

Thumbs down to cheerleading -- it's not sport


True confession: I think Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" is one of the most insipid songs in musical history.

That said, I hope you don't connect the dots and label me a GEICO Caveman by suggesting that high-school cheerleading should not be a sport.

Cheerleading is more along the lines of competition. You can split hairs on definitions, but any event that requires judges -- figure skating and gymnastics included -- usually takes a tumble in the true sense of sport.

Just ask promoter Don King. Boxing also would fall into that nebulous definition if not for the tweaking of rules that allow you to take scoring out of judges' hands if you pummel an opponent into submission.

Speaking of inflicting pain, the potential for serious physical injury is one key reason the Florida High School Athletic Association should scrap plans to recognize competitive cheerleading as a sport by 2007-08.

A recent report in Pediatrics estimates that 208,800 young people 5 to 18 were treated at U.S. hospitals for cheerleading-related injures between 1990 and 2002. Most of the injuries were suffered by 12- to 17-year-olds, and nearly 40 percent were leg, ankle and foot injuries.

It's easy to understand why: With the competitive juice ratcheted up far stronger than 'We've got spirit; how 'bout you?' cheerleaders are creating human pyramids and tumbling precariously through the air, among other dangerous stunts.

As cheerleaders soar higher under the auspices of "sport," so will the emergency-room weekend crunch.

And we also sink deeper into the slippery slope of what constitutes "sport." Oviedo High School associate athletic director John Howell observed in the Sentinel that "If cheerleading is a sport, then do they make dance and flag corps sports?"

This does not mean to disparage the competitive zeal of cheerleaders. They work hard at their craft, and athleticism is involved.

You can assume the GEICO Caveman mentality here, but you might want to hear from some of my female friends on our competitive flag-football team that thrives on "girl power." I defer to their subjective expertise.

"If a competition is based solely on judges, then it isn't a sport," said Chris Doerger, a former soccer player at the University of Central Florida. "Too much subjectivity. Are show dogs athletes? I don't think so. No doubt there is some subjectivity in sports; umpires do miss calls. But it's negligible. Cheerleading does require some athletic ability: strength, flexibility, balance, etc. But can you name other activities that require those things? How about yoga?"

"I think it is safe to say I will not witness a girl being tossed up into the air, spinning and flipping and hoping that she does not hit the banners hanging from the ceiling," said Lara Thornton, a four-year women's basketball standout at California University of Pennsylvania, and currently a public-relations coordinator at St. John's University.

"However, unless they start timing their events or invent goals for girls to be tossed into, it's just a competition, not a sport. As long as judges are involved, it's all political."

Politics, practicality, precarious situations.

I'm afraid it's a jeer for high-school cheerleading as a sport in Florida.

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