Supporters point to flips, throws, injuries and championships. Critics say most squads exist to cheer for someone else.
Cheerleading now comes in two forms. Traditional, or sideline, cheer leads crowds and supports other school teams at their games. Competitive cheer puts squads on a mat against other squads, where judges score a short routine of stunts, tumbling, jumps and pyramids.20 The debate is whether either form, and especially the second, should count as a sport.
The activity began with men. In 1898 Johnny Campbell, a University of Minnesota student, stood up at a football game and led the crowd in an organized chant. The university did not let women join its cheer squad until 1923.10
Today it is huge, and mostly female. The number of US cheerleaders aged 6 and older grew from about 3 million to 3.6 million between 1990 and 2003.7 In the 2024-25 school year, 206,262 girls and 4,247 boys took part in competitive spirit at US high schools.6 Yet in 2012, only 29 state high school athletic associations recognized cheerleading as a sport.7
The label matters most because of Title IX, the US law that requires schools to give women fair chances to play sports. In 2009, Quinnipiac University in Connecticut planned to cut its women's volleyball team and count a competitive cheer squad instead. Five players and their coach sued. Maryland had already become, in 2003, the first school to use cheer scholarships to meet Title IX.19 In 2010, Judge Stefan Underhill wrote that “Competitive cheer may, some time in the future, qualify as a sport under Title IX,” but that for now it was “still too underdeveloped and disorganized.”1 An appeals court agreed in 2012, concluding that “that time has not yet arrived.”2
Since then, the sports world has moved. The International Olympic Committee gave the International Cheer Union full recognition in July 2021, which allows cheerleading to apply for a place at the Olympics.4 Cheer was added to the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China.23 In January 2026, NCAA colleges voted to make acrobatics and tumbling a championship sport and to add a stunt championship, with the first acrobatics and tumbling title projected for spring 2027.3
Safety is a big part of the argument. About 26,000 cheerleading injuries happen in the US each year.7 From 1982 to 2008, cheerleading caused 65.2% of catastrophic injuries among female high school athletes and 70.5% among female college athletes.8 “Cheerleading has become extremely competitive in the past few years, incorporating more complex skills than ever before,” said pediatrician Cynthia LaBella in 2012, when the American Academy of Pediatrics urged every state to make it a sport.7
Critics are not convinced. USA Cheer, the national governing body, says traditional cheer “is most appropriately governed as a student activity, not an interscholastic varsity sport.”17 Others worry that a business sits at its center: Varsity Brands, accused of controlling more than 75% of the markets for cheer competitions, camps and uniforms, agreed in 2024 to an $82.5 million antitrust settlement.21
Most cheerleading debates are won or lost on these four questions.
A question of definition. Both sides can point to a dictionary.
Courts have looked at rules, seasons and opponents, not at how hard the flips are.
Title IX turns the definition into a question about money and opportunities.
Both sides want fewer injuries. They disagree on how to get there.
The US: cheer's status depends on the state and the level. California made competitive cheer an official high school sport in 2017, and the NCAA plans its first acrobatics and tumbling championship for 2027, but US education officials have not certified traditional sideline cheer as a Title IX sport in any state.14317
Global federation: the International Cheer Union had 116 national federations when the IOC fully recognized it in 2021.5
Multi-sport games: cheer joined the World Games, a multi-sport event for sports outside the Olympics, starting in 2025 in Chengdu, China.23 A company-backed pro league has said it is aiming for the 2032 Olympics, though no Olympic cheer event has been confirmed.22
Debate tip: international recognition is strong evidence for Pro. Con can answer that the Olympic question is about elite competitive cheer, while most cheerleaders still cheer from the sidelines.
For class or club discussion. There are no right answers; ask for reasons and evidence.
Acrobatics and tumbling and STUNT grew out of cheerleading and will hold their first NCAA championships in 2027. Their rise raises a question about the cheerleaders still on the sideline.
Arguments marked “Evidence needed” are waiting for a source before this guide goes live.
Anyone can suggest improvements. An editor checks every suggestion and source before it's added, and you're credited by name.
