The Cheer News

From the NCSSE newletter:

As the new cheer season begins, two health and safety issues take the news–heat and heart.

Heat issues can be minor like heat cramps or life-threatening as heat stroke. Coaches should know the signs and symptoms of heat-related issues and how to treat them. Humidity, direct exposure to the sun and temperature can all contribute to heat-related illnesses. The combination of these factors make up the heat index you hear weathermen talk about. Proper hydration and reducing sun exposure can help reduce susceptibility to heat-related issues. “There’s no excuse for any number of heat stroke deaths, since they are all preventable with the proper precautions,” said Mueller, the author of the Annual Survey of Football Injuries, a long-running compilation of statistics that tracks major injuries and deaths in 1.8 million football players on middle school, high school, college, sandlot (organized, non-school affiliated) and professional teams (see report at http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/uonc-urh073008.php).

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) in athletes was the subject of the June 27, 2008, U. S. News & World Report article by Steven Reinberg. SCA is the leading cause of death in young athletes, but the worst news is that only one in 10 student-athletes who suffer SCA survives. The article goes on to say that “approximately one case of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) occurs every three days in organized youth sports”

• Access to external automatic defibrillators (AEDs) can change these statistics. Access to AEDs within three to five minutes can mean the difference between life and death.
• Schools, practice areas, gyms-all need to have access to an AED, a person(s) trained to use the AED, and an emergency plan in place for using the AED.
• Screening exams for heart problems along with a physical before sports participation are recommended. A study in Italy where a screening EKG mandated for student-athletes resulted in a 90% decrease in SCD.

An amazing group of people have formed Parent Heart Watch. Their mission is to promote awareness of SCD, establish credible research initiatives for SCD, and affect public policy change to encourage community action. They assist in getting AEDs placed in public locations and devising a plan for training and maintaining. One of their goals is to provide the resources and training so communities and parents can host group screening events with trained professionals. The Parent Heart Watch is a non-profit, state-by-state network of parents. Check out their website to see if your state has a Parent Heart Watch group and contact them to see if they can assist your team or gym with EKG screenings or procuring an AED.

Technorati Tags: Parent Heart Watch, NCSSE, Cheerleading Safety, Cheerleading News

From the National Council for Spirit Safety and Education newsletter:

The Twenty-Fifth Annual Report on Catastrophic Sports Injury Research reports these statistics and several individual cases dealing with catastrophic cheerleading injuries. These numbers include fatalities, non-fatal injuries with permanent severe functional disabilities, and serious injuries. Many of these are head and neck injuries.

The time for denial and comparing cheerleading to other sports is over. Now is the time to focus on prevention. Safety begins with the coach. Four elements are of utmost importance:

1) the coach must be trained and knowledgeable about cheerleading skills,

2) physicals (including a complete medical history) should be included in pre-participation screening,

3) proper conditioning programs should be provided for cheerleaders,

4) proper training in gymnastics and stunting (including proper spotting techniques) should be provided.

Whether you coach high school, all star or recreation cheerleaders, safety and proper training for all should be your focus.  The full report written by Dr. Fred Mueller and Dr. Robert Cantu can be accessed at http://www.unc.edu/depts/nccsi/AllSport.htm

Read the special section on cheerleading and the individual cases included in the report.

IRVINE, CA, August 08, 2008 – The National Cheer Safety Foundation is now sharing online cheer injury data with Dr. Fred Mueller, Founder and Director of the Catastrophic Sports Injury Research Center in an effort to reveal injury data that will help alert industry leaders to troubling injury trends and be a catalyst for developing additional prevention strategies that will decrease cheer injuries resulting in death or disabilities. After reviewing over 200 cheer injuries, 30 classified as catastrophic plus the deaths of Ashley Burns and Lauren Chang, a pattern of delayed emergency medical services emerged and the NCSF jumped in to expand the Rehearsed Catastrophic Injury Emergency Plan for Competitive Cheerleaders to a comprehensive 9 page color guide to aid coaches during emergencies. The guide is free and can be downloaded at www.nationalcheersafety.com/emergencyplan.pdf.

“For cheerleading injuries to account for 2/3 of all catastrophic injuries to female athletes in high school and college is a huge red flag that will require identifying what factors put athletes’ at risk for injury to begin with, implementing new strategies, studying effects and making new changes to increase effectiveness. We have to stop comparing cheerleading injuries to other sports, or defending the alarming number of life altering injuries and get serious about learning from the injuries that have already happened.” stated Kimberly Archie, Executive Director of the NCSF.

