Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate in competitions. The athlete involved is called a cheerleader. Cheerleading originated in the United States, and remains a predominantly American activity, with an estimated 1.5 million participants in all-star cheerleading. The growing presentation of cheerleading as a sport to a global audience was led by the 1997 start of broadcasts of cheerleading competition by ESPN International and the worldwide release of the 2000 film Bring It On. Due in part to this recent exposure, there are now an estimated 100,000 participants scattered around the rest of the world in countries including Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Cheerleading isn't just an activity that everyone thinks it is, but it’s a SPORT! It is hard work and dedication that takes to make state champions. I am a cheerleader that was on the 3rd place state team for my first year. it is a lot of hard work that sometimes really sucks. Your team is your family that you need to trust cause if you don't you will hurt yourself. There are rumors going around that cheerleading will be in the Olympics in 2016. I don't know if that is true but i know that the USA is going to kick some major butt in it. You have to be able to do a complete routine in 2 minutes and 30 seconds, if you go over it you get a deduction. If you think that cheerleading is not a sport than you don't know how much time people put into it.