Saturday, August 1, 2009

608...My Third Favourite Sport Is Cheerleading

I love it because it is so dangerous.

You scoff but facts is facts my friend, facts is facts.

Cheerleading is the cause of 65 per cent of catastrophic injuries among female high school athletes according to a study published in the most recent annual report from the National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research which shares a home with the national champion University of North Carolina Tar Heels ballers in the Triangle.

Cheerleading also is the cause of 70 per cent of catastrophic injuries among university athletes in the NCAA.

In the years surveyed, 1982 to 2007, there were 109 fatal or catastrophic injuries to cheerleaders at the high school level. The number two sport for fatal or catastrophic injuries was gymnastics at 9.

Let those numbers sink in.

109 cheerleaders f'd up super bad; 9 gymnasts.

109 to 9.

A study in the journal Pediatrics says that the high rate of injury can be tied to the simple truth that cheerleading has grown "...from a school spirit activity..." into applied gymnastics.

Plus it is done without pads and often with coaching that, on a good day, is suspect.

Schools such as Nebraska, which was stung with a 2.1 million dollar judgement against it after a Cornhusker cheerleader ended a double back flip on her head, resulting in partial paralysis, have banned gymnastic routines and things like pyramids.

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cheerleaders.

WFDS

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