High School Cheerleading Squads at Risk

Are Coaches Qualified to Safely Instruct Cheer Squads?

Oct 14, 2009

If qualified coaches with cheerleading experience are not available at the high school level, then cheerleading squads need to keep their feet on the ground.

The number of cheerleaders being treated in emergency rooms across the country continues to increase with an 8% increase in all ages. Even more disconcerting is the 110% increase in emergency room visits for cheerleaders age 13 and under (Consumer Products Safety Commission, National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, 2008).

With the high number of catastrophic injuries in the sport of cheerleading leading all of girls’ sports (National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, 2009) and with the increase in the numbers of cheerleaders treated in emergency rooms, national attention needs to be brought to this problem.

The causes need to be identified and solutions implemented to reverse this trend and to do it sooner rather than later. A number of organizations are working hard to draw attention to this problem including the National Cheer Safety Foundation (founded by a parent whose daughter was injured in cheerleading).

Oversight of the Sport of Cheerleading is Still a Problem

One of the primary problems is that there is no oversight of cheerleading because cheerleading is not designated as a “sport.” Designating competitive cheerleading as a sport would bring this sport under the same oversight as any other high school sport. As it is now, regulation of the squads are left to individual school districts.

Unqualified Coaches Place Cheerleaders at Risk

Another significant problem is the lack of training of either the coach or the “advisor” responsible for the oversight of the cheer program. The Los Angeles Times recently ran an article highlighting the lack of training of several current “coach/advisors” who have taken their coaching positions with little to no background in the sport (Cheerleaders Take High-Flying Risks Under Untrained Eyes, October 13, 2009).

Because cheer squads are not considered a sport, there is no salary stipend from the school districts for the “coach/advisor” unless the program is organized enough to generate a coaching salary from the parents. Without a qualified coach, teachers are put into the position of “advising” cheerleading squads without any knowledge of the dangers of the sport.

If programs want to allow their cheerleaders to learn intermediate and advance tumbling skills and/or perform stunts above the ground, then a qualified, experienced coach with a background in gymnastics/tumbling should be a minimum requirement.

Without this type of coach on site, programs should keep their cheerleaders on the ground performing traditional dance/cheer routines.

Inadequate Safety Measures

Inadequate safety measures are another area of significant concern. In gymnastics, at least the girls tumble on spring-loaded mats. Cheer squads attempt intermediate and advanced stunts on gym floors or outdoor grass areas.

Catastrophic injuries in the sport of cheerleading primarily occur when cheerleaders are tossed into the air (basket toss) and then are accidentally dropped by their peers or fall from a pyramid and land either on their head and/or neck on a hard surface. Any fall greater than the height of an individual can cause catastrophic injury. These kids are falling from much higher distances.

Emergency Medical Plan In Place

A current emergency medical plan should also be available and rehearsed annually by all involved with the squads. The plan should include knowledge of who has medical training and what type, the location of a first aid/medical kit, and the location of an AED (if one is available).

A minimum requirement of all coaches should be training in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation so that the coaches know how to properly handle a catastrophic injury should one occur. Knowing how to stabilize a head/neck and how to maintain an airway while advanced medical help arrives could be the skills that might save a cheerleader’s life.

Parent Knowledge

The best protection for a young cheerleader is her parents. Parents need to be thoroughly knowledgeable about the program that their child is involved with and should be aware of the following:

Because there is not a good tracking system for reporting injuries in the sport of cheerleading, the National Cheer Safety Foundation has an online injury reporting system. The purpose of this is system is to track the number of injuries within the sport of cheerleading so that current safety guidelines can be reviewed and new ones implemented.

If a child is injured, find out why the injury occurred and if something could have been done to prevent it. Parents can be the best advocates for change because they are emotionally involved with the issue.

The copyright of the article High School Cheerleading Squads at Risk in Sports Medicine is owned by Terry Zeigler. Permission to republish High School Cheerleading Squads at Risk in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Oct 15, 2009 1:45 PM

Guest :

The danger here is amazing. I am a mom of two little ones and this really makes me think twice about encouraging our daughter to participate in cheerleading at all. It just sounds so risky. Our family takes safety very seriously as I have even worried about using oral pain meds too frequently. We actually now like the Topricin natural pain cream for minor aches and pains and we also use our heating pad a lot! I hope that more people are aware of what kinds of dangers are out there and this helps them to better protect their family without feeling too paranoid or over reacting.