Hello My name is Jade Smith. I'm a 16 year old cheerleader from Lynchburg Virginia. The reason I am writing to you today is because I don't really understand why you guys don't show cheerleading more on your channel. The only thing you basically show are the Cheerleading Worlds, which you only show for an hour. You didn't know even show it live. You'll show it about 3 months later. It would be nice to see you interview the teams, show them when they arrive, show most teams perform, and lastly show the awards ceremony. In case you haven't noticed, cheerleading is a multi-million dollar business and a sport. Yes cheerleading is a sport. I find it disrespectful as a cheerleader, to turn to ESPN and see sports such as gymnastics on. Gymnastics and cheerleading are very closely related. Especially all star cheerleading. Most cheerleaders were first gymnasts and when gymnasts reach their peak, some become all star cheerleaders. I don't understand why people consider gymnastics a sport but not all star cheerleading ? Can you answer me that ? People really fail to see just how intense cheerleading is. Unlike football and basketball, the season for all star cheerleading is never over. We spend months training for competitions around the country, spending days and hours working our butts off in the gym. It's soo unfair to us not to get the recognition we deserve. People think that cheerleading is just a bunch of pretty girls jumping up and down, dancing. It's not. Maybe if sport channels such as ESPN broadcasted what a " real ALL STAR cheerleading training session is like, people would change their minds. Also it's really hurtful to us knowing that were trying our hardest to make cheerleading an Olympic sport, when sport channels and the media such as ESPN, ABC, NBC, FOX SPORTS,etc.. don't give us the exposure it derserves. All Star cheerleading ( just like gymnastics and figure skating ) isn't something you can start at any given time and expect to reach the "elite" level or ( as we call it level 5 ). Most girls start cheerleading as young as 4. We practice skills in the gym sometimes 4 or even 5 times a week for hours to perfect skills that can injury us. Let's be honest most people can't even touch their toes, we do that and more. Why doesn't ESPN cover major cheerleading events such as Jamfest, Cheersports and the NCA AND UCA All Star Nationals ? Does ESPN honestly think cheerleading is a sport ? I'm going to share a small part of a essay written by Noelle Buhidar called "Cheerleading's thrills makes risk worth taking ". This paper is taking about a cheerleader from the prestigious All Star Cheerleading team Cheer Athletics from Dallas Texas and how her is at the 2004 World Spirit Federation Nationals in Tulsa, Okla. " Every member from this celebrated institution deserved and wanted to be at nationals to have the chance to earn personal glory after months of excruciating training. However, more important then the individual accolades was winning for the team and our gym. Every girl on the squad knew the objective was to win, and we also knew that if we didn't there would be consequences." " This wasn't the first time that cheerleading had left me battered and bruised on a mat. Within my first year of competitive cheering, I had broken two bones in my arm, torm my hamstring and pulled both groin muscles. That doesn't even include the minor injuries sustained in nearly every practice. " Pain was gain" and after physical therapy, a true athlete was back in the gym. Coaches don't waste time babying cheerleaders, even though an estimated 16,000 cheerleaders are injured every year in accidents involving dramatic stunts and tumbles. It's called competitive cheerleading for a reason- the stakes are high and there are always other talented cheerleaders waiting to take your spot on the team. Every day at the gym is a risky adventure of increasingly daring gymnastics and high flying acrobatics. It's a culture of athletes who can flip fast, dance hard and throw high. When you have a shelf full of trophies to show for your skill, the grueling work is more gratifying. When injuries occur, you have the support of the team. The camaraderie and the exhilaration during competition are worth the injuires that come with the sport. " Cheerleading become my life passion, my life. I spent five days a week year round at the gym training for competitions." " My coaches were my other parents; my teamates, my other silbings. This is were the best cheerleaders in the country trained. I knew that I would be pushed to my physical limit. I would become an elite athlete, a national champion. We had two hour practices three times a week year round and we were required to take a tumbling class on top of that. I cheered at school school once a week, attended CA practices, took two tumbing classes and signed up for private lessons. I cheered seven days a week, multiple times a day. I never felt so devoted to anything. See how could that NOT sound a competitive sport to anyone ? Still not conviced ? Okay I have another essay for you by "Tina Vitanza" called " Cheerleading: Sport & and a way of life" growing up being a cheerleading was not like that at all. I've experienced the wins, losses, trips to hospital and the drama behind the scenes. " Starting in elementary school when I was in fourth grade, one competiton that brought me home a first place trophy made me want to excel more as an athlete in the gym as I got older." Seeing how hard you can push yourself to lift girls, fly as high as you can can before you hit that toe-touch and tumble until your face and the spring floor are your best friend. I have seen the bloody spring floors at competitions where girls fell the wrong way and bones have come out of their skin. I competed with and against girls who have broken a bone during a rountine in front of judges and kept on going until the music stopped. "I've been in the emergency room when a girl twisted the wrong way out a stunt and broke my nose". " The chipped teeth, black eyes, swollen daces and contusions. No joke. Cheerleading is on the most dangerous sports out there. Seeing how high a girl can be thrown in the air and to what limits you can tumble on that floor is something that tests out how hard you can go and how strong you can be. "The intense practices, gymnastics classes, and conditioning and going to the gym everyday in between. Every year the requirements for making the teams get tougher. The permission forms and who to call in case of injury or possible death forms get harder to sign knowing the stunts are harder and the tumbling combined. "Cheerleading is not what people assume it to be." " People don't see the practices, the runs, exercise workouts to follow, the 250 pushups if were late or drop a girl. The precision and dedication that if a girl falls, it is not just one person's fault-it's the teams. Knowing where to put your hand or foot that make a stunt hit solid and knowing your flyer so well that when she goes up in the air you know exactly where she will go, and what to do to make sure she lands in your arms and on the floor is something a cheerleader is trained to do. Everyone on that team puts their life in another person's hand, literally. Now once again how can you NOT think that this sport isn't ESPN worthy ? For all you people who say cheerleading shouldn't be in the Olmypics because it's primarly an American Sport, Yeah So ? Look at football you don't see them playing teams from different countries but yet even though football isn't in the Olmypics, people still know it's a sport. Football is about American as apple pie. Think about it this way, look at the countries that don't do too well in the Summer Olmypics ( Especially in Gymnastics ), like for example Australia and Britain both have exactly strong gymnastics teams but they would probably have a better chance of metaling in Cheerleading. Speaking of Intrnational cheerleading, why doesnt ESPN try covering the International Cheer Union Championships. Or even do a " Making the Team" speical on all the U.S cheerleaders trying out for the National Team. Anyway over 75 nations competed at this event. "Wimps lift weights, while cheerleaders do that and lift people all while having a smile." From Jade Smith. P.S THIS IS JUST A ROUGH DRAFT.
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Michelle Kwan is the "Kween" Sasha Cohen "Ballerina on Ice" Yu Na Kim is the "Queen Yu Na" Mao Asada is the "Queen of the Triple Axel"
Thank you so much for quoting me in your letter and really seeing my point of view. Where did you find my article though? I'm really interested to find out :) I hope ESPN really takes it into consideration. I have been doing cheerleading for so long and I would love to see it grow even more than when I first began! Thanks again and good luck!
