Nothing for clubs to cheer about

Province doesn’t recognize cheerleading as a sport, so they wait

CAMBRIDGE— Competitive cheerleaders across Ontario are flipping out after they were told they can’t resume individual training because the province doesn’t recognize cheerleading as a sport.

The provincial government announced recently that indoor sports facilities could reopen providing they follow public health guidelines in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. But those facilities have to meet one of three criteria.

Their sport must be funded by Sport Canada, recognized by the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries or be a member of a professional sports league. And that leaves cheerleading out of the loop.

“Because of the exact wording of the order there is a substantial population of young people in the province of Ontario that are not going to be able to return to their sport,” said C.J. Pugh, president of the Ontario Cheerleading Federation. “That’s been very challenging for our membership and our member clubs. A lot of them are small businesses and have had to lay off their staff and close their doors for the last11weeks.”

To gain recognition as a sport in Ontario, cheerleading’s national organization must receive funding from Sport Canada, which is does not. The rub is that cheerleading is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and Canadian Olympic Committee and was even granted provisional status three years, back meaning it could be an event at a future Summer Games.

Pugh is hoping the province can find a compromise.

“We’re asking for the province to look at its definition and perhaps broaden it to include activities like cheerleading that have recognition at the international level, but are precluded from returning based on the wording of the order that was issued,” he said.

Today’s cheerleading is like gymnastics. Athletes perform stunts with a high degree of difficulty in choreographed routines with intense floor work, aerials and flips. More than 4,000 athletes train in Ontario and many compete at the world championships.

“We have no issue with the requirement to not practise the team portion of our sport,” said Pugh. “We want to comply with all the social distancing guidelines and be held to the same standard as any other organization, but we’re not even given the opportunity to do that.”

Cheerleaders in British Columbia, the United States and New Zealand have been cleared to resume training.

“We’re pretty frustrated,” said Ali Moffatt, co-owner of the Cambridge-based Cheer Sport Sharks, which serves about 1,400 members at five Ontario locations. “We were all excited and ready to go.”

Moffatt has spent about a month fine-tuning a return-to-train protocol, a process that included chats with parents and athletes and studying how other gyms in North America managed their comebacks.

Phase one of her plan involves smaller classes.

The Ontario Cheerleading Federation was hoping the provincial ministry would modify its reopen list to include sports recognized by the Canadian Olympic Committee.

“If they could do that, that would be something that is simple but does allow an industry like ours to survive,” said Moffatt.