There is currently a movement to add competitive cheerleading (alternatively named STUNT, or Acrobatics and Tumbling) as an emerging sport for women. Several interscholastic athletics governing bodies have already recognized cheer as a sport, offering state championships. Proponents of competitive cheer as a sport argue that females should not be limited to participating in traditional male sports and that including cheer as a sport would offer more competitive opportunities for females. Opponents emphasize that “adding” cheer would not actually increase opportunities because females currently participate in the activity even though it is not a varsity sport; it would merely allow schools to count cheerleaders as athletes for Title IX compliance purposes. They also posit that promoting cheerleading as a varsity sport promotes a stereotype of appropriate roles for females that is demeaning. What do you perceive as the pros and cons of sanctioning competitive cheer as a varsity sport? See Biediger v. Quinnipiac University, 667 F.3d 910 (2d Cir. 2012), for a judicial ruling that cheerleading, at least as it was conducted at Quinnipiac University, was not a varsity sport for Title IX participation purposes.
#Sales Offer!| Get upto 25% Off: