Dedham Resident Wants to Make Cheerleading a Sport to Increase Safety

For over four million men and women across the country, cheerleading has been able to not only launch careers but also pay for college tuition.  And even though the activity is packed with gymnastic-like moves, it is still not considered a sport.

Dedham resident Cheryl Duddy Schoenfeld is a former New England Patriots cheerleader, cheerleading coach and the founding member of New England Professional Cheerleaders Alumni Association. And she recently spoke at the State House about bill number 445.  This bill would officially make cheerleading a sport.

"If cheerleading is a sport it will create more funding and the main reason for the funding is for safety," she said.

If cheerleading became a sport, participants would have access to a wide variety of athletic trainers, facilities, "well trained" coaches and medical coverage to all games and competitions.

"This kind of access is very necessary because concussions have gone up 26 percent in the past few years,"Schonfield said.

At the State House, Representative Paul McMurty, Mike Rush and Congressman Stephen Lynch were by her side to support the bill.  And she was happy that they also supported the idea of having cheerleaders be recognized as student-athletes.  However, the MIAA was not present and they are against having cheerleading considered a sport.

"29 state high school athletic associates do recognize cheerleading as a sport and it is time for Masachusetts does as well," she said in her state house speech. "Being classified as a sport affords valuable safety resources and regulations."

Schoenfeld also mentioned how cheerleading team athletes have proven to have or surpass the demands of competitive sport by pushing themselves to perform advance athletic skills and many hours of practice.

She believes that there was a lot of support for the bill last week, but there is still work to do.

"We're going to start rallying the troop to help spread the word," she said. "In the end it's all about safety."