Up until this point, whenever I think of cheerleading I instantly think of the movie, “Bring It On.” For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s a comedy that makes fun of cheerleaders by following a high school cheer team and their trip to Nationals. Needless to say, I never really thought of cheerleading as a sport. Sure, it takes talent and athletic skills, but I never really considered it “sport” material. So when we were planning stories for the current issue of The Criterion, and someone brought up cheerleading, there were a few snickers around the room. I can only guess that the reason was because some people think cheerleading isn’t really a sport.
So then I started thinking about why I, and others, don’t consider it a sport. Besides the fact that they wear skirts, and face the crowd, not the game, there really is no other reason why they shouldn’t be. I decided to go to talk to the head coach of the squad, Athena Whaley and co-captain Molly Johnson. I learned that the cheerleading squad at Mesa State is a varsity sport, which means that they are required to have a 2.0 GPA to be considered eligible. They have daily practices and are required to do workouts outside of practice.
The typical practice for the squad starts at 6 a.m. That fact right there is enough to validate cheerleading as a sport. I haven’t been up before 7:15 a.m. the whole time I’ve been a student, and I don’t think I would ever be able to get up early to workout. And the team starts off with conditioning. After conditioning, they do tumbling, and then they run their routines. Whaley said, “If we’re preparing for a competition, we will just run the routine over and over again.”
Outside of practices, the team is required to workout in the weight room, and do the same workouts as the other teams at Mesa do.
Cheerleading has become such a popular sport here at Mesa that there are now two teams. There is the co-ed team, which performs at the sporting events and at competitions, and there is also an all-girls team, which also performs at the events and competitions in their division.  This is the first year that the all-girls squad has performed, but the co-ed team has been a varsity sport for ten years. Whaley explains that “we wanted a second squad so we could go to more events.”
The team is currently preparing for the USA Collegiate Nationals, which are being held at Disneyland resort in California. The team was invited back this year, and showcased their routine to their friends and family before they left. This routine showcase definitely showed me why cheerleading is a sport. Their dedication and hard work were displayed in their routine, and the skills needed to complete this routine show just how talented the squad is. Hopefully, the team can take nationals by storm, and start getting the recognition they deserve.
u
hrutt@mesastate.edu