Is it a Sport: Cheerleading

Two, four, six, eight …

They exist in gymnasiums, stadiums and stereotypes.

Few other images are as synonymous with American sport as the cheerleader.

The smiling, clapping, arm-raising, kicking, call-and-response tornado has become as much a companion to sports as wins and losses.

Pompoms and perma-grins are some accessories, but those involved at various levels stress athleticism over eye candy.

"It's a lot harder than it looks," said Salpointe Catholic High School junior and cheerleader Estevan Moreno, 17.

Moreno, who also plays running back on the football team, helped the Salpointe cheer squad win the 1A-5A varsity small co-ed cheerleading state championship last month. He does get a hard time about participating.

"They make fun of me, but the state ring speaks for itself," Moreno said. Football is difficult, but so are aspects of cheerleading, he said.

Watching someone take a small running start, then make the successive transition onto palms, back to feet and then into a double backflip can yield the same sense of awe as when an outfielder makes a diving catch for an impossibly whacked baseball. Just like a star center fielder, a cheerleader needs good body strength, flexibility, balance but also memorization skills, rhythm and some gymnastics ability.

In cheer competition, variables like a tiny time limit, a high performance level and appearance expectations near a Sunday-best can make for a battle.

Whatever your position on cheerleading — some see it as purely ancillary — it faces the same challenges as other sports, especially at the high school level.

"Don't let the skirt fool you," said Salpointe junior Rosette Abud, whose brother Ricky, 24, coaches the Lancers' team.

Behind the smile

The Arizona Interscholastic Association, the governing body of high school athletics in Arizona, recognizes cheerleading as an activity — the same classification that includes chess and theater.

"At this point, it's not a sport," said Dean Visser, AIA activities coordinator.

The AIA reasons that cheer, or spirit line, has no legitimate season, unlike basketball, football and other sports.

Cheerleaders themselves are divided on whether what they do is a sport.

Though Phoenix Suns dancer Vanessa Bosell, 21, may look like a cheerleader while clutching purple pompoms in a form-fitting outfit, she considers herself a dancer.

University of Arizona cheerleader Ashlee Gerfen acknowledges herself as a true cheerleader but also agrees with the AIA. She performs stunts like getting tossed in the air, but does not consider what she does a sport since there is no competition involved.

Salpointe cheerleaders train year-round, from summer camps until the end of March, and beginning in October they perform at several sporting events a week.

AIA bylaws state the purpose of cheerleading and spirit line is to support athletic programs and boost school spirit.

Ricky Abud said that while performing at games is the primary focus, competition is close behind.

"It's a whole lot more than girls putting on a cute little bow and throwing on some lipstick," he said.

In the AIA's yearly competition, which draws about 90 high schools from all parts of the state, there are spirit line rules regarding taunting and unsportsmanlike conduct. For instance, trash talk by competitors or spectators can result in ejection, according to the AIA's Spirit Line Tournament guide.

Cheerleaders say the unsportsmanlike conduct is rare at such events. If teams perform well in a 2 1/2-minute performance, other teams know how good they have to be, cheerleaders said.

Some well-wishers are less than genuine.

"They'll say 'good luck,' but the look behind it says more than anything else," Moreno said.

Blood, sweat, cheers

Cheerleading practices at Salpointe are held three or four times a week from 5 to 7 a.m. since gym space is hard to come by at the high school, Abud said.

The team stretches, then continues without a break into gymnastics, pyramids and basket tosses, in which a girl is thrown skyward and caught by her teammates. When the team is gearing up for a competition, the Salpointe cheerleaders will mostly just work on routines.

At the first of the three-day Salpointe cheer tryouts last week, about 27 girls from grades 8 to 11 auditioned for 17 varsity slots. Coach Abud didn't make the school's four male cheerleaders tryout as they were all returners.

The tryout tests consisted of a combination of gymnastics, timed dance and unison chants, such as "G-O Yellow Go!"

Eighth-grader Kaitlyn Ramos tried to conquer her fear of heights during the two-hour tryout. The Tortolita Middle School student tried out in advance of her freshman year at Salpointe. Ramos was continually lifted over the heads of three teammates while upright.

"You basically have someone's life in your hands," said Raynin Force, 27, an instructor at Tucson Cheer Academy, which offers classes to beginners and competitive teams.

For the risks, there are few long-term career incentives for overachieving cheerleaders.

Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders make about $50 a home game, according to the team's Web site.

Other Suns dancers say their job is part time but the benefits rock and can include free spa days and tanning sessions. They also consider the half-court dance routines and cheering on the Suns — to be a sport.

"It definitely takes some athleticism," said Suns dancer and high school math teacher Amy Jo DeSpain.

Erin Nurss, 21, says she's a combination cheerleader-dancer as a member of the UA Pom Line, which can be spotted in navy skirts and spandex tops waving pompoms at basketball games.

"It's not a sport, but cheerleaders and dancers are athletes," Nurss said.

Times a changing

Since his days cheering in high school and at the UA, Abud said he has seen an increase in male participation, athleticism and competition.

Participants are held to a sportslike eligibility standard, and AIA rules regarding cheerleading are revised almost yearly.

Some recent changes range from the visual, like keeping fingernails trimmed to the end of the finger, to ensuring participants wearing a cast are not involved in performance stunts.

Rules and revisions come from the National Federation of State High School Associations, which assembles representatives from each state annually to access the state of cheer, Visser said, with recent rule trends moving toward safety and attire.

It's expected that basketball players compete and get sweaty and disheveled. In cheerleading, presentation matters, including matching socks and length of skirts.

High school cheerleaders in Arizona are asked to present themselves more conservatively than girls in other states, including no bare midriffs, Visser said.

Some cheerleaders admit it's important to look poised and presentable with makeup and good posture, but Josephine Juarez, mother of Salpointe's Marina Caperon, speculated that could be one reason cheer is devalued as a sport.

"They make it look like it's easy to be gorgeous and athletic. That is why people don't take it seriously," she said.

Is cheerleading a sport?

● Y-E-S, yes!

● No, keep the pompoms on the sidelines

The third in a series examining a fringe competitive activity and trying to determine if it is a legitimate sport. We'd like you help settle the score. Vote online at www.azstarnet.com/sports and let us know what you think. We'll print the results in next month's installment.

Poker is not a sport, according to your votes. The popular card game televised on sports cable networks does not meet the criteria of a sport. 89 percent of voters said.