Athletic Management, 16.2, February/March 2004, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1602/cheerdefine.htm
By
Kristina Sowder, April Hennefer, Dr. Cynthia Lee Pemberton, and Debra
Easterly
Kristina Sowder and April Hennefer have received
Master's degrees from Idaho State University, where Cynthia Lee
Pemberton is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Debra
Easterly is a Assistant Director in the Office of Sponsored Programs.
Pemberton is also a former athletic administrator and swim coach at
Linfield College.
The history of educational sports
begins as the history of sports for boys. Early on, school sports were
seen as a panacea that would reduce the dropout problem, provide an
energy outlet for unruly boys, and give schools a public relations
bonanza.
Historically, sports for women and girls did not follow the
men's model, but instead were rooted in philosophies of participation,
cooperation, and play. The female sports culture emphasized enjoyment
and social competition with the ultimate contest goals being those of
self-development and teamwork, as opposed to winning and individual
achievement.
As sports opportunities continue to evolve for girls
and women, they have grown closer to the traditional male model.
However, looking at the history of women's sports allows us to see that
there is more than one way to define athletics. In fact, research on
women athletes over the past two decades indicates that at least some
value sports more for traditionally "female" values, such as the chance
to be on a team and work collectively toward a goal, than they do for
competition and winning.
At both the high school and college levels,
schools are looking to increase athletic opportunities for women. Team
handball, equestrian, and synchronized swimming, for example, have all
been designated "emerging sports" for NCAA institutions. Girls'
lacrosse, bowling, and golf are growing at the high school
level.
However, the sport which has grown the most in the past five
years is cheerleading. According to the latest NFHS participation
survey (2002-03), "For the third consecutive year, the biggest gain
among girls was in competitive spirit squads, which saw an increase of
16,556 participants. This brought the number of total participants to
111,191, making it the ninth-most popular girls' program." Currently,
more than 20 state high school associations identify cheerleading as a
sport and Minnesota offers state championships in competitive
dance.
At the college level, research conducted by the NCAA in 2000
found that the women's sport that has experienced the most growth has
been the competitive spirit squad. In addition, nearly 200 colleges
offer cheerleading scholarships.
In 2003-04, the National Dance
Association and the National Cheerleaders Association are conducting 17
different organized dance and cheerleading competitions, some of which
will be televised on ESPN, as well as regionals in 23 states. Yet,
despite popularity and an increasingly competitive focus, dance and
cheerleading are not uniformly recognized as sports by the Office for
Civil Rights (OCR), the NCAA, the NFHS, or the Women's Sports
Foundation.
Competition, in particular, has been a key element of
sport recognition and designation by the OCR and the NCAA. According to
the OCR, an activity is a sport if: selection for the team is based
upon objective factors related primarily to athletic ability; the
activity is limited to a defined season; the team prepares for or
engages in competition in the same way as other teams in the athletic
program with respect to coaching, recruitment, budget, tryouts and
eligibility, and length and number of practice sessions and competitive
opportunities; the activity is administered by the athletic department;
and the primary purpose of the activity is athletic competition and not
the support or promotion of other events.
The NCAA's definition of
sport includes an institutionalized activity involving physical
exertion with the primary purpose being competition versus other teams
or individuals within a collegiate competition structure. The NCAA
further defines sport as including structure (standardized rules
approved by official regulatory agencies and governing bodies),
regularly scheduled competitions, and a defined competitive season
consisting of five or more competitions per year.
For these
organizations, the defining elements of sport may be more closely
linked to the history, traditions, and culture of the male sports
experience than that of the female sports experience. The question
arises, then: Why should we have such a limited definition of sports?
If we want to get more females involved in sports, and we want to reach
a population that might not otherwise be involved in sports, why be so
rigid in our categorization? Why not call an activity that is physical,
requires teamwork, includes both practice and performance, and is a
part of the athletic department a sport? Why can't a team that both
performs and competes be classified as a sport?
Logistically, there
are many good reasons to consider making cheerleading and dance sports:
It won't take years to introduce the sports, neither requires expensive
facilities or equipment, and both have already proven to attract large
numbers of participants. Both also have the support of a contingent of
administrators. Consider the following research:
During the 2001-02
academic year, we initiated a nationwide study to investigate the
prevalence of dance and cheerleading programs among NCAA D-I schools.
We mailed a survey to 312 institutions and received 289 individual
responses from 217 schools. The responding participants included 34
presidents (12%), 86 athletic directors (30%), 89 senior women
administrators (31%), and 80 dance/cheerleading coaches (27%). Here are
some of the findings:
o 98% of the institutions indicated they
sponsored competitive cheerleading teams.
o 89% of the institutions
indicated they sponsored competitive dance.
o 37% of the schools
provide partial scholarships for cheer team members; 16% do so for
dance.
o The athletic department funded cheer at 46% of the schools;
30% did so for dance.
o The average team size was 22 for cheer and
17 for dance.
o 60 percent of respondents said they had adequate
facilities for practice and competition for these two sports.
The
vast majority of respondents indicated that dance and cheerleading (81%
and 86%) were characterized by fitness, and a strong majority
identified the physical elements that typically define sport
(endurance, strength, power, agility, flexibility) as inherent in dance
and cheerleading. The majority also identified structure, organization,
and competition as defining aspects of dance and cheerleading. Almost
half of the respondents identified rules and judging criteria as
defining elements of dance, and over half identified them as requisite
for cheerleading.
Of the respondents, 41 percent agreed that dance
could be developed as an emerging sport and 55 percent agreed that
cheerleading could. Approximately a third indicated they would like to
see dance become a NCAA emerging sport, and nearly half indicated they
would like to see cheerleading become a NCAA emerging sport.
Achieving OCR sport recognition and NCAA emerging sport status for
competitive dance and cheerleading will require a paradigm shift.
Long-standing socio-cultural perceptions must be put aside, and a
broadened definition of sports, which values both male and female sport
histories, must emerge. Including competitive dance and cheerleading as
part of a growing sports participation menu for women and girls does
not take away from existing sports participation experiences, but adds
to them, allowing women and girls who have chosen to express their
athleticism through dance and cheerleading the status, recognition, and
benefits of their peers.