While a recent Associated Press article states cheerleading injuries have doubled, the two local high school cheerleading coaches said injuries on their teams are kept to a minimum.
‘They keep hyping it up like it’s so dangerous, but if you compare it to football, hockey and other sports, cheerleading is among the lowest (in terms of injuries),? said Leslie Bauman, Goodrich’s varsity cheerleading coach.
The AP article, dated Jan. 3, 2006, refers to a study published in the journal Pediatrics which estimated that 208,000 young people ages 5-18 were treated at U.S. hospitals for cheerleading-related injuries between 1990-2002.
‘Most of the injuries were suffered by 12- to 17-year-olds; nearly 40 percent were leg, ankle and foot injuries,? the article stated.
However, Bauman, who has coached the Goodrich varsity cheerleading team for seven years, said the Martians attend several safety clinics and practice sound strategies designed to minimize the risk of injuries.
‘What we practice at Goodrich is safety and all the coaches I know do the same thing,? she said. ‘The worst thing I’ve had is a black eye and a twisted ankle (in seven years of coaching).?
Jamie Kapp, in her fourth year as the Brandon varsity cheerleading coach, has extensive experience in cheerleading as a participant and coach. She coached for two years at Alma College and spent four years on Alma’s cheerleading team, and also was on the cheerleading team for four years at Bullock Creek High School in Midland.
She said the team goes through safety drills and works with GOB Gymnastics in Brandon Township. The instructors at GOB help the Blackhawks use proper safety techniques to deal with what Kapp said is the increased number of gymnastics involved in cheerleading.
She said there have been ‘occasional injuries? on the Blackhawks? team, with the likelihood of injury being greater during tumbling exercises or when competitors ‘get hurt landing funny.?
Still, Kapp said the Blackhawks work on minimizing the risk of injury by practicing the correct way to fall after performing stunts.
Another way to minimize the risk of injury, Bauman said, is to ‘perfect the little things? ? in other words, not to try anything complicated until you master the basics.
The bottom line, Bauman said, is cheerleading has not gotten any riskier from when she last competed as a cheerleader eight years ago.
‘All the stunts are the same,? she said.