SLOHS cheer did an amazing job at the halftime show last year. Photo courtesy of SLOHS football’s instagram.
San Luis Obispo High School has many sports options: golf, football, baseball, tennis, wrestling, waterpolo, etc. However, one sport SLOHS does not have is cheer.
Cheer is not considered as a sport at SLOHS.
“We train hard and perform harder. Most people are just wearing a mini skirt, looking pretty and waving pom poms, but we work so much harder than that,” said 2024 SLOHS graduate Emily Nicoletti.
The reason for this is because our team doesn’t compete against other cheer teams. They’re not competitive like our stunt team is. Even though they work just as hard as another sports team on this campus.
“I think cheer should be a sport because of how much hard work and dedication the athletes put in. It doesn’t make sense that cheer isn’t a sport considering the nature of what they do,” said senior Phoebe Drazsnzak.
These athletes are putting their whole effort into what they do, and they’re doing it without a fifth period. They have so many cheer routines with less time to prepare for it. Not to mention, they miss a lot of their fifth period classes due to football games.
“[Cheer] deals with fast movements and in some cases lifting humans in the air, it can be good cardio and causes a lot of precision and effort,” said 2024 SLOHS graduate Lea Moffitt.
While many might think this may seem like stunt, it’s not. They’re both very different regarding the mindset, goals, dedication, and skills. However some share a different perspective on this whole topic.
“I definitely think that it should be a class, but I don’t think it should be competitive because I won’t enjoy it as much.” said junior Sadie Fischer.
While this is a far point, imagine someone playing their favorite sport and then people telling them it’s not a sport, and it can’t be because another alternative already exists.
“It’s such a sad and unfortunate thing to hear and experience when you’re told your sport isn’t considered a sport. It definitely makes things harder when being an athlete for it, it has an impact on how not only everyone else but also the athletes see themselves,” said Nicoletti.
Cheer is not a sport at SLOHS also because of stunting. Some think that’s their alternative, even though they are two different sports. People need to come up with a solution to this problem.
“The fact that cheer is a nationally recognized sport with a USA competitive cheer team, we should be considered a sport at the high school level,” said Nicoletti.
Not to mention it’s an olympic sport, as well.
The only way this is going to change is if students, athletes, and parents all advocate for cheer. It all starts when someone speaks up. If SLOHS can’t consider it a sport, then they should at least start with making it an elective class. If SLOHS has a new dance teacher for Dance classes, cheer should be a class, too.
