I would love for Cheerleading to be considered a sport. I am sure not everyone agreees, BUT it depends on the school. At Greenup it is all about competition. They have participated in the UCA national competition every year for 30 years (and have brought home 13 national titles.) They compete in regional and state competitions. I have nieces who cheer and know how much money they raise and spend annually. The school does not fund them in any way. All their funds are raised by boosters. In comparison, Greenup funds the football program with $7,500 per year. The bulk of the funding comes from its boosters. Again, having cheerleading classified as a sport would help with title 9. The football booster to cheerleading booster monies would be about even.

 

I agree that cheerleading should be considered a sport. Our athletic boosters do fund all sports (and cheerleading, as it is not considered a sport at the moment), though not equally, as not all sports have equal expenses. Football gets more than any other sport, but still probably not exactly what it should get.

 

Our school does not fund any sport (or cheerleading) except for paying the salaries of coaches.

I agree that cheerleading should be considered a sport. Our athletic boosters do fund all sports (and cheerleading, as it is not considered a sport at the moment), though not equally, as not all sports have equal expenses. Football gets more than any other sport, but still probably not exactly what it should get.

 

Our school does not fund any sport (or cheerleading) except for paying the salaries of coaches.[/QUOTE]

 

And here I was thinking only Greenup was stingy with the Funds!

I would love for Cheerleading to be considered a sport. I am sure not everyone agreees, BUT it depends on the school. At Greenup it is all about competition. They have participated in the UCA national competition every year for 30 years (and have brought home 13 national titles.) They compete in regional and state competitions. I have nieces who cheer and know how much money they raise and spend annually. The school does not fund them in any way. All their funds are raised by boosters. In comparison, Greenup funds the football program with $7,500 per year. The bulk of the funding comes from its boosters. Again, having cheerleading classified as a sport would help with title 9. The football booster to cheerleading booster monies would be about even.

 

I worded that a little badly and wanted to clarify. All of our sports (and cheerleading) receive money from the previous year's gate receipts for football and boys and girls basketball and from the athletic boosters who run concessions at those games. Those three sports receive the largest percentage of the funds, but volleyball, boys and girls golf, cross country, cheerleading, track and field, softball, baseball and tennis each get a percentage. However, our school does not provide any funds, except for coaches' salaries.

This is interesting stuff (and perhaps worthy of a thread itself---How (and how much) are athletics funded at your school? The gate receipts for Football, boys and girls basketball, Track and Baseball all go into a general athletic fund which is then split between all the sports. Consessions are handled by various boosters with those funds going directly to the respective boosters. (including Band and Cheerleading) The school funds the coaches salaries.

This is interesting stuff (and perhaps worthy of a thread itself---How (and how much) are athletics funded at your school? The gate receipts for Football, boys and girls basketball, Track and Baseball all go into a general athletic fund which is then split between all the sports. Consessions are handled by various boosters with those funds going directly to the respective boosters. (including Band and Cheerleading) The school funds the coaches salaries.

 

Our school the board funds the coach's salaries and that is it. Athletic fund takes care of everything else. We have one booster club that distributes money equally. We take the amount of money made from the year and divide it by how many athletes we have in all programs. Nobody can say any sport is favored when it comes to dividing money.

Our school the board funds the coach's salaries and that is it. Athletic fund takes care of everything else. We have one booster club that distributes money equally. We take the amount of money made from the year and divide it by how many athletes we have in all programs. Nobody can say any sport is favored when it comes to dividing money.

 

I would certainly argue against that. Sports that have minimal expenses are certainly being favored if the money is divided equally per athlete, unless football and boys and girls basketball get to keep their own gate.

Cheerleading does not count in the Title IX reports.

 

Perhaps I wasn't clear.

 

Should cheerleading be officially sanctioned as a sport (not just an activity), how would schools with mixed squads be affected? Would there be a disincentive for schools to field mixed squads?

I would certainly argue against that. Sports that have minimal expenses are certainly being favored if the money is divided equally per athlete, unless football and boys and girls basketball get to keep their own gate.

 

No football here so that takes that out of the equation. But you are right about sports that have minimal expenses. If they do not use their money then it can be used for athletic bills that cover all the sports. Ex. dues to KHSAA, etc.

All gate money goes into the general athletic fund.

No football here so that takes that out of the equation. But you are right about sports that have minimal expenses. If they do not use their money then it can be used for athletic bills that cover all the sports. Ex. dues to KHSAA, etc.

All gate money goes into the general athletic fund.

 

I wish that were the case at my school. Some of our teams have quite a bit of money stored up (that has been there for years) and have no problem covering all needs and desires, and do so with little to no fundraising. Other teams do many fundraising events and still struggle to pay the bills for the necessities, with no money left over for anything else.

 

Then we have our track and field team, which has only been around for four years. We don't even have track at our school and they qualified for 22 events at the state meet this year! I don't have any insider information there, but I can't see as how track and field is very costly, except for the transportation.

 

When you say ALL gate money, does that include any from softball, baseball, volleyball, etc?

Then we have our track and field team, which has only been around for four years. We don't even have track at our school and they qualified for 22 events at the state meet this year! I don't have any insider information there, but I can't see as how track and field is very costly, except for the transportation.

 

I certainly don't know anything about your school, but if you don't have a track then you obviously also aren't having a large Annual/Memorial event or anything like that at your school where they are making proceeds from the track and field team.

Perhaps I wasn't clear.

 

Should cheerleading be officially sanctioned as a sport (not just an activity), how would schools with mixed squads be affected? Would there be a disincentive for schools to field mixed squads?

 

If cheerleading was considered a sport for Title IX purposes, which I'm against, wouldn't they consider it a primarily female sport based more females participating than males? There is the occasional female football player or wrestler and yet they are still primarily male sports.

Perhaps I wasn't clear.

 

Should cheerleading be officially sanctioned as a sport (not just an activity), how would schools with mixed squads be affected? Would there be a disincentive for schools to field mixed squads?

 

The positives would outweigh the negatives. While a mixed squad may not be classified as a "female" sport, the amount of money spent per girl participating in a sport compared to the amount of money spent per boy, will inevitably come closer. That is the goal of most school's, and Title IX.

If making cheerleading an official KHSAA sport, and it is classified as a female sport, then I don't know why anyone would be against it. In many cases I would imagine that would allow for another male sport to eventually be able to start that that school.

 

I felt like when I was in high school from 2000-2004 Title IX did more overall damage than good. Maybe that has changed in the last six years, but that was my experience.

When you say ALL gate money, does that include any from softball, baseball, volleyball, etc?

 

 

Yes that includes all sports that have a gate.

I certainly don't know anything about your school, but if you don't have a track then you obviously also aren't having a large Annual/Memorial event or anything like that at your school where they are making proceeds from the track and field team.

 

Help me out here. I am missing how your post connects to costs of the sport.