Although the show is edgy and not for youngsters, Penn and Teller’s recent show on the story behind the catastrophic injuries seen in cheerleading was eye-opening and revealed a dark side to the cheerleading industry.
For the first time, a national show not only discussed the catastrophic injuries seen in the sport of cheerleading, but went further and investigated the business driving the sport.
The show interviewed Laura Jackson, a former cheerleader, who was catastrophically injured while performing a back tuck during cheerleading tryouts six years ago. She stated that a point system used during the tryouts was responsible for her decision to tumble without a spotter.
The athlete received more points during the tryout if a spotter was not used. Laura chose not to use a spotter so that she could get more points for her back tuck. Choosing to tumble without a spotter resulted in a catastrophic spinal cord injury for Laura.
Laura was rendered a quadriplegic dependent on a respirator to breathe. Because of her personal experience, she is now an advocate for safety in the sport of cheerleading.
Cheerleading as a Sport Would Improve Safety
One way to improve the safety in cheerleading and reduce catastrophic injuries would be to recognize competitive cheerleading as a “sport.” Moving cheer to a sport would enable the programs and their athletes to have access to better facilities, better coaches, certified athletic trainers, and athletic administrative oversight.
Advocates for moving cheerleading as a designated sport include Dr. Fred Mueller, national expert on catastrophic injuries from the University of North Carolina, and Kim Archie, founder of National Safety Cheer Foundation. According to Dr. Mueller, part of the resistance of moving cheerleading to a sport involves the misperception that today’s cheerleaders are the same as those cheering 20 years ago.
Today’s competitive cheerleaders are athletes who are well-trained in the skills of gymnastics, tumbling, and stunting. These athletes perform complicated choreographed routines featuring high level stunts in which some athletes (flyers) are tossed 15 to 20 feet in the air. These athletes compete in numerous competitions throughout the year.
Should cheerleading be a sport? If the athletes train hard, practice hard, sustain injuries, and regularly compete … then competitive cheerleading should be recognized as a sport.
According to Penn and Teller, the largest cheerleading organization in the country, Varsity Brands Incorporated, would potentially lose a lot of their revenue if cheerleading were accepted as a sport. Varsity receives significant revenue by hosting competitions (charging team competition fees, selling uniforms and practice gear, and charging gate fees).
If cheerleading becomes a sport, the sport would have a state cheerleading competition hosted by the state just like every other sport. Because Varsity Brands Incorporated brought in over 300 million dollars last year, it is not in their best interest to advocate any changes in the cheerleading industry.
Another revealing piece of information brought out in the show was that Varsity Brands Incorporated has 30 companies all acting as subsidiaries. To those not well-educated to the Varsity Brands company, it is not obvious that all of the subsidiaries are run by one big company.
Training For Cheerleading Coaches
The most revealing piece of information was that the United States All Star Federation (USASF), the organization responsible for safety certification, is also owned by Varsity. This would appear to be a conflict of interest for Varsity to own the company that creates safety programs for cheerleading.
In the best interest of the sport, safety certification should be maintained by an independently funded organization. However, what was revealed on the show was that an individual need only attend a single three-hour training program and take an open book test to become a Varsity Certified Cheer Coach.
Three hours of training is not enough to adequately prepare an individual to train and teach advanced stunts and tumbling progressions. Although the CEO of Varsity, Jeff Webb, wrote a statement to the Penn & Teller show stating that his organization is “leading the way through safety training” for cheer coaches, one would have to question the validity of this statement.
In order to have the skills to safely coach competitive cheerleading, one would need extensive training and experience in tumbling progressions and spotting. The coach should also complete mandatory training in CPR, First Aid, AED training, injury prevention, developing a catastrophic injury plan, return to play standards, and head injury protocols because of the high risk for catastrophic injuries in the sport.
Although the Penn and Teller show is an “in your face” look at cheerleading, their investigation into the cheerleading industry was revealing and educational. Any parent with a child in cheerleading should watch the show to learn how to protect their child.
Improving Safety in Cheerleading
As summed up by Penn, “as cheerleading is being currently practiced, it is the most dangerous sport.” Something needs to change, but it doesn’t look like the needed changes are coming from the cheer industry.
For parents, the lessons learned from the show are to make sure that if their child (or someone they know) is involved in the sport of cheerleading, the parent should ensure the following:
- Coach has prior hands-on experience in gymnastics, tumbling, and stunting progressions.
- School has protective safety mats for the girls to practice and stunt on.
- Coach is trained in CPR/First Aid/AED.
- Coach has an emergency action plan in place.
- Program has access to indoor facilities so that girls are not stunting on hard surfaces including grass, artificial turf, or rubberized track.
Reference:
Penn and Teller, Cheerleading,(aired on Showtime June 10, 2010).
Terry Zeigler - Educating through writing with over twenty-five years of experience as a Kinesiology Professor and Certified Athletic Trainer.
Join the Conversation