Recent Reports On Cheer Injuries Ignore Safety Efforts That Have Resulted In A Reduction Of Cheer Injuries MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 15
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its ongoing safety
education, the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators
(AACCA) is in the final development stages of its next safety initiative,
Safety First! This initiative will involve coaches, athletes, administrators
and parents in improving cheerleading safety through awareness campaigns,
educational programs and risk management procedures.
Safety First! is the latest of a number of safety initiatives that
Cheerleading's governing bodies have implemented in past years. The results
show, among other things, that cheer's total catastrophic injuries were cut in
half from 2005 to 2006*, and that cheerleading's injuries per 100,000
participants is only 2.0, significantly less than the figures for popular
women's sports such as gymnastics.
-- In 2005 the AACCA published "A Parent's Guide to Cheerleading Safety"
to provide parents of cheerleaders with a way to verify that the programs
where their children were participating were following established safety
standards.
-- In 2006 the NCAA required all cheerleading coaches to be safety
certified in order for their teams to have access to their catastrophic
insurance coverage.
-- In 2006 the AACCA College Rules Committee restricted all 2 1/2 high
pyramids, basket tosses and other select skills to be performed only on a
grass or matted surface. High school teams, who aren't allowed to perform 2
1/2 high pyramids at all, were also restricted from performing basket tosses
without a mat by both the AACCA and National Federation of High Schools. (In
2008, the AACCA College and High School rules committees standardized
basketball court rules for both age levels, prohibiting released twisting
skills and inverted skills on this surface.)
-- In partnership with AACCA, Varsity Brands established the College
Cheerleading Safety Initiative, which includes safety awareness programs and
participant testing at all of the Varsity Brands college camps.
-- At least 12 states now require AACCA Safety Certification and/or some
component of the NFHS Coaches Education Program in order for their teams to
participate in partner stunts, pyramids and other cheerleading gymnastics. At
least 24 other states, while not requiring it, strongly support the AACCA and
NFHS Safety Education Programs. These figures have improved dramatically in
the past five years.
Dr. Gerald George, Director of Safety for the AACCA and senior editor of
the AACCA Cheerleading Safety Manual, points to the presence of safety
certified coaches as a key point to injury prevention. "In the cheerleading
injury cases I have been involved with, the common theme is that all of the
coaches were not AACCA safety certified when the injury occurred." Dr. George
added, "It is incumbent upon state associations, and if not state
associations, local school boards to require AACCA safety training for their
coaches in order to help protect their student athletes."
In reviewing a recent report by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport
Injury Research, some of the figures being reported by the media are
misleading as they don't take into account the number of participants in
competitive cheer. The report revised an earlier estimate for cheerleading
injuries that had accounted for 55% of high school catastrophic injuries over
the past 25 years to actually be 65%. That figure is misleading as it doesn't
accurately account for participation or exposures given in the report.
Cheerleading injury rates per 100,000 participants, 2.0, are actually less
than a number of female sports, including female gymnastics (5.35 per 100,000
participants) and female ice hockey (6.49 per 100,000 participants).
In addition, because the majority of cheerleading teams cheer in the fall
and spring seasons, and compete at summer camps and competitions, they have
twice the exposure to injury than those sports that just compete for one
season of the school year.
The AACCA will continue to improve cheer safety, confident that compliance
with safety rules, proper supervision and skill progression, support from
administrators, and parental awareness and involvement will bring an increased
measure of safety to all cheerleaders.
*According to a recent report by the National Center for Catastrophic
Sport Injury Research that shows that cheer's total catastrophic injuries went
from eleven in 2005, including one fatality, to five with no fatalities in
2006. No figures were reported for 2007.
SOURCE American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators
