Is animation a sport? – Quinnipiac cheerleading argument taken to court

In one of the strangest court battles Connecticut has seen in decades, jurors are now deciding whether or not cheerleading is a sport.

Cheerleading began a century ago as a pep league of men who jumped around singing songs to cheer on their college football team. Today, it’s come into its own: cheerleaders spend as much time (if not more) at national and international tumbling competitions as they do at regular men’s teams.

The argument started when Quinnipiac University dropped its women’s volleyball team in favor of the cheerleaders. The move made it official: cheerleading was a huge sport for the school in Hamden, Connecticut.

Volleyball players did not take this lightly! The team filed a lawsuit against the school, which claims that keeping the cheerleaders while giving volleyball the ax 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 eagerly await the verdict in the court case that began with opening statements today. Volleyball players seek Title 9 to support their reinstatement. The law requires schools to provide equal opportunities for men and women to compete in sports that involve practice and organized competition supervised by coach(es). Cheerleading goes against some 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 fight against sexism at the University.

Although Quinnipiac is a private school, it receives some public funding and is therefore subject to Title IX.