as cheerleaders soar, so do risks

Front page story on MSNBC May 20th, 2010:

… Cheerleading — not basketball, not softball, not even field hockey or ice hockey — is by far the most dangerous sport for girls. Cheer accounts for 65 percent of all catastrophic injuries in girls’ high school athletics, shows a recent report by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina.

That’s especially striking considering cheerleaders make up just about 12 percent of the 3 million female high school athletes in the U.S.

Devastating injuries soar

Frederick Mueller, director of the injury research center, has tracked down 73 cases of “catastrophic” injuries in U.S. cheerleaders over the past 26 years.

Flying without a net: Cheer injuries on rise

I’m one of the few Artistic gymnastics coaches trying to encourage and promote competitive cheer. But it’s not easy in the face of statistics like this.

Should competitive cheer be better regulated?

Difficulty further restricted?

Leave a comment if you’ve an opinion.

Thanks Quentin Finck for the link.