Modern cheer with the tosses and tumbling is definately a sport. That said I am not a fan and do nor pursue cheer as an activity for my girls. The culture surrounding cheer is very cut throat and shallow, at least in my region of the USA. While there is certainly value in the work ethic necesary and the teamwork the haughty attitude and superficiality promoted     in cheer cancels out the benefits for this mom.  I haven’t even touched on the suggestive dancing that some squads choreograph.
This is *my* experience with cheer in my area. I’m sure not all clubs and squads are the same.

I was a cheerleader in junior high and high school. My parents did not encourage this, I became attracted to it for whatever reason- mostly because the cheerleaders seemed to have so much fun! I lived in a region where it wasn’t too cutthroat.

I don’t really think it’s a sport. It is extremely athletic, however. I just don’t think that it is a sport because it was created to cheer for a sport, you know?

I have a daughter now, and I won’t push her toward cheerleading. I struggle with the idea of her wearing midriff- and toosh-baring uniforms. I struggle with pushing her toward an activity that may or may not encourage her to be a certain size or have a certain look. In high school, our coach only bought size 3,5,7 uniforms. If you didn’t fit, you didn’t cheer.

If she wants to become a cheerleader, I will probably allow it. But, I won’t be pushing her in that direction.

Although I allowed my daughters to participate in dance competitions, I never allowed them to join cheer-leading.  I agree with Karen that it is cut throat and shallow.  I have friends who allowed their daughters to be cheerleaders.  The long hours involved, and the expense would have never allowed my daughters to be a part of it even if they wanted to do it.  I spend many hours at dance competitions, but never experienced the superficiality and “one Upness” there that happens at cheerleader competitions here.  I went once to a competition, that was enough for me.  I never went back.  My daughter spend many hours practicing her dance routines, and her dance competitions were a burden at times. However, she is now pursuing a career as a choreographer.  The friends that had their daughters in cheerleading cannot say the same for their daughters.  Most choose much different careers.  I apologize if I sound one sided.  I am just putting it out there the way I see it here.  BTW my word is “blood 45” How ironic!!

I’m not the mom of a cheerleader and have never been one myself but just had to share my 9-year old son’s reaction to a gaggle of them he encountered this weekend at a grade school football game. I asked him how the game went (first one he’s ever attended) and he told me all about what he thought of it and how his friend played. There was a long pause and then he said, “Some cheerleaders were there and… dressed really strangely. Why were they wearing underpants in that cold rainy weather?” lol

Cheerleading has changed since the days I was a cheerleader!  My dh and I would not allow our daughters to wear the suggestive clothes that we’ve seen or dance like that up on stage.  yikes.  Now - I am only talking about what we have seen around here.  Maybe in other parts of the USA the girls are dressed modestly and doing just cheers and acrobatics??

My daughter was a cheerleader for 2 years in high school. She enjoyed it at first, and we did too. She was at a Catholic school, and the uniforms were modest (as far as a short skirt can be), and the routines sensible, fun and not suggestive. She did attend one competition, and had fun. (I was along for that trip and other than some other uniforms we did not care for, saw nothing else I would have objected to.) We did not find it to be cut-throat at all. When a new coach wanted to push the competitive aspect, she dropped out. She said she was in it for fun and to literally cheer on her classmates. As much as she loved the ‘gymnastic’ component of it, she did not want to be competitive. I must admit though, we’ve enjoyed the one t-shirt she received: athletes lift weights…cheerleaders lift athletes.

I was a cheerleader in high school.  I did not experience any “one upness” but our team was very competitive and won the NCAA championships several years in a row.  I would definitely consider cheerleading at that level as a sport.  However, I would not allow my daughter to be a cheerleader.  As a beginner, it is fairly safe but as you progress it can become extremely dangerous.  Despite being very careful, we experienced several accidents landing girls in the hospital.  In addition, we were asked to do things that I considered immoral such as wearing inappropriate cheer outfits, changing clothing in public (we had boys on our team and a male coach), and “weigh-in’s” where you had to be less than a certain weight or you were on probation.  I understand that these things don’t happen everywhere but I would not want to risk my daughter being exposed to them.

Had to comment!
I am a former lifelong, competitive cheerleader and coached for many years. I have worked for organizations as a cheer camp counselor. I have also cheered for a division 1 college but quickly lost interest being on the sidelines and not competing so I stopped after the first year.  There is a HUGE difference from cheering for a sport vs competitive cheering.  The first is NOT a sport the second definately IS a sport.  I have always cheered for (Catholic) schools and not a cheerleading warehouse organization, although I have coached for teams like this. From my experience, the schooling system is more serious/sportlike, whereas, the “warehouse organization” is a business and produces “gimmicky” routines and outfits.
Cheering is probably THE MOST all-around athletic sport there is.  I could not have been in better shape doing anything else.  It’s individual but you also most work with other’s as a team.  Details, strength, stamina, etc. all are crucial.  I have not worked out much(or maybe at all) for the last 15 years but I am still pretty agile and flexible, can pick up an aerobics class without looking like a spaz but the stamina, however, is gone!!  I have also traveled to many places cheering including Hawaii, Florida and California.
Comparing cheering to pageants literally makes me sick.
I would steer clear of any teams with midriffs showing, seductive routines/music/words and find one focused on the sport aspect.
I have 3 girls. Would I let them cheer?  I don’t know.  Mostly because cheering is extremely time consuming and if I had 3 girls in it, it would be hard for me to participate in just a casual way since I’ve coached for so many years. I would have a difficult time with mediocrity.

