The winter sports season of the 2014-15 school year will be the first for cheerleading as an official varsity sport now that the state Board of Regents made New York the 35th state to recognize cheerleading as an official high school sport.

The Board of Regents’ decision puts for an end, at least in New York state, the “argument” over whether or not cheerleading is a sport. Good. We wonder what took so long?

Cheerleading, after all, has been televised on ESPN for years. Even televising the activity at its highest levels wasn’t enough to overcome the image of cheerleading as it existed through the 1960s – as entertainment for football and, later, basketball fans. Cheerleaders stood on the sideline and yelled cheers. That certainly doesn’t describe cheerleading in 2014. Sure, that is still part of the high school activity, but cheerleading has evolved into an activity that requires athleticism seen in gymnasts, strength, precision and stamina.

Recognizing cheerleading as a sport means cheerleaders and their coaches will now fall under the guidelines and rules of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. Schools will have certified coaches, limits on the length of a season and regulations about practice time and conditions. Such guidelines can’t help but to improve the safety of cheerleading, something the American Academy of Pediatrics has reported causes more than half the catastrophic injuries in college and high school female sports. We also note the academy’s position that making cheerleading an official sport would help decrease those injuries.

No one would say high school football should be an intramural sport. The same holds true for high school cheerleading.