Is Cheerleading Too Dangerous?

[GeorgeParker]

000

[Yppej]

I wonder if it is more dangerous than climbing up on roofs and jumping off, which I, my brothers, and our friends used to do when we were kids.

[pinkytoe]

I used to work in a building across the street from where cheerleading camps were held in the summer. Eager moms from across the state would drop off their 13yo daughters hoping that they might be good enough to win spots as cheerleaders for their small town high school football teams. And then go on to compete in the competitions with increasingly dangerous stunts. I joined the pep squad as a freshman in high school but quickly realized I had zero interest in football or cheerleading.

[JaneV2.0]

I can't think of a dumber aspiration, personally. If you're a team booster, wouldn't you yell encouragement without needing a phalanx of "leaders" to spur you on? Dangerous stunts only make it dumber, IMO.

But maybe I'm just bitter because I went to a polymer conference and stayed in a dorm near where teams of them practiced well into the night. Lack of sleep makes me cranky.

[nswef]

I think sports and all they represent in this day and age...elite teams for 10 year olds, money spent for trips to competitions so that only wealthier people can participate...the fact that money is the only purpose for doing sports, it seems. I feel sports the way they are now is a major reason we have so many angry, nasty people.

[Rogar]

I'd wager that a deeper dive into the numbers would show that high school and earlier football is far more likely to cause serious injury relative to cheerleading. Neither is good.

[KayLR]

Well, you ARE in Texas. I wonder if it's more intense there than, say, here in my area where I don't hear about this kind of competition at all.

[Jane v2.0]

My cheerleading nemeses were on the Evergreen College campus near Olympia, but I'm sure we don't have the same fervor for sports and cheerleading here as there is elsewhere in the country.

[Teacher Terry]

I worked with someone years ago whose daughter was on a squad and it’s way more dangerous than when we went to school. The girls get hurt all the time. Locally soccer can be that way too with kids expected to play if hurt. I know a high school girl with serious permanent ankle issues. People have lost their minds.

[Jane v2.0]

I saw a rather horrifying report of a female soccer player who suffered serious brain damage from repeated headers; I imagine she's not the only one.