Cheerleading Facts
Studies Show Injuries are on the Rise in Cheerleading - Facts You Should Know
If you or someone you love is or plans to participate in cheerleading, facts to consider are these:
According to a 2009 National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury study, cheerleading injuries account for 65.1% of all catastrophic sports injuries that female athletes incur in the last 25 years.
The Centers for Disease Control have indicated that cheerleading is second only to football for causing concussions and brain traumas in high school athletes.
With these cheerleading facts in mind, if you are a parent or friend of a young woman involved in cheerleading, should you try to stop them? It is not very likely that a determined teen with the chutzpa to want to try this challenging sport can be dissuaded from continuing. So where does that leave you?
You are not your teenager. Ultimately they make their own decisions and forbidding your teenager an experience she desperately wants could cause a life long riff between the two of you. If you determine that she is only mildly interested, you could suggest other sports that are not as dangerous. If your teen wants peer approval, ask what other activities might be fun. It could be joining a group of friends doing community volunteer work. It may seem far removed from a risky sport, but think about high-school students’ well-documented need for peer acceptance. They want to be cool. If coolness is associated with cheerleading, or anything else, they will be interested.
On the other hand, some young people are genuinely obsessed with this sport. They may be hooked on the adrenaline rush and pursuit of excellence. You are not responsible for the injury of your friend or relative, son or daughter. Give it your best shot—discuss the injury statistics, help them to weigh the benefits and drawbacks. If they still want to be a cheerleader, then you need to let them live. Over protected or micro managed teens often seek increasingly dangerous pursuits, or do what they want to—behind your back.
However, that is not an endorsement for abdicating parental responsibility. You can suggest ways to do reduce the chance of injury.
For instance, studies conducted in Ohio by the Ohio State University College of Medicine and the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, indicated that: more injuries in cheerleading happened during practice than actual games. That’s because complex stunts are repeated numerous times during practice. Health professionals and concerned parents suggest that cheers can be done without becoming air born (when most injuries occur). If cheerleaders were to emphasize the dance component, it could help reduce the ever-increasing sprains, pulled muscles, concussions and head injuries. Or if reverse psychology works, tell your daughter “Go on, try that new stunt”. Being rebellions, she might say, “No, I don’t have to do what you tell me to”.
In conclusion, become well versed in cheerleading facts and statistics. Then see if your teenager might modify her repertoire, reducing the frequency of spotting, pyramids, and other advanced stunts. Alternatively, check out her receptivity for switching to another sport or activity altogether. Having done these things, let it be. You can control what you do but not what anyone else does, even if it is your own offspring.