Competitive cheerleading is officially not a sport that colleges can use to meet gender-equity requirements, according to a  a federal judge ruling on Wednesday.

The volleyball players of  Quinnipiac University  in Connecticut sued their school because they were going to be replaced by a cheerleading squad, for budgetary reasons.

Quinnipiac University just got their Volleyball team back.

The school argued that the competitive cheerleading squad keeps it in compliance with Title IX, the 1972 federal law that mandates equal opportunities for men and women in athletics.

"Competitive cheer may, some time in the future, qualify as a sport under Title IX," U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill wrote in his decision. "Today, however, the activity is still too underdeveloped and disorganized to be treated as offering genuine varsity athletic participation opportunities for students."

Quinnipiac has 60 days to come up with a plan to keep the volleyball team and comply with gender rules.

An activity can be considered a sport under Title IX if it meets specific criteria. It must have coaches, practices, competitions during a defined season and a governing organization. The activity also must have competition as its primary goal — not merely the support of other athletic teams.

Quinnipiac and seven other schools recently formed the National Competitive Stunts and Tumbling Association, to try to lobby to make cheerleading a sport.

So is cheerleading really a sport?

Yes and No.

High school Cheerleaders standing in a corner of a gym during a basketball game doing a few cheers, isn't a sport. Competitive cheerleaders that fly into the air and do crazy shit, is a sport. The main problem with the competetive cheerleading scene is it doesn't follow the criteria of Title IX.  They just need to find some structure around their non-sport, and they will soon be called a sport again.

If you have ever argued with a cheerleader or former high school cheerleader that cheerleading wasn't a sport.  You just won the battle, for now?

[via MSNBC]