The dangers behind Cheerleading!!!!!!!

Cheerleading over the years has become more and more dangerous then back in the day. Studies have shown that cheerleading is one of the most dangerous girl’s sports in today’s athletic world. We throw girls high into the air and they have to have an immense amount of trust in the people below them to catch them. But unfortunately flyers aren’t always caught and they then hit the ground which sends these girls to the hospital. The number one injury in cheerleading is neck and back injuries which is from being dropped from great heights on their neck or back. If someone gets in a wrong position when coming down from a stunt and lands on her head, serious neck injury can occur and she could also become paralyzed for the rest of her life. Stunts aren’t as simple as they used to be, now days more twist up twist down flipping up is changing the difficulty of cheerleading and making it more dangerous than ever. It’s more acrobatic now where as back then it was all about the pom poms and the kicks.
The problem with cheerleading is, schools are not recognizing cheerleading as a sport and these teams aren’t getting the athletic training support they need, when in case of an emergency they aren’t there to help when a girl gets hurt. Also cheerleaders aren’t getting the appropriate practice space to protect those from serious injuries. As a cheerleader I have seen some scary accidents that have sent many girls to the hospital because they have been dropped on their head. To help protect your team from sending girls to the hospital your number one priority as a base and back spot is to catch your flyer no matter what and do not let them hit the ground. Even if that means you get a black eye or a few bumps its better than having a flyer with a broken neck or even paralyzed. As a flyer you have a job when up in the air, to prevent from getting seriously hurt when falling you need to not be so loose in the air and you need to catch yourself to the best of your ability.
There are many other common injuries in cheerleading and just a select few include:
• ankle sprains
• Back injuries
• Head injuries (including concussion)
• Broken arms
• Knee injuries
• Elbow and wrist injuries
As for coaches to help protect your team from getting serious injuries you need to make sure you know how to do the difficult skills and the dangers behind them. Making sure there are always spots around when trying a new stunt or trick and making sure the team knows how to catch someone that falls from the stunt is the first priority all team members need to know before performing these skills.
It’s not a good thing to be the number one most dangerous girls sport aside from gymnastics but we can help reduce the amount of injuries if we just pay more attention to catching the flyers regardless if you get hit in the process and also making sure all athletes are aware of the basics so injury isn’t in the picture. No one likes to be hurt so protect your top girls and save a girls life.