BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — An expert in cheerleading has testified that cheerleading should not be a competitive sport, saying that making it so would threaten “classical sideline cheerleading.”
Jeff Webb, president of several cheerleading organizations, testified Tuesday in federal court in Bridgeport in a lawsuit against Quinnipiac University. Five volleyball players sued after the school decided in a budgetary move to eliminate women’s volleyball in favor of a competitive cheer squad.
Testifying for the players, Webb said competitive cheerleading is as much a sport as chess.
A federal judge is being asked in part to decide whether cheerleading can be counted as a sport by schools looking for ways to meet gender-equity requirements. He’s also considering whether Quinnipiac improperly manipulates the size of the rosters to comply with those requirements.
