In one of the stranger court battles Connecticut has seen in the last few decades, jurors are now deciding whether or not cheerleading is a sport.
Cheerleading was begun a century ago as a pep league of men who jumped around singing songs to cheer on their college’s football team. Today, it’s morphed into something all its own: cheerleaders spending as much time (if not more) with national and international tumbling competitions as well as the usual cheering for men’s teams.
The argument began when Quinnipiac University eliminated their women’s volleyball team in favor of cheerleading. The move made it official: cheerleading was a more important sport to the Hamden, Connecticut school.
The volley ballers did not take this lightly! The team filed a lawsuit against the school, who claims that keeping cheerleading while giving volleyball the axe was done for cost saving reasons. An 11-man volleyball team costs $20,000 more per year than the $50,000 budgeted for 40 cheerleaders.
Both teams are eagerly awaiting a verdict in the court case that began opening statements today. Volleyball players are looking to Title 9 to support their re-instatement. The law requires schools to provide equal opportunities for men and women to compete in sports that involve practice and organized competition overseen by coach(es). Cheerleading is going against some age-old stereotypes to prove in this case that they are, in fact, their own, independent sport. Volleyball players say that a men’s team would never have been dismantled and are fighting sexism in the University.
Though Quinnipiac is a private school they do receive some public funds and are therefore subject to Title IX.
https://youtu.be/uMdo3-lVydo
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