News

Local cheerleaders make sure to
follow proper safety procedures

Jeff Patrus

Brandon and Goodrich's varsity
cheerleading coaches say they work extensively to make sure the teams
practice correct safety techniques. Here, the Goodrich varsity cheerleading
team performs a stunt during a December 2005 varsity boys
basketball game at Brandon
High School. Staff
Photo/Bob Flath

January 18, 2006 - While a recent Associated Press article states cheerleading
injuries have doubled, the two local high school cheerleading coaches said
injuries on their teams are kept to a minimum.

"They keep hyping it up like it's so
dangerous, but if you compare it to football, hockey and other sports,
cheerleading is among the lowest (in terms of injuries)," said Leslie
Bauman, Goodrich's varsity cheerleading coach.

The AP article, dated Jan. 3, 2006, refers to a
study published in the journal Pediatrics which estimated that 208,000 young
people ages 5-18 were treated at U.S. hospitals for
cheerleading-related injuries between 1990-2002.

"Most of the injuries were suffered by 12-
to 17-year-olds; nearly 40 percent were leg, ankle and foot injuries,"
the article stated.

However, Bauman, who has coached the Goodrich
varsity cheerleading team for seven years, said the Martians attend several
safety clinics and practice sound strategies designed to minimize the risk of
injuries.

"What we practice at Goodrich is safety and
all the coaches I know do the same thing," she said. "The worst
thing I've had is a black eye and a twisted ankle (in seven years of
coaching)."

Jamie Kapp, in her
fourth year as the Brandon
varsity cheerleading coach, has extensive experience in cheerleading as a participant
and coach. She coached for two years at Alma
College and spent four years on Alma's cheerleading team, and also was on the
cheerleading team for four years at Bullock
Creek High
School in Midland.

She said the team goes through safety drills and
works with GOB Gymnastics in Brandon
Township. The
instructors at GOB help the Blackhawks use proper
safety techniques to deal with what Kapp said is
the increased number of gymnastics involved in cheerleading.

She said there have been "occasional injuries"
on the Blackhawks' team, with the likelihood of
injury being greater during tumbling exercises or when competitors "get
hurt landing funny."

Still, Kapp said the Blackhawks work on minimizing the risk of injury by
practicing the correct way to fall after performing stunts.

Another way to minimize the risk of injury,
Bauman said, is to "perfect the little things" – in other
words, not to try anything complicated until you master the basics.

The bottom line, Bauman said, is cheerleading has
not gotten any riskier from when she last competed as a cheerleader eight
years ago.

"All the stunts are the same," she
said.