cheerleading grounded

[qtbecks]

I'm a member of my school's cheerleading team, and last Thursday, we got the worst news we could ever get...that our team was going to be grounded. This means that we can't do anything where our feet leave the ground, including stunts, jumps, basket tosses, pyramids, and tumbling. Here's the story in our school newspaper that's coming out today:

http://index.truman.edu/story.asp?week=032802&SID=762

I was wondering if anything like this has happened to anyone else's squads, and what you did about it. We're looking for ways to fight this, and we're sure that the school and community will also be angry at this decision and support us. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

And, if you feel compelled to do so, email me and I'll give you the athletic director's email info so you can send him a nice little letter.

I hope this never happens to anyone else's teams...its such a heartbreaker when you've worked so hard at something and it won't get the chance to pay off in the end.

Becki

[carnation]

As a former university cheerleader and former coach and advisor as well, I can see both sides. So many things everywhere are being restricted because of liability...you wouldn't believe what we Girl Scout leaders have to do to take the troops a mile from home these days. Liability is also why Greeks have been restricted in many ways, why so many formerly enjoyable activities like treasure hunts have been labeled as "hazing" and thus forbidden. Nobody wants to get sued!

On the one hand, it's ridiculous to forbid jumps and shoulder stands. On the other hand, I have seen some horrendous cheerleading injuries from simple stunts (a girl whose broken arm bone was protruding from her arm after a fall from 2 feet off the ground) and gymnastics (a girl who broke many bones in her hand doing a roundoff).

I have also seen squads attempt increasingly dangerous stunts in an attempt to win competitions. Any day, someone is going to get killed doing one of those super-high basket tosses. Fifteen years ago, the thing was pyramids that became increasingly higher until pyramids were pretty much forbidden at competitions. Like I said...liability!

Find out from your administration how you could at least go about getting your coaches certified and maybe some of your privileges will be returned.

[Betarulz!]

They did that to our cheerleaders too!!!

Nebraska announced it the week or so before spring break and people are pissed. I guess our program was one of the best??? (I guess I do remember that from MTV's True Life "I'm a Cheerleader")

Anyway everyone thinks its really dumb...it's one of those risks that is associated with cheering and if the cheerleaders are going to get the benefits of being considered athletes (recieving all the free ADIDAS clothing, use of the athletic weight room, athletic academic advisors etc) then they should be allowed to stunt!!!

[AchtungBaby80]

Yeah, it's probably a liability thing. My sister was on the Morehead State cheering squad in the late 80s (they always kick butt at competitions), and she ended up having to have big knee surgery because one of the guys dropped her at practice and she ripped a bunch of ligaments. The surgery was expensive and had to be done in a city 3 hours away, and she was on crutches forever. So I can understand why they would want to avoid accidents like that.

BUT...no jumps?!? That's ridiculous. Next thing you know they'll be making you wave paper pompons wearing calf-length skirts, saddle shoes, and sweaters with huge chenille letters on the front.

[carnation]

Yeah, even the little stuff costs. Two of my daughters cheer all-star and one has a black eye because a flyer smacked her coming down...another base also has a black eye, same reason. A few months ago, our daughter severely injured her foot tumbling and the medical bills were something else.

If we were to add up the medical bills of the whole squad this year--and this is a good squad with certified coaches--well, I wouldn't even want to think about it.

[Hootie]

BetaRulz.
Did you ever hear about that high school girl from Gretna who died from a stunt during a Pep Rally? She landed on her head I think it's awesome to see the girls to lifts and jumps and such (I still love Bring It On). But perhaps at the highschool level it's not such a good idea...or depending on the strength of the team? I don't see why jumps are a big deal, but then again I don't know the lingo so when I think of "jumps" i think of russians and stuff like that?! Am I wrong?

Anyways, so sorry to hear that your group is grounded. I hope things work out for the best for yall anyway!

Hootie

[qtbecks]

See, a major thing that I'm peeved about is that we're under the Athletic department...they pay for all of our stuff, traveling expenses, etc. But, they don't treat us as a sport. They talk down to us, and we don't get the same privileges as the other sports do, such as paid athletic trainers, and they kick us out of our practice space if someone else needs it, such as baseball or wrestling. They aren't changing any of the other sports' regulations. And, how many times do you hear about football players, basketball players, wrestlers, track runners, and people from every other sport getting hurt? Doesn't running into some guy that weighs twice as much as you with the intent of tackling him to the ground sound a bit more dangerous than doing a shoulder stand with two spotters on the ground to catch if you fall? All of us on the team know what could happen to us if we fall, and that is why we sign waivers at the beginning of the year...because despite that danger, we still love our sport. The other sports have their liability all set up for every circumstance, and we should too, if they're so concerned.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I never realized how dangerous cheering could be. You should talk to the head of your athletic department about the inequality in the sports program. Good luck!

[Tom Earp]

I dont give a damn what some people say, the Cheerleading Group is more than likely in better shape than any other athlectic goup on the feild at the time!

But it gets back to Risk management and Liability! $$$$$$$$ is the name of the game folks! Sad but true!

Looks good until something goes bad! OHOH!

[Bro2B]

I thought I'd put my two cents in. I cheer for my university, I'm on UCA Staff, and I'm a certified coach (I coach a junior all-star team).

I heard about Nebraska - some girl busted a back tuck, and sued the school, apparently. I'm not completely sure what happened, but I read the press release the day it came out. There's an excellent press release written by Jim Lord - the executive director of AACCA (American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors) you can get at www.aacca.org on their homepage.

Basically he refutes some of the statistics that Nebraska cited in its press release concerning the grounding of its cheerleaders. Cheerleading is just like another sport where accidents happen.

Luckily for me, I've been at it since my sophomore year in high school and the worst thing that happened to me so far was breaking my nose twice when I cheered at Tennessee.

Becki - I'd print out the press release by Jim Lord and show your advisor and athletic director. Try to get support via signatures and show that your fans and alumni think that tumbling, partner stunts, baskets and building pyramids are the most effective crowd-leading tools at your disposal. (heck, we know they often are!)

Good luck.

[ZTAngel]

I think that it's ridiculous for your school to "ground" the cheerleaders. Like Bro2B said, cheerleading is like any other sport where accidents happen. I was a cheerleader as well. In my years, we never had a single girl hurt from doing a stunt. But, one time, we were practicing some dance moves when one of the girls stepped out of place and tripped over another girl. She ended up with a broken leg. Needless to say, accidents can happen even if you're not doing a high basket-toss. The problem is that people will sue over the smallest thing so everyone has to protect themselves against liabilities. What next? Are they going to tell football players that they can't tackle each other because it causes too much liability?!

[LeslieAGD]

While I realized it could be dangerous, I didn't realize how much so until I read the responses on this thread. Did your team participate in competitions before you were "grounded"? If so, perhaps you could compromise with the athletic supervisors/the school (or whoever) to be able to continue doing stunts, etc., for competition but not at games or pep rallies. I don't know if this is even likely since I was never into cheerleading.

[Kevin]

Next step -- we take college football and make it 2 hand touch. Someone could get hurt out there!!

We'll have to do away with wrestling... Basketball will be played only by teams taking turns at the free throw line..

I'm sorry but in sports accidents happen. Athletes especially at the college level should be well aware of the risks involved with their sport.

I seriously have to question the decency over someone that would sue the school (and the sanity of the jury that awards a large cash award) because of an accident that occurs in an innately dangerous sport.

LHT
Kevin
MT 5
University of Central Oklahoma