After completing this year annual report Dr. Fred Mueller advised that, “Cheerleading should be considered a sport and as such should have qualified coaches, safe facilities, pre-participation physical exams, sports medicine care, and safe travel. Cheerleading will then receive the recognition it deserves, and injury prevention will play an important role,” Dr. Fred Mueller is a professor of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. To view Dr. Mueller annual report, go to http://www.unc.edu/depts/nccsi/AllSport.htm.
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About.com has a great piece about cheerleading safety and what can be done to prevent injuries.

As with any sport, safety should be of the utmost concern for all involved in cheerleading. Whether you’re a cheerleader, coach or parent, your main objective should be to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

There are many references to safety studies that lead to insinuations that cheerleading is not a safe sport, but regardless of the statistics, one injury is too many. No one wants a broken bone, a day in the hospital, a visit to the ER or a catastrophic injury. Especially when a small amount of common sense can prevent any one of these outcomes.

The article goes on to include why cheerleading injuries occur and what you can do to prevent injuries.

Read the full article…

Technorati Tags: Cheerleading Safety, Cheerleading News

Technorati Tags: National Cheer Safety Foundation, South Lyon High School, Jen Combest, Cheerleading Safety

NCSSE press release:

Enterprise, AL-(June 24, 2008)- The National Council for Spirit Safety and Education (NCSSE) has forged a partnership with CrossConfirm, an authorized provider of the American Red Cross, to endorse and offer its Respect in Sport USA program to all coaches in NCSSE constituent organizations. Respect in Sport USA (www.RespectInSportUSA.com) is an internationally recognized program that educates coaches and protects youth athletes in the areas of bullying, harassment, neglect and various forms of abuse. Respect in Sport USA is delivered via the American Red Cross’ world-class online distance learning platform, which trains individuals in all 50 states and 34 countries around the world.

Debbie Bracewell, Executive Director of the NCSSE, added, “We are excited to be working with the American Red Cross and Respect in Sport in this joint endeavor to enhance cheerleading safety and coaching education. This program addresses risk management, maltreatment, and abuse prevention thus giving our coaches the skills to become proactive in recognizing these problems and making the team environment safer.”

Technorati Tags: NCSSE, Cheerleading Safety, Cheerleading

From the NCSSE monthly news letter:

June is National Safety Month–what can we do to mark this event:

1. Review emergency plans and revise where needed.
2. Have regular fire/emergency drills. Make sure everyone knows what to do and where to go.
3. Check all equipment for maintenance issues. Repair or replace.
4. If you live in an area known for dangerous storms, purchase a weather radio and keep it tuned to the correct channel for your area. Contact the Red Cross for group training for your coaches and cheerleaders.

Technorati Tags: NCSSE, Cheerleading Safety, Cheerleading News

Enterprise, AL-Celebrating its fifth year as a leader in cheer safety certification, the National Council for Spirit Safety and Education (NCSSE) has become the international source for quality education and certification for cheerleading coaches. This recognition has prompted a continuous growth and outreach crossing all borders by certifying over 10,000 coaches in cheerleading safety. As a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching coaches of all levels the basics of safety as it relates to the athletic activity of cheerleading, the NCSSE continues to expand its influence internationally by offering safety certification to coaches in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.

Courses are not offered online; due to the serious nature of the material covered, coaches participate in a face-to-face setting with hands-on demonstrations. Coaches cannot take the certification tests without physically attending classes. Debbie Bracewell, Executive Director of the NCSSE, says, “We believe that testing without classroom coursework and coach participation is not effective and it weakens the validity of a certification. That is why we require face-to-face education and testing. We want coaches to successfully complete the courses by passing a test; however, our major focus is education-not certification.”

The NCSSE provides coaches with detailed information about all aspects of cheer coaching. Each of the four core courses focuses on a specific portion of a cheer coach’s job, giving thorough explanations and illustrations of the points being discussed.

Bob Kiralfy, chairman of the British Cheerleading Association (BCA) and board member, is strongly supportive of the efforts of the NCSSE, “In hosting more than 3,000 NCSSE courses across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the British Cheerleading Association is pleased to underline the significant impact that NCSSE has made in effective safety education contributing to impressively reduced levels of injuries in the sport. Our national safety figures show an 80% reduction in injuries, despite a five-fold increase in participation over the multi-year data period. When even the newest coaches have the benefit of solid safety education then injuries can be kept low, as our experiences in the UK prove.”