Moms, my daughter is a high school cheer leader, and before that, she was involved with Upward cheer leading (a Protestant group at the local Methodist church).  The Upward program is very appropriate for young girls, very gentle.  They dress modestly, cheer for both sides, and have a lot of fun and camaraderie together.  If I had another young daughter interested in cheering, I would definitely get involved in the Upward program again.  The Christian “teaching” involved was friendly and not at all in conflict with the Catholic faith.  No one tried to get our Catholic daughter to join their Protestant church, but they invited people who did not already have a church to join theirs. 

In high school, the issue about cheering being classified as a sport or not affects the way it is regulated by the school.

There are certain protocols out there for cheer leading.  I do not know the name of the organization which sets these standards, but there is one.  We had one coach who violated a lot of these standards, and some girls were injured.  The athletic director hired a new coach who adheres to the standards.  If you have a daughter interested in cheering, you can probably find out by googling and asking around.  Definitely look into what the school team does to minimize injury.

My daughter has had some great experiences with cheering and has made some close friends.  There were mean spirited girls on the team at times, but also lots of really nice, wholesome girls.  Overall, she enjoyed it very much.

I was never a cheer leader, and I am sorry to say that I originally expected it to be a shallow competition somewhat like a pageant.  That was not the case at all.  Those girls work hard and are very athletic.  My daughter is a “base”, one of the girls who holds up the “flyer” on top.  Those girls have to be really strong to hold the top girl.  The “flyer” has to be very athletic and well practiced to stand steadily balanced on the bottom girls, and also to twist around and fall back into the bottom layer of girls the way she does.  They have to have a strong sense of team work and trust; the top girl has to fall back and expect the others to catch her, after all. They learn dance routines as well. It looks like a genuine sport to me, and I’m actually really impressed with what they are able to do. 

If your daughter is interested in cheer leading, and she is very young, please consider Upward, which is very gentle and non competitive.  If she is interested in middle school or high school, please look into the school team.  I’m glad I did not dismiss cheer leading without even looking into the available opportunities.  My daughter would have missed out on an activity she really enjoyed, and some very close friends (best friend is a Catholic fellow cheer leader).

It seems like you are thinking about cheerleading for a young girl right now.  If so, may I suggest that you observe some practices or times when the girls are actually cheering before letting your daughter join.  A few weeks ago a cheer team was practicing near my son’s baseball game so I heard an hours worth of cheers.  I was appalled at the suggestive tones (and movements) as well as outright bad language used in the cheers.  Luckily my daughter has not asked to be a part of that!

I am 52 and was a Catholic school football cheerleader in 7th and 8th grade and a JV and varsity football and basketball cheerleader at my large public city high school in the 1970’s.  Some things are the same and some things have changed.  (My two younger sisters were also cheerleaders and I coached one of their grade school squads.)  I will share the pros and cons from my perspective.  Back in the day, our uniforms were not seductive.  We practiced often enough that we got an aerobic workout similar to a Jazzercize-type class.  We participated in a few community service opportunities.  The strict rules about grades and moral behavior required to stay on the public high school squad may have been what kept more than a few of the girls on the straight and narrow.  We attended a local university summer cheer camp which was a good experience.  We also went away to Ohio State’s camp the next summer, raising most of our own funds.  The camps met our need to compete with others in a fairly small way.  Our school chose to award chenille letters at the sports banquet similar to those earned by the other male and female athletes.  These are among the handful of mementos I saved from high school.  Many cheerleaders are short and /or petite and would not be as well suited to other sports.  (I am 4’11’’ tall.)  In my day, right or wrong, cheerleading improved your social status, in a big way.  Being one on a squad of six in a school of 2,000+ was pretty elite.  Because my looks were below average, this way a ticket up on the popularity scale.  I don’t think cheerleading carries quite the same degree of upward mobility today.  I have (two sons and) five daughters, ages 13-26.  None have been cheerleaders.  All the girls were home educated, but one attended a girls high school and considered trying out to cheer for a nearby boys school (with modest uniforms).  Inwardly I cringed, but kept quiet.  After the first day of work-outs, she dropped out in pain because it was so demanding.  Yes!!!  None of the girls considered cheering in college or through any private organization.  Several of our girls were involved in gymnastics at the YMCA, one competing at a high (dangerous) level.  We discontinued gymnastics after a broken finger and a stress fracture (probably from a college camp).  My chiropractor says he treats more cheerleaders for injuries than the football players they cheer for!  In retrospect, I wish I could have back the time I invested in cheerleading.  It was not a good use of my time.  Being the editor-in-chief of the ambitious school yearbook was an excellent use of my time and included transferable adult skills I still use today.  It has been awhile since I did a split jump.  I was secretly glad that cheerleading was a non-issue in my homeschool.  Although I did not engage in stunts as dangerous as those done today and never had a major injury, I had some very difficult childbirths due to pelvic issues.  I can’t prove that cheerleading was the cause, but my pelvic X-ray looks like someone who has had an accident.  I did not.  Persistent posterior presentation is associated with shortness of stature, but also with pelvic injuries.  (My first child was born by cesarean.)  I have looked through a few cheerleading magazines at a bookstore and what I saw was not at all consistent with our family’s values in terms of modesty, superficiality, excess, etc.  There are a lot of moms living vicariously in the cheer world—a lot of aging hotties, or large mamas that were probably never cheerleader material.  Just sayin’.  But, I’ve seen some of that in the fairly tame arena of Irish dance that my youngest daughter participates in.  Anybody still reading this far, thanks for letting me have my say.