The "Cheerleading: Fearless or Feared?" Story

Granddaughter Camille

It was an ordinary day.  Just cut out an article from our local paper titled "The fears in cheers."  Page and a half detailing the vast amount of injuries that are occurring in cheerleading which is primarily a female activity.  Notice that I didn't say sport, even thought it probably is a sport, because high schools throughout the country have not yet classified cheerleading as a sport.  There is a push by many to have cheerleading classified as a high school sport so that there can be some regulations and rules instituted to protect those who participate in the sport.   I cut the article out of the paper to send to my daughter and granddaughter.  Hope they will read it and take the necessary precautions needed to stay safe.  My granddaughter, Camille, has been involved in cheerleading for over 3 years and is only 8 years old.  She just loves it and can fearlessly do unbelievable moves that were never associated with cheerleading when I was in high school.  I guess the days of standing on the sideline, chanting and clapping your team to victory, are long gone.  Today's cheerleading requires you to be a gymnast and performer.  Camille can do a one-handed cartwheel, back-hand spring, hand stand, head stand, round-off, back walk-over, front walk-over and front hand-spring.  I'm sure that there are others, but she couldn't remember the names of them.  And she is 8 years old!!  All of these routines look, and are, dangerous to some degree.  She practices them daily in her basement where she has mats that she got for Christmas this past year.  My son-in-law, Dave, is a high school football coach and recently had the head coach of Nebraska make a visit to his house to view video of one of his players, and while the coach was watching the videos, Camille was in his line of sight practicing her moves.  He told Dave that she is an excellent athlete for her age.  She attends a one-day-a-week tumbling class at present and the instructor of the class told my daughter that Camille should have individual lessons, since she is doing so well and would benefit from the extra attention she would get.  And, Camille ...... she just loves it.  My question for my daughter would have to be, are the coaches that Camille now has qualified to teach her how to do routines that could possible injure her for life?  The article I read said that the majority of the injuries suffered in cheerleading are a result of improper training or lack of experience by the coach.  Last year there were over 27,000 injuries reported from cheerleading.  How many more weren't reported?  Some injuries are minor, but some injuries have caused catastrophic results as well as death.  Two-thirds of all injuries to high school female athletes are the result of cheerleading.  Unbelievable!  That is why many are pushing for rules and regulations for cheerleading and by classifying it as a school sport, it could be controlled better with qualifications needed to be a coach and necessary equipment provided for safety.  The newspaper story documented the life of a young girl in our community who was injured recently in cheerleading.  She had been involved in cheerleading since 3rd grade.  She was a member of a "base," the group of girls who have the responsibility to catch the "flyer" when they fall from the top during a routine.  It is the responsibility of a "base" to catch the "flyer" no matter what.  While doing a routine that she had performed many times, something went wrong.  The "flyer" came down and landed on her head which eventually struck the floor.  The resulting injury caused shock, a concussion and severe headaches for  2 1/2 months.  She is on the road to recovery and excitedly anticipates her return to cheerleading.  Would you let her return if you were her parent.  Tough decision, isn't it?  Her private coach is extremely qualified having trained as a gymnast for 18 years and also coaching cheerleading for 16 years. But accidents can happen.  I realize accidents happen even if you aren't involved in a physical activity.  The routines that are used today in cheerleading require superb reflexes, timing, training and equipment.  Anything that can be done to insure that qualified individuals are leading the participants has to done.  I only hope that the status of cheerleading can change to accommodate the requirements I listed before more are severely injured.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.   PS - Camille's Urbana, Maryland Hawks Junior Ponies team video from competition this past fall follows.  She is a "flyer" as well as one of the girls who run back and forth in the front doing flips.  Their team placed second in the Maryland State competition.