Athletic Support: Is dance a sport? eli.cranor@gmail.com December 26, 2021 Eli Cranor is a former professional quarterback and coach turned award-winning author. Please use the “Contact” page at elicranor.com to send in questions for “Athletic Support.”

Dear Athletic Support: Is dance a sport? My daughter just started dancing at one of the places here in town. She loves it, which is new for us. She’s only five, but we’ve already tried soccer and gymnastics. My daughter didn’t like either one, at all. She wouldn’t even get off the bench for the soccer games. Gymnastics was fine. But dance has been a completely different thing. It’s all she wants to do! She has a mirror in her room and she literally just dances in there for hours. I’ve never seen anything like it. Her mother and I were both athletes growing up. We love sports, but I’m just not sure dance is worth her time, or if it could even be considered a sport at all. Maybe this is just a dad thing, but I could really use some guidance here.

— Dance Dad

Dear Dance Dad: I’m guessing you haven’t actually sat and watched your daughter at once of her dance practices?

If you had, you’d know how grueling dance can be.

Regardless of whether or not dance can be defined as a “sport” in the classical sense; it is most definitely a highly involved, athletic activity.

What’s more important, though, is that your daughter loves it. If she’s putting in all those extra hours, unprovoked, then you should do everything you can to encourage her.

Regardless of whether or not you and your wife were athletes, you should support your daughter in whatever activity she chooses to pursue, even if that activity isn’t a “sport.”


Dear Athletic Support: We have a basketball tournament the Monday after Christmas. This is during the break from school. I’m not even going to talk about the coach or anything like that. I just can’t see myself packing up my entire family and driving to this tournament one day after Christmas! Do you think this is okay? What kind of repercussions will my son face for skipping out on these games?

— Christmas Is 4 Family

Dear Christmas: No coach can tell you what to do with your son, especially over a school break.

With that being said, the coach might reduce your son’s playing time. In other words, if your son was a starter before this tournament, he might not be a starter afterwards.

Playing time isn’t really the issue, though.

Time with your family over the holidays — that’s the issue. Only you know what’s best for your son.

In the end, if your son is one of the best athletes, he’ll still make the starting five regardless of this one tournament. However, if absences become a recurring problem, then this coach could have a much better reason to bench your son.


Previous columns:

• Son won’t get off phone
• Hard work not paying off
• Naysayers bringing me down
• Player forced to run after missing practice for sickness
• Volunteering at tournament no fun
• Not enough help with Booster Club
• Hoping my son quits basketball
• I wish my son practiced less
• When should my son start football?
• No ‘bad faces’ in basketball
• Son wants to join football team midway through season
• Housekeeper can’t make daughter’s game
• Auditions getting in the way of volleyball
• Foul language on the sideline
• Laundry Stinks
• Fit more important than price when it comes to cleats
• Facebook ads and too many practices
• Coach pushing vaccine on players
• Youth sports like a cult
• Coach’s pregame speech too crazy for kids
• Championship rings and multiple sweatbands — too much?
• Working out over the Dead Weeks?
• Summer School Blues
• Practices running late causing problems
• Softball games going past midnight
• Are athletes getting better with age?
• Are team sports a vital part of childhood?
• Summer schedule way too serious
• What if I can’t afford private speed camps?
• Quarterback lacks speed
• Should pro athletes talk politics?
• How to take a hit
• Wrestling in college, what’s the point?
• Removal of mask requirement could cost us games
• Overachieving daughter stinks at sports
• Why are we playing all the small schools?
• Freshmen don’t make varsity, usually
• Kids have changed, haven’t they?
• Esports and disc golf bigger than football?
• Little pitchers have big ears
• Pregame music offensive
• Fouls in girls basketball
• Red Shirting
• Coach makes political post
• 7th grade girls basketball woes
• Multi-million-dollar buyouts don’t make sense
• Private schools have the upper hand
• Best of 2020

Athletic Support Columns 2020


Outside of athletics, kids’ brains are also at risk. Who knows what sort of impact virtual learning will have on their cognition and critical thinking skills. In this regard, I offer one simple tool — a good book! And luckily, I know just the book for kids struggling with the shift to virtual learning:

BOOKS MAKE BRAINZ TASTE BAD! Okay, you caught me… I’m the author of this book. It was published last week and awarded a #1 New Release ranking on Amazon. BMBTB deals directly with the same topic covered in this column, except in a much more lighthearted, kid-friendly way (zombie teachers and brain-munching screens!) If you end up purchasing this book for your children or grandchildren, I only have one final suggestion — ask them to read it while standing up! Eli Cranor's new book Books Make Brainz Taste Bad has just been released. ZOMBIES HATE BOOKS! Especially the zombie teachers at Haven Middle School. That's why they're using VR headsets to fry kids' brainz. Luckily, Dash Storey knows how to save his classmates from the zombie teachers—BOOKS! They make brainz taste bad! "Eli Cranor has an almost unbeatable advantage. He can remember how it felt to think like a twelve-year-old and he can see the very same events like the adult he is. Don't try to resist this book!" - Jack Butler, Pulitzer-Prize nominated author