The Dangers of Cheerleading

            It is a known fact that cheerleading is an extremely dangerous sport. In fact, it is the most dangerous female sport. Many injuries and even deaths have been linked to cheerleading.

            On April thirteenth, 2008 cheerleading squads from all over New England traveled to Worcester’s DCU Center to compete for a chance to win the Minuteman Cheerleading Championships. Energy Cheer, a level six squad from Watertown, Massachusetts, ran onto the floor with spirit like no other team.  The squad was halfway through their routine, and so far had not made a single mistake. Twenty year old Lauren Chang, from Newton, Massachusetts, threw her flier, who was performing a kick-twist basket toss, into the air. On the flier’s way down, she accidentally kicked Lauren in the chest. When Lauren Chang rushed to the back of the mat, and collapsed, her teammates knew something was wrong. At once, paramedics sprinted onto the mat to try to help her. As quickly as possibly, she was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to Saint Vincent Hospital and then transferred to UMass Memorial Medical.  Sadly, the doctors could not do much for her and she died the next day. The autopsy revealed that her lungs had collapsed. At this same competition, three other cheerleaders were rushed to the hospital due to neck, back, and ankle injuries.  

            When the tragic death of Lauren Chang hit the newsstands, there was one person who was not shocked, for the same thing had almost happened to her. In 2006, Smith was cheering for a team at Sacramento City College. She was a flier and was performing an advanced stunt that required her to do a handstand and then be thrown before landing in the arms of her teammates. But the trick didn't go according to plan because the base that was supposed to catch her lost his balance and Smith fell to the ground, head first.  She ended up with a spinal fracture that doctors said was a millimeter away from paralyzing her.

            Another cheerleader, from Medford, Massachusetts died in 2005. On August ninth, during a practice session at East Elite Cheer Gym in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, fourteen year old Ashley Burns injured her spleen. Burns was in the middle of a move known as an arabesque double-down when she failed to complete the second of two twists. She landed chest down and died shortly after.

            Performing stunts, like flying -- being thrown in the air sometimes 15 feet or more off the ground -- can win trophies when done well. When done wrong, it can be devastating, as Chelsea Barrett’s team learned firsthand on Aug. 26, 2004. That's the day the assistant coach wanted Chelsea to try something new.  She was thrown up 15 feet in the air and came down straight on her head. She had a fractured skull, she had bleeding on the brain and after that she had a lot of memory problems and had to re-learn almost everything that she had ever been taught.

            From 1982 to 2006, 10 female athletes have died from injuries sustained  during cheerleading stunts performed at the high school and college level, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. More and more serious sports injuries have been linked to cheerleading. Many cheerleaders who are injured during practices are trained to “suck it up” and compete no matter what. This is very bad because they usually end up injuring themselves more. Cheerleading is an exceedingly dangerous sport and all members of the team must be very cautious and aware of the injuries that can occur as a result of cheerleading.  

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How to Execute Basic and Intermediate Stunts

The most basic cheerleading stunt is called a thigh stand. Before attempting a thigh stand, all members of a stunt group should stretch their muscles. To begin, the left and right bases should stand facing each other. The bases are in charge of lifting the flier up and catching her legs and lower back. The flier, who is the cheerleader that is lifted up, should stand between the two bases, but not completely blocking the base’s view of each other. The back spot, who is in charge of catching the flier’s upper back and head, should be standing behind the flier. The bases bend one of their knees, not letting the other knee touch the ground, in a lunge position. When the flier is on the base’s thighs, the bases should wrap their arms around her legs. The back spot grabs onto the flier’s waist and helps her to get onto the base’s thighs. The flier’s job in this stunt, and most others, is to keep her legs locked out and her core tightened. To bring the flier down, the bases lift one arm up and the flyer grabs onto them. The bases will then proceed to lower the flier to the ground. Although this is a basic stunt, cheerleaders can still get injured, so cheerleaders should make sure that they are stunting correctly and safely.

            The toe-touch basket toss is a popular intermediate cheerleading stunt. Once again, it requires two bases, a flier, and a back spot.  The toe-touch basket can be broken into four different steps. The first step, which is the load-in, requires each base to place her right hand on her left wrist. She must then grab the right wrist from the base across from her with her open left hand. This creates the basket, or platform, for the flyer to stand on. The basket should be loose with elbows slightly bent. The bases should be squatting with their backs straight. The flier then put her hands on the base’s shoulders and loads into the stunt on the balls of her feet, keeping her chest up. Then the back spot comes in and holds the ankles of the flier. The dip is the second step. During the dip, the bases bend their legs even more, still keeping their chests up. They also shrug their shoulders downwards. All that the flier needs to do during this step is keep her muscles tightened. The back spot dips with the bases, still grasping on to the flier’s ankles. The third part of this stunt is the throw. During the throw, the bases use their momentum from squatting down to stand up and straighten their arms all the way. The flier must push off of the base’s shoulders and immediately straighten her legs and hollow out her body. She must ride to the peak and then snap a toe touch, toes pointed, chest forward and her hands reaching for her toes.  The back spot’s job during the throw is to throw the fliers ankles, with all of her strength, into the air. The catch is next. During the catch, the bases and the back spot have the same job. They must lift their arms up above their head’s and catch the flier as high as possible, to avoid injuries. The flier must sit in a cradle position and wrap her arms around the base’s necks. This stunt has a higher level of a safety risk, so it is a good idea to have multiple spotters standing next to the stunt group to help catch the flier if anything goes wrong.        

