From the Goal Line

There is a trial going on in Connecticut right now to determine if cheerleading is a sport. A federal judge will decide if schools in Connecticut can count it as sport as they look for ways to meet the Title IX gender equality requirements.

There’s a story in the Washington Post about it today. Apparently a university in Connecticut is padding rosters in order to get around the Title IX issue, then either cutting or adding after the rosters are submitted to get what they want.

The lawsuit came forward because Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University cut it’s women’s volleyball team in favor of a competitive cheerleading squad. The school said it was a budgetary move and members of the team sued to keep the program. Through the process of the suit, a judge issued a temporary injunction last year to keep the school from disbanding the volleyball team as it was discovered the school over reported opportunities for female athletes and under reported the opportunities for male athletes.

The trial starts on Monday in U.S. District Court.

If judge decideds that yes cheerleading can be considered a competitive sport the implications could be long reaching. Many schools, especially during the last several years of budgetary woes, have struggled to find ways to make sure the offerings are equal, while balancing paying for coaches, equipment and fields. If a judge sets a precedent that says cheerleading counts, even if it is not recognized by the NCAA, high schools could perhaps count it as a sport, not an activity.

Under Title IX an activity can be considered a sport if certain criteria are met. To be considered the activity must have a coach, competitions as part of a defined season and have a governing organization.

Should be interesting to see what could happen in the logn run with this. Also it begs the question what is a sport? The Title IX definition seems like a pretty standard one to me, but under that the case could be made for a lot of different activities to be counted. The WIAA consideres these things to be activities: cheer, dance/drill, drama, forensics and music.

So what do you think? I know many long time cheerleaders and programs, especially those who compete at a regional and national level who consider it to be a sport, even if the WIAA and NCAA does not.

Do you consider cheerleading to be a sport?
(polls)