Many think of the traditional pom-pom
waving, spirit-filled sport as anything but dangerous. This “safe” stereotype
is made worse when considering a 2012 Paper published in the American journal
of Sports Medicine stating that cheerleaders have the 10th highest rate of
concussion among all female athletics during competition. Most readers are forgetting
to analyze one critical word, competition.
Because of the way cheer competitions
work, cheerleaders are not likely to suffer a concussion this way. Looking back
at the same paper from the American Journal of Sports Medicine, we see that
when it comes to practice, not competition, cheerleading has the number one
female athlete concussion rate.
Looking at the BYU Cheerleading team’s
concussion rates in the same two lenses of this study, we see supporting data.
In the last calendar year, BYU Cheer has sustained 0 concussions during game
day performance or competition, but 3 concussions in practices to get ready for
these performances. Because the highest risk is involved in the learning and
practicing of cheerleading skills, Head Coach, Jocelyn Allen, takes every
precaution to ensure the safety of her athletes.
On how she is preventing injury, Allen
said that while they are still learning many teammates will stand around a pyramid
being built, ready to catch any falling cheerleaders. The athletes do this
until pyramids are performed safely, consistently.
Coach Allen also takes the time each year
to re-teach the two main types of spotting, along with following the American
Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators rules of safe stunt
progressions.
This low awareness on campus is something
BYU Cheer fights through by creating a highly-informed atmosphere within the
team. With all the preventative measures taken by Coach Jocelyn Allen,
BYU Cheer is not letting the high concussion rate of cheerleaders go
overlooked.
