NEWS: Cheerleading: The Toughest Sport?

It makes sense. I'm a former cheerleader myself (Erskine College, 1997-1999). To be sure, it WAS fun, and I WAS in the best shape of my life during that time, but to this day my right elbow still isn't exactly "right" thanks to a stunt gone horribly wrong in practice one afternoon.

And the Erskine cheerleading squad wasn't nearly as hardcore as some of these competitive squads...

I never gave much thought to how dangerous cheeleading was, until I watched sportscenter and they showed a stunt gone wrong. One of the bigger cheerleaders (she looked like she could bench my car) was about to catch her teammate who was at a height of about 15 feet. The girl who was falling did not tuck her arms in, and she ended up planting her elbow in the bigger girl's face. You could clearly see three teeth shoot out of the girl's mouth and onto the floor.

The impressive part is that the girl who lost her front teeth did not even react or miss a beat in their routine, other than to smile with her mouth tightly closed to hide the blood. Me and my two friends gave her a standing applause for that.

My high school cheerleading squad was um... not. Actually, it was called the 'yell team' so's to encourage boys to try out, except this is small-town conservative Nebraska and no guy who wants to spend the rest of his life in peace would join (what everyone else knew was) the cheerleading squad. Although I did read an interview with one college male cheerleader who was like 'I get to spend hours a day with some of the hottest chicks on campus. I think I win.'

But seriously, my high school's team barely knew any cheers. They had mildly organized 8-count dances but other than that.. they were pretty much completely worthless. I guess sometimes they would jump, but there was no cool formations or anything. The dance team was mildly better because they at least had some talent. But when it came to school spirit, us silly band kids ruled the field.

That being said, I think competitive cheering is really awesome AND is incredibly dangerous. I wouldn't trust myself to stand on one leg and cheer while some guy holds me over his head. Those people have my utmost respect.

i've got to dissagree, any sport which counts as an extreme sport has to be more dangerous, at least if a chearleader messes up a landing they don't end up with a pile of resisitant materials landing on top of them,

i've dislocated many bones, ripped tendons and more bruises, grases and friction burns then any damn chearleader, and that was WITH safety equiptment. I've even seen people snap their ankles on curbs,

I do a lot of consulting for skateparks in Western Canada, and when presented the facts, most cities/communities are shocked when they find out that both volleyball and cheerleading injuries are WAY higher than skateboarding and BMX injuries, and have been for the last 10 years.

According to American emergency room studies, skateboarding injuries don't even make the top 100 most dangerous sports, and snowboarding generally hovers around the 60 mark. BMX injuries are lumped in with general cycling injuries so it's pretty much impossible to tell, but the numbers aren't really that high. So that blows out the 'extreme' theory, so can we all agree to never say the word 'extreme' again?

...sweatermonkeys...

oh man, you dont even know. i was a competitive cheerleader for most of my teenage years. while warming up a stunt at regionals i smashed face first right into the pavement (we're not supposed to stunt on the concrete for such reasons) and was rushed to the disneyland nurses office to receive 10 stitches in my forehead before returning to the competition. i wasnt allowed any pain meds because it would hinder my performance. it was all worth it tho cuz now ive got this sweetass scar to match my first place trophy!! woop! ;-)

I think this girl fractured her skull.

I've got a bunch of trophies, mostly not for first place, but I don't think I'd trade up for a head injury.

Hmm, something has just never rang true about calling cheerleading a sport. I mean, is cheering for another sport really a sport? Anyways, I guess if NASCAR and Golf are major sports, i can't exactly hate on cheerleading for not being athletic enough.

A new set idea.

Ha !
I thought you were dyslexic, or possibly a stutterer, and didn't want to make fun of you.

this was the first thing I thought of when i started reading this thread.

i think our cheerleaders were too busy thinking "god, what a bunch of losers" as we were getting stomped and shut out by opposing football teams. no time to concentrate on cheers

sigh