darn those 7500 character limits
I know this was definitely only 5000 characters to begin with, but whatever… the rest of my speech
Over the next decade, other organizations and companies were created to deal with the rapid rise in the popularity of the cheerleader. Cheerleading went pro in 1960 with the Baltimore Colts cheerleaders. Stunts were incorporated into sideline routines in order to reach the people sitting in higher seats. In 1968 Fred Gasthoff revolutionized pompons by using vinyl to make them instead of paper. In the 1970s the Varsity Company and Universal Cheer Association are created, as well as the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, perhaps the most famous cheerleaders in history. UCA later went on to transform the stunting world by adding new stunts such as the famous Liberty and Basket Toss, and they are continuously developing new stunts even today. In 1978, the International Cheerleading Federation held the first televised collegiate cheer competition. Not long after this, competition among cheerleaders skyrocketed. All Star competition squads were popping up everywhere in the 1980s, and in 1983, ESPN began to broadcast high school level cheer competitions.
Interest in cheerleading competition has continued to climb even recently. Because of this, the debate of whether or not cheerleading is a true sport has continued to rock the world of cheerleading. As late as 1997, only 15 states in the US had officially declared cheerleading to be a sport. In 1999, ESPN went on the record as saying that competition cheerleading is indeed a sport. Later the same year, an ESPN columnist cut down the sport and dismissed as nothing but cheap entertainment. Still today, I can mark cheerleading as a varsity sport on some of my college applications, and on others I can mark it only as an activity. Even cheerleaders themselves arent always sure whether to refer to it as a sport or an activity, so it is easy to see why others may be confused.
Some see cheerleading as a sport, some see it as an art form; others see it as cheap entertainment. I encourage you to walk away from here, slightly more informed, and better able to make your own decisions about how you see cheerleaders.
The End