Catastrophic Injuries in Cheerleaders Rising
Keeping Cheerleaders Safe through Certified Coaches
According to the 25th Annual Catastrophic Sports Injury Report funded by a grant from the National Collegiate Athletic Association, American Football Coaches Association, and the National Federation of State High School Associations, high school and college cheerleaders accounted for more than half of 112 catastrophic injuries sustained in girls and women sports during the past 25 years.
What was once a service club has now become a highly competitive sport. The demands on these young athletes have significantly increased with strength, balance, and tumbling being primary requirements for many teams. On any given weekend across this nation, thousands of young girls compete in cheerleading competitions sponsored by a variety of cheerleading organizations.
Injuries Resulting from Basket Tosses
Athletes are routinely tossed up to 15 feet in the air and expected to be caught by their peers (basket toss). After reviewing the data from the Catastrophic Sports Injury Report, many of the injuries documented occurred to “flyers” tossed high into the air by their peers and then dropped onto the gym floor.
One college cheerleader was paralyzed after being injured while performing a double flip during a basket toss. She sustained a cervical spinal cord injury resulting in quadriplegia. Another “flyer” fractured her neck in two places when she fell head first from a height of about 15 feet. She was in a halo brace bolted to her skull for two months. Although recovered, she will never cheer again and has highly restricted movements.
Athletes who caught the flyers were also at risk and sustained injuries to their face and head. One athlete was struck in her head by her falling partner after first striking her head on the ground during a fall at a cheerleading camp.
Injuries Resulting from Performing Pyramids
Falls off of pyramids was another category of stunts in which numerous athletes were seriously injured. These injuries were sustained from athletes falling off of the top of pyramids (cheerleaders stacked two and three levels above the floor) and landing on their heads on the gym floor. These athletes sustained skull fractures, brain injuries, cervical spine injuries resulting in paralysis, fractured bones, and head injuries resulting in coma.
These statistics are a wake up call to parents who have their children involved in competitive cheerleading. Parents need to thoroughly research the qualifications of the coaches before allowing their children to participate in this sport, and fully understand the types of injuries and risks involved before signing any waivers.
Qualified Certified Coaches Need to be a Requirement
According to Jim Lord, executive director of the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators (AACCA), “Safety rules aren’t nearly as important as having a qualified coach in place.” Although the NCAA does require college coaches to be certified, there are no standardized requirements for coaches at the high school and club level.
The American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators is an advocate for cheerleading safety education. Their website posts guidelines, certification courses, and lists AACCA certified instructors by state.
The National Council for Sport Safety and Education (NCSSE) is another organization recognized by the NCAA to meet their requirement for safety education. Certification courses for coaches can also be found on their website.
The authors of the 2008 Catastrophic Injury Report make a sobering statement, “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." (Mueller & Cantu, p. 24).
Catastrophic injuries are inherent in the sport, but could be reduced with required certified coaches at all levels.
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