Cheerleading: Sport or spectacle?

Is cheerleading a sport?
In highschool, the cheerleaders were exactly what their name presented them to be: girls who led the cheers. That is all they did.
We showed up to assemblies, basketball games, football games, pep rallies, and everything else knowing the crowd was the unofficial cheerleading team. They would prance out onto the floor or field and yell at us using their inside voices. How pathetic, right?
Then, at the end of the game, after we’ve lost of course, they’re all running to get water. For what, ladies? Are you winded? Have you perspired? I didn’t think so. I broke more of a sweat than you cheering from the bleachers.
They made us look bad.
Fast forward four miserable, unexciting years and I was introduced to the REAL. Do you hear me? Hands down, real-life, tumbling, flipping, dipping, and everything else you can imagine a collegiate cheerleader doing.
I remember my first Jaguar football game. I was there because it was the thing to do at the time. I mean, it was always the move on the weekend. Me and my friends sat in the student section, and pretended to care that football was happening on the field.
Two quarters later, I’m about ready to quit pretending and blow the popsicle stand. Then all of a sudden, Tevin (and don’t pretend you don’t know who he is) flips about twenty times down the track around the perimeter of the field.
I was sold. Two more quarters later, and I’m finding myself at the edge of the bleachers, watching the cheerleading team do their thing. A sport.
They were doing all kinds of stunts, flipping every time we scored a touchdown, and still full of energy. By the end, their faces were still beat, linings still in tact, and diaphragms stronger than ever. No one even searched for a drop of water. They were doing what they loved.
So, I guess it depends on when you ask me. In high school, cheerleading was not a sport. It was an extracurricular activity that came with a cute uniform and popularity.
At my HBCU, cheerleading is a way of life. The cheerleaders show up and show out every time, and it might be one of the greatest shows of skill I’ve ever witnessed. Pure skill combined with Jaguar spirit. Now that’s a sport.