Board member Steven G. Wedge, President and CEO of COA Cheer & Dance, says, “With the increase in cheerleading participation and the focus by the media on cheerleading injuries, coaches, gym owners and administrators must protect themselves and their athletes through education and prudent implementation of safe practices. The best remedy to prepare cheerleading coaches is through NCSSE coursework and certification.

This view is echoed by Gwen Holtsclaw, board member and president of Cheer Ltd., Inc., who says “NCSSE is creating a strong safety awareness for cheerleading coaches across the world. Every coach who attends NCSSE safety courses goes on to create a safer environment for the cheerleaders under her supervision. That is how we make cheerleading safer . . . one NCSSE-trained coach at a time.”

NCSSE is funded and supported by these companies in the cheerleading industry: AmeriCheer, British Cheerleading Association, Cheer Ltd. Inc., COA Cheer & Dance, Inc., Spirit Unlimited, and United Performing Association, Inc.

Technorati Tags: NCSSE, Cheerleading Safety, Cheerleading News, Cheerleading

Hugging Harold Reynolds has a great online interview with Kate Torgovnick. The writer of Cheer!: Three Teams on a Quest for College Cheerleading’s Ultimate Prize.  Check out the full interview here.

RM: A point you make in the book’s
intro and in the chapters is the regulating (“grounding”) of
cheerleading and how it may change the culture of cheer. We know how
cheerleaders and coaches feel about this. As an impartial observer what
are your thoughts?

KT:
It’s tremendously scary and sad when a cheerleader is seriously
injured—I witnessed this first hand while reporting CHEER!. But I do
have to go on record saying that I think the reaction to cheerleading
injuries is overblown—both in the media and in schools and school
districts that decide to ground cheerleaders. Cheerleading is an
activity where human being are tossed in the air—it involves a certain
amount of risk. The unfortunate truth of any risky activity is that
someone is, statistically speaking, going to get hurt. Every year,
about 25,000 cheerleaders go to the emergency room for injuries ranging
from minor to serious. That comes out to 6 out of every thousand
cheerleaders being injured in a given year. In football, the number is
42 out of a thousand. Similarly, over the past 23 years, 58 women have
been catastrophically injured (paralyzed or killed) cheerleading. In
half that time, 264 football players have died just from heat stroke.
So I do think there is a gender bias going on here because few people
would ever say, “Let’s switch to flag football.” The response seems to
come from the fact that the people being injured in cheerleading are
female—and often young, pretty, and female. But cheerleaders are well
aware of the risk—in fact, some of it say the rush is what makes them
love cheerleading so much. So I think we have to let young women, and
their parents, determine whether the risk is worth it to them.

All this said, I don’t think colleges or school systems should do nothing
when they hear about injuries in cheerleading. But a much better
solution would be to make sure that their coach has the highest level
of safety training available, and that they have the proper
equipment—like good mats—that all practices are done on. And beyond
that, I’d like to see more schools give their cheerleading squads
trainers to work with who can prevent injuries and who are trained to
assess and react to them when they do happen. Because most of the
injuries we’re talking about here are to hands, ACLs, backs, etc.

Technorati Tags: CHEER!, Kate Torgavnick, Cheerleading News

The Press-Enterprise has a good article about cheerleading safety. It covers the issue of a lack of regulation at the high school level, rules enforcement and coaches training. The article however, skirts around the fact that the way to enforce these things at the high school level would be to recognize cheerleading as a sport.

From the Press-Enterprise article.

Big stunts sending cheerleaders into the air and high pyramids have become common over the last 20 years, exposing cheerleaders to more injuries, from common sprains and strains to rare broken necks.

But there is little regulation at the high school level because cheerleading falls in the hinterland between activities such as chess and sports like soccer. Experts say the only way to curb injuries is to make existing safety guidelines mandatory at high school games and practices.

The California Interscholastic Federation oversees sports from basketball to badminton, but not cheer. California and other states don’t regulate cheer because its main mission is not competition.

Read the full article…

Technorati Tags: California Interscholastic Federation, Cheerleading Safety, Cheerleading News, Cheerleading