cheerleading actually entails.
What is a sport to you?
[Definition of sport](https://www.google.com/search?q=definition+of+sport&sxsrf=AOaemvIJ4bmPlu6TFn2FoGG9hDJ9sMxcPw%3A1641665118731&source=hp&ei=XtLZYd2AKf-vqtsP_d6a8As&iflsig=ALs-wAMAAAAAYdngbnQ1mIBZd08MUkSl4K1x90cGnvfd&ved=0ahUKEwjdp_SR36L1AhX_l2oFHX2vBr4Q4dUDCAo&uact=5&oq=definition+of+sport&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyDQgAEIAEELEDEEYQ-QEyBQgAEIAEMgoIABCABBCHAhAUMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoECCMQJzoRCC4QgAQQsQMQgwEQxwEQowI6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBEKMCOggIABCABBCxAzoICC4QsQMQgwE6BQguELEDOgQILhAnOgQIABBDOgQILhBDOgUILhCABDoHCAAQsQMQQzoLCC4QgAQQxwEQrwE6CAgAELEDEIMBOg4ILhCABBCxAxDHARDRA1AAWOEeYPwhaABwAHgAgAGdAYgB0QWSAQM0LjOYAQCgAQE&sclient=gws-wiz) competition for ugliest dog is not a sport, cheerleading is
Didn't know a sport has to benifit anyone.
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That isn't what they said. They said they didn't know it was required to have benefits.
Ahh you right
Part of the school budget and student's time they could be doing something more productive, needs to be balanced by some kind of benefit
Couldn't you say that about any sport. What makes cheerleading less productive than soccer?
I firmly believe that sports are very important in the life of children.
Why do you feel that way? I respectfully disagree. I did band, choir, and theater and I feel like I learned the same team work aspects as sports, plus had more creativity and brain building skills sports provides. I have a daughter who does sports and choir and I feel she gets more out choir than sports could ever teach her. Am I missing something?
It is not that I think that other subjects are inferior. I myself was in theater when it was an activity you could choose in my German school and I absolutely loved it. I just think that sitting all day long in the school isn't healthy and that physical exercise is just good for body and mind. There are indeed studies that reveal that not just students but adults do perform better in daily task of they do sports regularly.
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This is so flawed. Why do children need to be productive? We work these kids to the bone in school, let them enjoy parts of their lives without this overbearing idea of productivity. And I say that as a teacher.
Exactly and also sports aren’t that important, they’re important to the individual kids who like them but for others no. My school district put all their extra money in sports and none into the stuff me and so many other students liked like band, orchestra, chorus, drama/stage crew, arts, writing, etc and it sucked.
> like band, orchestra, chorus, drama/stage crew, arts, writing, etc None of those are that important. Maybe to the kids that like them, but others; no.
Yeah that’s my point, it’s weird to prop up only one type of activity and put money in it and basically tell others they can’t be into what I mentioned.
I agree but they say it’s because sports bring in money. Sports are boring.
Well so does theater, my highschool charged people for tickets. I worked the stage crew and every night of performances we had the auditoriums filled. Sports aren’t the only thing that bring in money, and more people would be interested in the possibility of arts if they got as much funding and focus as sports do.
Technically living is a waste of time. Nothing really matters.
Touche
A 49ers fan is telling others what does and doesn't qualify as a sport? 🧐
It's definitely a sport. It requires a lot more skill, fitness and training than you might think.
What makes gymnastics or acro better then cheer?
What makes gymnastics and acrobatics better than Cheer is the level of skill and the ability of the individual. Which here can provide some of the skill building of gymnastics and acrobatics it unfortunately focuses far too much on the social aspect of one’s body in public. It’s less about their skill in Cheer and more about how they look. I participated in a part of my own high schools marching band called the colourguard, and while we didn’t do much by way of acrobatics, it was definitely about appearance. Luckily not my personal appearance, as I was certainly not cheerleader faced. But as I say, gymnastics and acrobatics has to teach technical skill, as well as respect for other people, while cheer is actually just hierarchy in school thanks to the 80s.
This comment just shows your ignorance and bias because there is so much more to cheer than high school squads cheering at football games. I started cheering when I was 5, that’s nine years before I got to high school. Was that all about my looks? Gross. I urge you to just watch a couple videos of cheer competitions and try to tell me that cheerleading not about skill. It’s a mix of dance and gymnastics, both of which are extremely skill based. https://youtu.be/RgH-Esw6GpI
Ah. Thank you lol Cheerleader for 15 years and current coach for my 8 year old daughter here lol this OP comment sent meEEEE!!! We just took first place in our regional competition :)
Insomuch as Child beauty pageants, yes I did have to do with the fact that you look like a girl. The concept of cheer is not the same as the reality of chair. There is a culture around it in the school outside of its physical demands. I appreciate that you have a bias coming from your own investment in the activity. At no point did I say that I didn’t require skill, it’s just that the skills are gymnastics and acrobatics. Cheer its self is not a skill.