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My Nationals Experience

When I was in seventh grade, I decided to join the local pop warner cheerleading squad, and we ended up going to nationals that year. In order to get to nationals, squads must qualify at three other competitions. The first consists of teams in the Hocomock League, which are all located close by. In this competition, my squad had a flawless performance and we received first place. During the second competition, which consists of competitors all over Massachusetts we made a few small errors, and once again, were rewarded first place. Our third competition was located at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Rhode Island. This competition was a long one- it ran from ten o’clock in the morning until twelve o’clock midnight. The long wait was worth it, for that night, at eleven forty-five, my squad discovered that we were on our way to nationals in Orlando Florida!
The first few days in Florida consisted of lots of practice. Every day we had one practice, which was three hours long in the morning, and another, that was two hours long, at night. During the rest of the day, we were free to do as we wished, and in Disney world, there is always something to do.
On the third day, we rose promptly at six in the morning. First, each of us had to curl her hair into small little ringlets in a pony tail on top of our head. Next, we got dressed and quickly ate breakfast. After breakfast, we found a spot on the grass and had one last practice. About twenty minutes later, the busses arrived and we were on our way to The Milk House.
Upon our arrival at The Milk House, we were sent to a room to warm up our routines. This is always the most challenging part of competition because it is the last time to practice anything before you compete. After a successful warm-up, we had to wait backstage for about a half hour until we were called onto the mat. This was probably the most stressful half hour of my life. Many of my teammates could not control their nerves, and one of my friends even threw, minutes before we were called to go on stage! I was extremely nervous and felt that at any moment I was going to faint. Even though, one might feel sick backstage, they still must perform, for every member of a cheerleading team is important.
It was the time that we had all been waiting for. Finally we heard our name called and ran out onto the mat with lots of spirit. We delivered one of our best performances yet and we could not wait to see what place we had come in. We were competing against twelve other teams from all around America, and found that we had gotten sixth place. To me, sixth in the nation is quite an achievement, even though I would have loved getting first.
The next four days in Disney World, my friends and I visited all of the different parks. We made our way through the Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and the Magic Kingdom. My favorite ride was definitely Splash Mountain because it was so exhilarating. On top of that we ate at many different restaurants, my favorite being the rainforest café. Overall, nationals was a great experience that I will never forget.
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Is Cheerleading a Sport?

Cheerleading has come a long way since the saddle oxford shoes, pleated skirt- wearing days when the only criteria you had to meet to be a cheerleader was a flashy smile. Nowadays, there are many more requirements that must be met in order to make a competitive cheerleading team. Cheerleading routines can be broken down into four categories- stunting, tumbling, dancing, and cheering.
During stunting, one cheerleader, the flyer, is lifted by three other cheerleaders, the bases. The bases are lifting a lot of weight, which requires a lot of muscle strength. The bases are assigned the job of catching the flyer, even if they have to put themselves in danger. The flyers need to have balance and be flexible in order to perform skills in the air. Their skills range from scorpion double-downs, in which they are standing in one foot, holding their other foot behind their head and are then thrown into the air and spin twice before being caught; to a simple thigh-stand, in which the flyer stands on the thighs of the bases. Stunting requires skill, flexibility, strength, and courage, all of which are requirements for playing sports.
Tumbling is basically gymnastics skills. Gymnastics is considered a sport world-wide and is an event in the Olympics. Cheerleaders perform many of the same tumbling skills that gymnasts execute. On top of that, cheerleaders must throw multiple standing and running tumbling passes and also complete the rest of their routine without tiring. Tumbling and gymnastics have very few differences, yet some would not deem cheerleading a sport.
Many people consider dancing, whether it is hip-hop, jazz, or ballroom; to be a sport. During a cheerleading routine, cheerleaders are required to perform a synchronized dance, which is usually a combination of many different genres of dance. Cheerleaders are required to have flexibility in order to do certain dance moves. All cheerleading routines also include a cheer. During the cheer, cheerleaders must yell the cheer while performing different motions, and sometimes even tumbling and stunting. Cheerleaders must keep their muscles tight and hit every motion sharply in order for the cheer to look clean, and this requires muscle control and strength.
Most sports, including cheerleading have a set of rules and regulations. In high school cheerleading, The American association of cheerleading coaches and administrators (AACCA) constructs the rules, from general guidelines, for specific legal and illegal stunts. The cheerleaders are penalized if they violate any of the rules, usually in the form of point deductions. Competition is the one shot that cheerleaders have to show how much effort they have put into their routine, and in the two minutes that they have, they work extremely hard, and try to have a flawless performance without violating a single rule.
As in any sport, injuries occur during cheerleading. Cheerleading was recently given the title of the most dangerous female sport by People magazine. Over 16,000 cheerleaders are severely injured each year. Recent studies show that cheerleading is responsible for fifty percent of girls’ head and spine injuries.
High school and all-star cheerleading competitions are on ESPN, the entertainment and sports programming network. So, if ESPN considers it a sport, why do so many people insist that it is not? The definition of sport, according to dictionary.com, is an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition. Cheerleading does require physical exertion and is all about competition. Cheerleading should be considered a sport because, if abiding by the definition of a sport, it is.


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My First Post

This is my first post. woot woot!