The debate has raged on for years. Actually, from my own personal experience, it goes back decades on whether cheerleading should be considered a sport.

 

Before I spell out my argument, there’s something you should know. My daughter was a cheerleader for Robert C. Byrd several years ago when the Eagles were a Class AAA program and she managed to finish her senior year with the squad finishing in fourth place at the state competition in Charleston.

 

With that out of the way, let me give you an emphatic position on this matter. It is a sport and the competitors, without question are athletes. In fact, I’d go so far as to say those competing in at the highest levels in cheerleading are among the best athletes in the state.

 

Understand I didn’t always consider cheerleading a sport based more on a technicality as opposed to anything else. For years, the WVSSAC didn’t have cheerleading under their sports and activities umbrella and that meant cheerleaders – the only unit that actually was involved in what they did for more than one season – weren’t really regulated.

 

In other words, if the coach wanted to work with them year round, they could. The same guidelines that were in place back for the other “sports” weren’t necessarily in place for cheerleading.

 

And there was my technicality. I always thought the kids involved were great athletes and were competing in a sport, just that I never felt that under the definition in high school sports in West Virginia they qualified. I used to argue with a friend of mine’s mother, intimately involved with cheerleading for decades, on my thoughts. I always told her that I would officially call it a sport when they went by the same guidelines. I did it primarily just to have fun. I knew they were athletes. I knew it was a sport. It just wasn’t a sport or activity as defined by being under the WVSSAC banner.

 

When that happened, and it’s been many years now, I was all in. Yet today, there are still rumblings from some folks (and it’s a small minority) that it’s not a sport. There are some media outlets that don’t feature cheerleading on their sports pages or segments. Rather, they feature them in the news sections.

 

I’ve never understood it. Even since I’ve been at Connect-Bridgeport I’ve had a handful of people scoff at cheerleading.

 

Primarily, this blog is for them and for those closet haters. It’s a sport. It always has been a sport.

 

A big part of it is the old school way of thinking. Cheerleaders for many years were just what they name suggested – they cheered for the teams and supported the other athletes. To this day, that still happens. Then, however, competitions began to be put into place and that’s when everything officially changed.

 

The young girls and boys that cheer across the state have grueling practices where strong bonds are formed between athlete and coach. If you don’t believe me, ask the kids competing for Coach Natalie Hathaway and assistant Janet Hathaway.

 

Here’s the one thing that makes cheerleading the most unique of all the sports (and yes, if you go to the WVSSAC Web site for rosters and schedules and you have to choose the sport, cheer is there for those who would still argue it’s just an activity). If you want to win a state title, you have two chances.

 

That’s it. Two. No regular season. No round robin postseason tournament where everyone is seeded.

 

You go to a regional. If you win or finish runner-up there, you go to the state tournament. If you’re one of the final eight teams, that means you have a one in eight chance of winning the entire thing because you have one final shot.

 

All told, you have about a 10-minute window to win it all. Think about that – 10 minutes. One big foul up, one blunder, one miscue and it and it could all be over.

 

There are no loser’s brackets. There is no “get them next week” slogans available. It’s pretty much all or nothing.

 

I would argue that the mindset needed to get to a state championship, let alone win one, is perhaps the most difficult path to a state championship. While that’s up for debate, the debate on whether it’s a sport or not should have ended a long time ago.

 

It is. And come December 8, Bridgeport High School will be one of the final eight schools looking to be a state champion with their eyes – and the rest of the field – looking to unseat six-time defending state champion Robert C. Byrd, which is a feat that is every bit as impressive as Robert Shields’ current run of five-straight baseball championships.

 

Even if you’re not a Bridgeport fan, be sure and support your school’s cheerleaders. Trust me when I tell you they’ve worked hard to earn that support; probably a lot harder than you can imagine.

 

After all, Bridgeport is known for supporting its sports programs. Cheerleading deserves that same support since, after all, they’re a sports program.