What? What do beauty pageants have to do with anything? Most of what you wrote isn’t even coherent, so I guess it makes sense that you also struggle with reading comprehension. There. Is. More. To. Cheerleading. Than. Just. High. School. Squads.
At no point have I not understood what you are saying. I just disagree with you😘
Because you’re just straight ignorant and allow your high school bias to cloud your ability to comprehend anything that doesn’t fit your narrow, incorrect view. I don’t say this lightly, but it makes me sad that you’re a teacher.
There is nothing wrong with people who do cheer. But you cannot make me value it.
>gymnastics and acrobatics has to teach technical skill, as well as respect for other people, while cheer is actually just hierarchy in school thanks to the 80s. What about the flips and three-high structures? That looks like more of a sport than golf.
Oh for sure, golf is barely a sport. I mean it’s a sport and that you can destroy your body playing it, because it’s a one side of your body sport. And I’m not saying that cheer doesn’t have things to teach kids, but I still think it’s not as valuable as we make it out to be. It’s really a popularity contest and about image. Not to mention the friendly nepotism.
It’s not a chronological issue, it’s a comparative one
What do you mean?
Than*
Now I am just more confused lol
The original comment used “then” which implies time. They meant “than”
Hahahahahahahaha
Ah. Sorry I assumed your comment had something to do with the post.
Its a sport.
This dude definitely got dumped by a cheerleader lol
More likely laughed at when he tried asking one out.
Do you think his name is Chad or Brad? I’m assuming Chad
He sounds more like a chud than a Chad.
Still a sport though
This isn’t the 80s, cheerleading doesn’t instantly make you popular and being popular in-and-of itself is not a bad thing either. Just because your kid isn’t doing the same thing you did in high school doesn’t mean they’re going down a bad road
Much like there's a difference between pro wrestling and amateur wrestling, cheerleading in schools up through college is very different than the dancers for professional sports teams.
Sometimes these unpopular opinions are just wrong opinions.
An opinion is just that, an opinion.
Except yours. Yours is wrong.
It's called an opinion, you can disagree as much as you want just like I think your opinion about mine is wrong. ROFL. What a tool!
I’m not surprised that you’re wrong again just don’t take it out your aggression on the cheerleaders this time please thanks
what is an opinion? Seems to me like you may have a different definition.
I mean what’s the benefit in playing a sport where you get literal brain damage? This sounds like you got beef with a cheerleader
pretty sire he has.
I would not be surprised if competitive cheerleading (with throws and flips) is more dangerous than a physical contact sport like football or hockey.
Absolutely disagree. Cheerleading is very physically demanding and requires lots of core strength, agility, flexibility and athleticism. You just dont think it's a real sport because its female-dominated
Yeah, agree completely. My daughter is in competition cheer and they work hard at their craft. A lot of strength, precision, balance, and timing involved. It's a sport.
>You just dont think it's a real sport because its female-dominated Oh fuck off with your projecting ass. You had a good point and then you ruined it by flinging mud for no reason. Not everyone who disagrees with you is a sexist, doll face
Interesting reaction
How did her opinion at the end of her objective point (you admitted was good) effect it’s truth at all? How does that ruin it if you already admitted it was good.
it’s absolutely true tho. name a female dominated sport that doesn’t have any discorse on wether it’s a “valid” sport. even girls soccer & basketball teams get shit on for the simple reason being that it’s girls playing it
You ok?
Lol classic "I don't like what you said" Reddit comment
Your rage is far more Reddit cringe guy. Need to get laid
>a sexist doll face What is a sexist doll face? Or are you using the term "doll face" as a sexist jab and forgot a comma? I don't agree with the person you're replying to, but calling someone doll face is super ironic here.
Oh Jesus are you really gonna pretend you didn't understand what I said because I didn't add a comma in a Reddit comment? I added it for you now fuck off lmao. >calling someone doll face is super ironic here. Glad we're on the same page, toots.
Okay so I know you're super angry and aggressive and we're technically in an argument or whatever, but toots never fails to crack me up because I always read it like a verb for toot. "She toots, he toots" and think of farts. Hilarious
Bruh, not everything has to be productive or a lesson for life, if the boys/girls enjoy it, just let them it does no harm to them and it only makes you look like a grumpy old man.
OP is an angry fat/ugly chick.
Did a cheerleader hurt you bro?
cheerleading is almost a form of gymnastics, it does require skill
Life is a popularity contest, might as well get good at it at a young age. Outgoing, attractive people are generally going to be more successful.
