The debate on what qualifies as a sport has been a topic in many conversations for years. Though some “non-sports” may not have a high amount of physicality, they still have things that qualify them to being a sport.

And it’s not just physicality that plays into it. “I think what constitutes a sport being a sport is that it is something that you find a family with”, says Senior Claire Muckle. She continued to say, “it’s a team who works together for a common goal. I also think that Marching Band and Poms do get your heart rate up. It may not be running five miles but it definitely gets your heart going and it’s a way to stay active.”

Though people see a high a physicality rate as being a sport, it hasn’t always been like that. In fact, the earliest ever “sport” was mentioned in a latin glossary dating back to 1425. It referred to “the sporte of redynge”, or in english, the sport of reading.

Competing against different schools for one common goal, showing how their hard work has paid off.  For Marching Band and Color Guard, what they put on the field takes hours and hours of perfecting drill and music and fitting them together to form one show.

It may not seem like it but these “non-sports” practice the same amount of time or even more than many other sports in the school do.  Most people think about the final outcome rather than the work put into it.

Marching Band and Color Guard spend 13 hours a week perfecting one show, whether it is putting drill on the field for third movement, perfecting music and drill together, or perfecting music separately. Whereas, football practices 8 hours with one game a week. In the end, Marching Band and Color Guard have been fourth and fifth in the state for the past 3 years in 5A. Poms spend hours perfecting a few 5 minute long dances to entertain the crowds and their hard work has paid off. They have been state champions several times. As for cheer, they put in hours of work perfecting one routine that entertains the crowd at football games.

At Monarch, there is a huge amount of diversity. So the next time you see Marching Band, Poms, or Cheerleaders perform don’t forget to congratulate them or compliment them. After all, every single sport works just as hard as others. It is about time that people start looking past the differences and look at the alikeness of things. Because after all, a non-sport is just as much a sport as any other sport.