Is cheerleading a sport?

A new federal court ruling that cheerleading is not a sport is driving cheerleaders and their advocates B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Never mind that the Connecticut judge ruled only on a specific legal question — could Quinnipiac University use its competitive cheer squad to meet gender-equity rules — and not on cheerleaders' chops as athletes. In fact, he said he didn't want to disparage them.

But outside legal circles, the decision has been widely interpreted as an indictment of an activity whose participants have had to fight, fight, fight for every ounce of respect they receive.

“The judge should come to our practices,” Bri Cavanaugh said early on a steamy morning this week, wiping sweat from her face during cheerleading practice on the Burke High School track in west Omaha.

Cavanaugh, 17, is a captain of Burke's varsity cheerleading squad. She competes on the school's competitive cheer team, which placed second (behind Lincoln Southeast) in its division in sideline cheer in the 2010 Nebraska state championships. She also travels the country to compete for Elite Cheer of Omaha, a private gym known nationally for the quality and rigor of its training. She aspires to cheer at Kansas University.

“It's a sport,” Cavanaugh said.

That depends not only on your perspective, but also on how you define “sport.”

In the Connecticut case, U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill went with the definition from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. To be a sport, an activity must exist primarily for athletic competition against other teams, and not for the purpose of supporting or promoting other athletes. Among other requirements: It should have a defined season and national regulations overseen by a national governing body.

Quinnipiac, in Hamden, Conn., had dropped volleyball as a sport. It declared competitive cheerleading a varsity sport so it could count the women toward meeting Title IX requirements. Volleyball players sued, saying that the university was denying equitable opportunities to women. They won.

The judge was “exactly right” in the case in question, said Nancy Huether, co-executive director of the Iowa Cheerleading Coaches' Association. She coached cheerleading for 25 years at Ballard High School in Huxley, Iowa.

“Its sole purpose is not to compete, even though competition is a major part of what cheerleaders do today, and it's the part that cheerleaders enjoy the most,” Huether said.

That said, she added that the cheerleading of today is vastly more athletic and competitive than in the past and deserves to be considered a sport, at least by common definition.

“Everyone in our culture yearns for recognition, and it's one of those activities — sports, activities, whatever — that's still fighting for respect for what we do,” Huether said.

Ask Tori Davis, a University of Nebraska at Omaha cheerleader from McCook, Neb. Minutes after the Connecticut ruling came out, an old buddy — a guy who likes to give her grief about cheerleading — posted a story about it on her Facebook wall.

His point: See, told you it's not a sport.

“I have bruises all over me,” said Davis, 20 and a sophomore. “I have bigger muscles than he does, and he'll say cheerleading is not a sport. ... We work so hard at practice. We've had girls who have broken fingers, girls who have broken teeth. We throw girls in the air. We tumble. We'd like to see some of the football players do some of the stuff we do.”

Of course, there are a few male cheerleaders, more at the college level than in high school. But the activity, especially competitive cheerleading, is by a vast majority female.

It's a huge industry. Nationally, it claims an estimated 3 million-plus participants.

Many start in cheer or dance by kindergarten or even younger in private gyms. Depending on the level, parents can spend thousands of dollars a year on expert coaching, travel and uniforms.

Much of that is overseen and organized by the Universal Cheerleading Association, organizations connected to Varsity Brands, which is also a primary marketer of cheer clothing. Another biggie is JAM Brands. Both stage competitive events in Nebraska.

In Nebraska, one of the leading gyms is Elite Cheer, owned by Lance Stoltenberg, a former NU gymnast and cheerleader.

He said 500 to 600 young people typically are involved with Elite Cheer. There are 170 all-stars who compete around the country. Stoltenberg and other coaches coach tumbling to several high school teams, including those from Marian, Millard North and Elkhorn. Hundreds more kids take tumbling and other classes.

Stoltenberg, speaking by phone Tuesday from South Dakota while coaching a summer camp, took issue with the court ruling as it applies to competitive cheerleading.

“It's a sport,” he said.

It will be a while before it achieves an official designation as such, locally or nationally.

It's not an official high school sport in Nebraska or Iowa, although the Iowa High School Activities Association supports competitions. In Nebraska, state cheer and dance championships were started in 2008 by the Nebraska Coaches Association.

More than 1,500 kids have competed each year.

“These kids work so hard, and they really didn't have their own stage to perform on,” said Steve Johnsen, executive director of the Nebraska Coaches Association. “This (the championship) is all about them. It's not about them being supplemental to some other sport.”

The Nebraska School Activities Association, which governs high school sports, does not sanction cheerleading. The idea comes up every once in a while but hasn't advanced because school districts don't want the added expense, Johnsen said.

At the collegiate level, a move is afoot involving the University of Maryland and a handful of other schools and national cheerleading organizations to make it an official sport. For that to happen, the schools would have to separate the sideline performers and competitive teams — and change the name to change the image, said Kevin Hooker, president of Elite Cheer.

Burke's Bri Cavanaugh wants to go to KU instead of NU because the Huskers are “ground bound,” meaning they can't do the pyramids, throws and stunts that she's learned to love at Elite Cheer. The NU athletic department banned basket tosses, stunting, pyramid building and tumbling after the university paid a $2.1 million settlement to an NU cheerleader who was paralyzed in a 1996 cheerleading accident.

Nebraska high schools also are ground bound. Iowa high schools are not.

At Burke this week, coach Kathleen Sciortino, a former Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln High School and Iowa State cheerleader, pushed her squad through leg-lifts, crunches, running, stretching, jumping and tightly choreographed sideline routines.

During a break, Cavanaugh and her co-captains said they didn't know about the legal matters. But they know what they go through, performing throughout the school year, competing, training at summer camp and practicing at 7 a.m. during the summer (6:30 a.m. during the school year).

“After competing, I'm just as tired as I am after running the 400 in track,” said co-captain Payton Gaines, 17, a senior. She's on the Burke track team, and competes in cross country “just to stay in shape.”

Said co-captain Jordan Paulsen, 17, “If you're not an athlete when you come in (to cheerleading), then you become an athlete.”

Contact the writer:

444-1057, christopher.burbach@owh.com

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