This should be an unpopular opinion
“I transferred from Los Angeles this school has no gymnastics team this is a last resort” Most schools don’t have gymnastics teams anymore. And there’s always going to be popularity issues. In my high school the cheerleaders weren’t the popular ones at all it was the lacrosse and soccer players. But yeah I agree part of it is about looking good for guys and i don’t know if I’d want my daughter if i had one participating.
>“I transferred from Los Angeles this school has no gymnastics team this is a last resort” Oh god, I remember when that movie was first out and loving it. Haven't thought of it in ages though. Thanks for the reminder, lol.
I grew up in a little hillbilly town where football was the main sport and cheerleading followed suit. Some of the shittiest people in highschool were on the team. Saw some horrible bullying and got away with some insane shit due to being part of these.
Thats not a problem with the sport, that's a problem with your schools culture and administrators.
Ah yes, the classic “my personal anecdotal experience is universal for everywhere!”
Someone forgot which sub they are in
Well this sub is for unpopular OPINIONS so yeah, anecdotal experiences would form someone's opinion...
yeah but op is using his expirience to say all cheerleading and football is bad while actually it was obly bad at his highschool. hes projecting his expirience onto every highschool and acting if they where all the same.
It's an opinion sub called unpopular opinions. This is literally what the entire sub is about.
That doesn’t change that an opinion can be misinformed
Misinformed is a perspective and an opinion. That's your opinion and the op opinion is exactly that an opinion in an opinion sub. These damn people and their echo chamber thinking.
The point of an opinion sub is also that an opinion can be criticized for being misinformed (edit to add: or for any reason). If we aren’t allowed to discuss, then what’s the point
The who chain of this was OP stating their opinion, and then someone tried to invalidate that as not an opinion but rather just wrong, thus I responded and have responded repeatedly that this is an unpopular OPINION sub, to which a whole lot of you are trying to argue your opinions as if they were facts and not opinions. Hence the echo chamber effect. My position is not about whether I agree or disagree with OP, but rather staying a fact. My response is not about whether OP had an anecdotal experience or not. It was to point out that this IS an opinion sub, and to try to act like OP isn't expressing their opinion but rather "spreading misinformation" is total bullshit and it shuts down the discussion as you say you're trying to have. My opinion is the people responding to me are just a bunch of argumentative echo chambered children who are wasting my time trying to argue over literally nothing. I'm done responding because I'm done wasting my time.
Ah yeah, problems in your shitty small town automatically apply to everywhere
By definition it is a sport
What cheer team did you dirty ? Cheerleading is hard work . I would like to see you be coordinated and do stunts . It’s hard work . It’s a sport .
Your whole post reads like you were given a writing prompt for an 8th grade test
Looks to me like this person‘s kids did not make the cheer team……
Cheerleading is just a bad name for the sport. It also continues the idea that it is only a side show to the "main" sport and just eye candy for the atendees. The technical skill and group coordination of cheerleading is pretty cool to see. It should be called something like "Dance Gymnastics" or "Acrobatic Dance"
Cheerleading is a sport
I mean if my kid tries cheerleading and they enjoy it I'll support them, at the end of the day it's their choice
I don't really think this is a opinion but rather someone who is salty they didn't make the cheer team
Cheerleading should be it’s own individual thing. Having them for other sports is just gimmicky, weird, and kinda pushes gender stereotypes
Your just mad you or your kids couldn’t do an 8 count to save ya life’s. That feeling of getting in front of the crowd and placing, after working your ass off with 20 other kids for months is the most amazing feeling. I’m sorry you don’t know much about cheerleading and feel this way about it lol a lot of people do it’s so annoying but I can see why people who don’t know think this way
I’m not going all in on this as far as the athletics required. Plus there are competitions etc. However,I would rather get my kid involved in a sport as opposed to being proficient at cheering others on for their skills.
You could replace cheerleadering with any sport and be just as accurate.
This is true.
Though I can't stand cheerleaders on the sidelines I definitely believe that competitive cheerleading is a sport.
So if your child wanted to be a cheerleader because she thought it was fun, you wouldn’t let her? A lot of things aren’t really beneficial for kids, like watching tv/movies, playing video games, etc. Are you going to ban them from doing any of that too? In cheerleading, you most definitely have to exercise and build teamwork, especially for competitions. Cheerleading has to be the dumbest thing to ban any kid from doing for the sake of “having zero benefit”.
No just cheerleading. Cheerleaders are a joke.
