[cksportsfan]

I believe it is a sport... having daughters that cheered it is demanding but let me ask that why they have so many divisions and so many champions. and so many different national champions... You could be a squad and be national champion but you didn't compete against no one??? no one was in that class.... Now to me that really hurts cheerleading and why no one takes it as a sport because sometimes you win but you didn't compete against no one....so lets set it up like basketball or football all schools compete in districs then regions and the top 16 to state.. do away with this one squad in one class and your state champs (that's a joke) --- now just because they work hard and it's demanding does it make it a sport? Maybe the kids involved think it should be. I think cheerleading is a sport but they have to get out of this 1 squad competing against only themselves...

I didn't go there, but I do agree.

Take Elizabethtown and LaRue County for example. Region rivals in EVERY team sport. In the same class in football, track and cross country. Yet they're in different divisions in UCA Nationals in Florida .... wait, what?

I think I counted 37 different "national" champions on the UCA results PDF from WDW. And that doesn't even get into the other cheerleading organizations.

Plus, it is NOT a shock so many KY teams do well at UCA nationals:

1) A ton of them go down (upwards of 15+).

2) California, Arizona, Vegas, Detroit, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Texas teams can't afford the travel costs to compete in "nationals" in Florida. It's less "Nationals" and more of a big southeastern get-together with scattered other teams thrown in. And how many PUBLIC schools from far-away states can afford the travel? I don't want to hear about KY being far; I've left KY for Panama City before and been home before dinner in a van. Done the Orlando (and Tampa) drive before in less than a day ... an easy drive compared to other areas (St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, Detroit, Indy, Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, Oklahoma City).

If it is "truly" a "national" competition, I'd like to see how many states sent five or more teams from their states ... big shock that most that are are close to Florida (and it's not like Alabama and Kentucky have more teams than New York and California).

I'm being honest here: There will be MORE states represented in the 12-year-old Ohio Valley Regional Baseball Tournament -- and more teams represented, too -- my city is hosting this summer than some of the divisions in the UCA "nationals".

That's 100 percent messed up.