When you think of a cheerleader, what do you think of? A strong, confident athlete with great work ethic and determination, right? Well, I know you and I feel that way. But some people still have that stereotypical idea of cheerleaders as peppy girls who just smile and wave at the football games. But we’re so much more than that these days. So what are those stereotypes you still hear floating around?
Cheerleaders aren’t athletes.
Uh, you try and be thrown ten feet in the air and flip and spin around twice. Or throw a human being with one arm and then catch their feet again in ONE HAND. Yeah how about now?
Men shouldn’t be cheerleaders.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Did you know the first cheer squad consisted of all men? Yep. Now-a-days it’s completely normal for a team to consist of half men (minus all-girl groups, of course). On my team had manly men, men who were passionate about the sport, men who came from football teams and just wanted to throw people in the air, and men who could tumble better than every girl on the team. Men and cheerleading go hand in hand these days, get it….hand in hand?
Cheerleaders are dumb.
Most teams today require a certain GPA or have standards as to what grades we have to keep up to be on the team. I know in college, we had to complete so many hours of study hall and if your grades were still slipping your hours were bumped up. Fail out? Ineligible which means, yep, no cheering for you. This means there’s no stupid cheerleaders these days people.
All cheerleaders do is yell from the sidelines.
False. We not only cheer on the sidelines, we entertain and pump up the crowd. We have a job to keep our fans entertained and spirited no matter how well our team is doing. But there’s also competitive cheerleading which many people don’t realize. We perform routines with tough tumbling passes, sky high acrobatics, and sometimes dances and cheers. It’s so much more than just being a sideline cheerleader.
Cheerleading isn’t even dangerous.
A study by the Journal of Pediatrics said that cheerleading is the most dangerous sport for females because of the high risks of concussions and catastrophic injuries. Because there’s so much more acrobatics and gymnastics involved in cheerleading today the risk of injury is greater which definitely makes it a dangerous sport!
And then the age old stereotype….Cheerleading isn’t a sport.
I went to a division one school, and I was considered an athlete at my school which meant I technically “played a sport”. A sport is defined as: an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. Not only do we physically exert ourselves WHILE performing skills, but we do it on a field, court, and on a competition floor! Yeah, we’re multi-talented.
So, how can we break these stereotypes of cheerleaders? By working harder than anyone else, doing awesome in school, and showing people we’re more than just pom poms on the sidelines! What do you think are some of the most common stereotypes?
Loving these fit tips and motivation? Become a CHEERFIT Ambassador and get instant access to the CHEERFIT Ambassador Club, exclusive content, CHEERFIT updates and ambassador-only giveaways!