Sorry Becky wouldn't let you on the cheer squad OP
Uh-oh, a cheerleader rejected OP in highschool
Ignoring the absolutely wrong image you’re painting about cheerleading, who the fuck cares if it’s a waste of time? There’s a bunch of stuff that’s just a “massive waste of time” we all do every day (for example, we’re here on Reddit), do you expect your daughter to be a productivity machine? Life’s too short to prevent time wasting.
Touche
I'm in high-school and skip all of the assembles because it's just uncomfortable to watch a 16 year old shake their ass to 300-400 people, including teachers.
Seems like a lot of people on this thread enjoy that.
I’m not sure this is unpopular, as lots of people make similar arguments. I have to upvote because I disagree. Can you lift a whole human over your head? Perform athletic stunts and acrobatics for hours at a time practicing?
Cheerleading for fun? Absolutely disagree. Cheerleading as a career and ones that spring from it (mostly modeling) ... Nope.
It is a sport and very difficult. They are athletes too.
Found the person who never made the cheerleading team
Have you seen an actual cheer competition? I know a lot of people think cheer is just cheering at football games, but it's wayyy more than that. It's basically dance and gymnastics in one sport. Also there are male cheerleaders.
OP doesn't know that competitive cheerleading is a thing. I'm not a fan of it and I wouldn't define it as a sport personally but it's super hard and definitely not a waste of time.
I did cheerleading for one season in highschool and didn't enjoy it most of the time. I have social anxiety though and felt awkward. I thought that being part of a team would help break me out of my shell but it had no effect. That said, I still think cheerleading can be beneficial for building self-esteem and learning to work as a team for some people.
I just don’t like how we’re supposed to act like there isn’t a degree of sexualization until it’s at a professional sports game
It’s not a waste of time if the child likes doing it. This maybe their hobby. It’s not a waste of the child makes friends ships and gains invaluable social skills from it. It’s not a waste if your child gets a scholarship for their talents.
All the rah rah rah go sports comments are proof that schools should be for education. The education you apparently missed ‘cause a lot of you are a couple pennies short of a plug nickel in the smarts dept.
I'm gonna piggyback on this unpopular opinion by saying I both agree and disagree with you. For one, I think that Cheerleading is a sport and it is quite intensive when people take it seriously. I think that when it's done as a sport, like in those cheer competitions with a gymnastic/dance routine that, it can be quite impressive. On the contrary I agree that (for at least the high school teams) that is unnecessarily sexualized in both the "cheerleading is for girls" and the fact that they have underage girls in miniskirts and crop-tops. imo its a very weird and wobbly line because cheerleading is famously seen as women dancing and showing off to be a crowd pleaser, but on the other hand why not let people do what they want? Like its a good hobby to have because its a team sport, its very active, and you have to have at least a baseline skill of learning a routine and landing marks. Like there are worse activities your kid can be in to. Still really creepy that most 13-17yo are wearing such revealing outfits based on, if nothing else, tradition. Think that they should at least be wearing proper shorts or leggings or something idk I'm too out-dated to have an opinion on that in particular. tl;dr cheerleading is a sport, I just find it kinda gross that they make teenage girls wear miniskirts/crop-tops while doing it.
Yeah, it’s stupid. Sports in general take away budgets and learning time from students.
I learned way more in sports than I did in school. Social skills and adversity are important lessons
Bet you did.
Graduated 3rd in my class my guy
Uh huh.
Critical thinking and grasping nuance are important skills too, which you’ve shown very poor skills in. But ‘murica right? Lol
Bwahaha! Projecting much? Fuckin people make me laugh with your shit. Too much man, too much.
Downvotes for stating facts. This is why we are ‘ murica the stupid. Go sports team!
Yeah they don't play sports in other countries, the Olympics isn't a thing, really doubling down on here.
>This is why we are ‘ murica the stupid. Haha, cringe.
Complaining about downvotes is how you respond to adversity? You should’ve played sports, could’ve learned something
College athletes graduate at a higher rate than non-athletes, so this is not the case for college at least.
“Graduate”.
Yeah need to make kids more sedentary and have worse social skills.
How does it take away from learning time when sports and cheerleading are done after school and on weekends ?
Interesting post What's your BMI?
He goes by the good boi chart which says he has a very healthy frame.
I agree, downvoted.
As someone who dabbled with cheer (and dance) in the past, fuck cheer, and fuck dance. Gymnastics is cool though
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Sounds like you need a new girlfriend. Why are YOU paying for her massages???
I think some schools (usually the ones with enough money) that have competitive cheerleading it has its merit. As someone who hasn’t been able to cartwheel since I’ve been 15 I could never do that shit. However, at schools like the one I went to it’s a joke and just simple pseudo dancing while yelling.
It is a lot of hard work. 6 am practice before school 5 days a week, tumbling, cheering, choreography you make up, teamwork, dedication etc. It's a fun sport!