14 Results for tag: cheerleading

Letdown on Competitive Cheer Ruling

The 2nd U.S. Circuit of Appeals upheld a U.S. District Court's 2010 ruling that competitive cheerleading cannot be considered a sport under Title IX. In the 2010 decision, Judge Stefan R. Underhill forced Quinnipiac University to reinstate the women's volleyball team because competitive cheerleading "is still too underdeveloped and disorganized to be ... More

What’s the Real Purpose of Adding Sports?

The Title IX Blog's Kristine Newhall, after framing her own requirements for how cheerleading can be considered a sport (in light of its elimination at the University of Maryland), writes: Meeting such conditions would clear the way for OCR to offer approval and thus make it count for Title IX which is what most schools are looking for: a cheap sport to ... More

University of Maryland Cuts Varsity Cheer Program

The Washington Post's Liz Clarke reports that the University of Maryland (UMD) has cut its 9-year competitive cheerleading team because of budget. This development is especially devastating because UMD pioneered the recognition of cheerleading as a varsity sport and was one of only a handful of Division I schools to offer elevated status to participants. ... More

Addressing the Real Harms of Title IX Policy

In the Atlantic essay, “How Title IX Hurts Female Athletes,” Linda Flanagan and Susan H. Greenberg cite the prevalence of injuries and eating disorders, as well as the tremendous pressure to win games as evidence proving Title IX’s negative impact on girls. Those issues are serious and do deserve attention, but male athletes face the same challenges ... More

Cheer Mom Blasts Women’s Sports Foundation in NYT Letter to the Editor

Over the weekend, the New York Times published a letter to the editor from the mother of a competitive cheerleader that probably wasn't well received at the HQ of the Women's Sports Foundation on Long Island: To the Sports Editor: Re “Cutting Men’s Programs Now to Satisfy Title IX in Future,” May 2: By lumping cheerleading with drill team and ... More

Cheer Dad Defends Booster Club Independence

We've written about how Title IX poses a threat to high school athletic booster clubs. That's why we were cheered earlier today when we read this account of how the father of two cheerleaders sprung into actionwhen his local school board tried to pass regulations that would have forced the cheer boosters to share the money they raised with other clubs: T... More

Competitive Cheer Survives in Quinnipiac Title IX Compliance Plan

The news just moved on the AP wire. Quinnipiac University has submitted its Title IX compliance plan to Judge Stefan Underhill. According to the story, the school will keep both competitive cheer and volleyball under the plan, while adding women's golf and women's rugby. Unmentioned by the story, however, were the men's teams the school eliminated in the ... More

The Big Secret About Title IX and Competitive Cheer

Over the past few weeks, I have to admit that I've been more than a little vexed over the controversy concerning competitive cheer and Title IX. I feel that way because there's an elephant in the room that the opponents of competitive cheer are either working to obscure or just refuse to acknowledge. You see, competitive cheer already qualifies as a ... More

NOW Comes Out in Support of Competitive Cheer (Maybe)

Here's a piece of news that had me gasping in astonishment: the National Organization of Women has come out in support of competitive cheer. Here's a linkto the statement: Granting cheerleading a place in the sports world will force the development of stricter regulations, official tournaments, and improved training and safety procedures -- important ... More

The Power of Competitive Cheer

A couple of weeks ago, I got to know Kimberly Archie, the founder of the National Cheer Safety Foundation. And after having a couple of conversations with her, it was impossible not to come away incredibly impressed at both her knowledge and her energy. Here at the College Sports Council, we're very excited to be working with her. To get a better idea of ... More