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Girls' Most Dangerous Sport: Cheerleading
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by JeffHuang | August 12, 2008 at 01:11 pm
2876 views | 7 Recommendations | 12 comments
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Sometimes I catch a glimpse of the national cheerleading contest on TSN (ESPN) and some of the stunts that they do are really impressive. Throwing people up in the air while they are flipping and spinning then having the ability to catch them when they are about to hit the ground. The equivalence is of a person jumping off the second floor of a building. The room for error is minimal. You can imaging when the stunts turn bad, and the catastrophic consequences that incuse after the fall.
For high school girls and college women, cheerleading is far more dangerous than any other sport, according to a new report that adds several previously unreported cases of serious injuries to a growing list.
High school cheerleading accounted for 65.1 percent of all catastrophic sports injuries among high school females over the past 25 years, according to an annual report released Monday by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research.
The new estimate is up from 55 percent in last year's study. The researches say the true number of cheerleading injuries appears to be higher than they had previously thought. And these are not ankle sprains. The report counts fatal, disabling and serious injuries.
The statistics are equally grim in college, where cheerleading accounted for 66.7 percent of all female sports catastrophic injuries, compared to the past estimate of 59.4 percent.
Reason for the increase of catastrophic injuries:
Catastrophic injuries to female athletes have increased over the years, since the first report was published in 1982.
"A major factor in this increase has been the change in cheerleading activity, which now involves gymnastic-type stunts," said Dr. Frederick O. Mueller, lead researcher on the new report and a professor of exercise and sports science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "If these cheerleading activities are not taught by a competent coach and keep increasing in difficulty, catastrophic injuries will continue to be a part of cheerleading."
No longer are cheerleaders the eye candy for the crowd, but now they have to do acrobatic stunts to please the crowd. As the stunts increase in difficulty, there is also an increase in devastating injuries. I am not surprised that cheerleading is the most dangerous sports for girls.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (12)
at 16:43 on August 12th, 2008
Practice session, Nanyang Technological University ACES Cheerleading Team
XXVIII has contributed a photo to this story.
at 20:49 on August 12th, 2008
JeffHuang, I like this story. It's good stuff.
it is truly a dangerous "sport" with no real rules or regulations. so many kids are seriously injured, some fatally, every year. they spend thousands and thousands of dollars to be part of a private cheer team. it's totally ridiculous.
at 22:02 on August 12th, 2008
I have found that there is a vast difference between professional cheerleading, and amateur cheerleading. Professionals have the duty to their corporate employers to remain uninjured, whereas amateur cheerleaders (high school and college) push the limits of physics and their personal abilities in order to shine above the others. Often without regard to their own safety.
I honestly see amateur cheerleading as on offshoot of gymnastics. Unfortunately, without the padded flooring. Regardless of any personal desire to mitigate risk to these young ladies, and men, these athletes can be truly amazing.
- J
shilothecat has contributed a photo to this story.
at 22:05 on August 12th, 2008
at 07:04 on August 13th, 2008
Like any sport, practice, preparation and technique are critical to avoiding injuries, but not all injuries can be avoided. The variance between coaches in cheerleading however seems higher than most sports and may be one reason behind these stats?
You can check out all our local sports photos and videos anytime at LocalReplay.com.
LocalReplay has contributed a photo to this story.
at 17:40 on August 13th, 2008
Beautiful Miss Malaysia 2007. One of the judges at Malaysia National Cheerleading Competition 2008.
wahdi_usj has contributed a photo to this story.
at 19:49 on August 13th, 2008
You write a good news.
Thank you.
chenlinwang has contributed a photo to this story.
at 09:33 on August 18th, 2008
Excuse me for my bad english but I am Italian my cheerleaders group
want to know why when media as Journal and tv talk about cheerleaders is always to tell about...dangerous sport,accident during events,but really few times we read about cheerleading sport,work,sacrifice,and passion to do it.The cheerleaders in Italy are considered some stupid girls with pon pon or foolish girls doing a dangerous sport but never girl who sacrified her young time for sport.It's a shame!!!!
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at 20:13 on August 25th, 2008
Cheerleading really is a dangerous sport guys most the time dont think so but lets just say they lift weights we lift people and cheer involves jumping, flexiblity, tumbling, stunting, and teamwork how about all the guys try to do all that in one SPORT not just an activity. A SPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
at 07:09 on May 4th, 2009
girls can play sports now?!?!?
at 07:11 on May 4th, 2009
It may involve all that stuff, but it's still just an excuse to watch a bunch of blonde teenage girls with good bodies jump around with little clothing. Don't lie to yourself.
PS Let's date.
at 07:13 on May 4th, 2009
Oh, and my email is hockeynut10@hotmail.com ;)
ttyl babe