No longer just a cheering sport Cheerleader injuries increase as sport evolves

AMESBURY — In any sport, accidents can happen.

But as national attention has focused more closely on injuries and deaths due to cheerleading accidents in recent months, it's becoming clear that the days of simply leading cheers are over. Teen girls are now expected to perform acrobatic acts that sometimes put them at risk.

In 2005, 14-year-old Ashley Burns, of Medford, died from a lacerated spleen suffered during cheerleading practice. Last month, 20-year-old Lauren Chang died during a cheerleading competition in Worcester after her lungs collapsed, perhaps from a kick.

Locally, parents and coaches report a litany of injuries: broken or bruised bones, black eyes, fat lips and neck injuries.

It was that fear of dangerous injuries and a desire to bring safety to the sport that led one Salisbury mother to open a training center for cheerleaders and gymnasts in Amesbury.

"Children shouldn't be dying in sports like this," Mary Capolupo said. "When you fall from 15 feet in the air and you're not caught properly, or caught at all, the consequences can be devastating. You're dealing with young kids and potentially lifelong injuries. If there are guidelines in place, maybe I wouldn't be so concerned."

According to a 2006 report by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported an estimated 4,954 hospital emergency room visits in 1980 for cheerleading injuries..

By 1986, the number had increased to 6,911. In 1994, the number rose to 16,000 and in 1999, it increased to approximately 21,916.

There were 28,414 such injuries in 2004..

The data showed cheerleaders suffering severe injuries, including paralysis and brain damage, as well as death, from cheerleading accidents as far back as 1986.

The report notes cheerleading has "changed dramatically" over the last 20 years and a cheerleader is now "a highly skilled, competitive athlete." The report goes on to note 20 to 25 states have championships for competitive cheering. A 2005 to 2006 survey reports 97,510 female participants and lists cheerleading as the 10th most popular girls sport..

Need for safety

Capolupo, the mother of a former Triton Regional High School cheerleader, opened All That Cheer and Tumble, a training facility in Amesbury for cheerleaders and gymnasts, in 2006, after seeing a need for a safe area where cheerleaders could practice.

Her gym offers cheer mats, equipment and mirrors on the walls — an important part of choreographing a routine. Her business partner, Lisa Lariviere, also has a daughter who was a cheerleader at Triton.

"We just saw a need for a safe place," Capolupo said. "We saw how dangerous the activity was becoming."

It draws cheerleaders from a wide area, Capolupo said, including Amesbury, Newburyport, Rowley, Danvers, Salisbury, Byfield and Lynn. Cheerleaders might come to work on their routines, or get choreography help from their coaches, she said.

"Some schools don't have mats for cheerleading or a place (for cheerleaders) to practice," Capolupo said.

With other winter sports teams using the gym, cheerleaders might need to practice in hallways, the cafeteria or the library at some schools, she said. Others don't have adequate floor mats or the right ceiling height, Capolupo said.

Bruises, bumps, black eyes and ice packs are common sights at cheerleading practices, games and competitions. Watching those events, Capolupo has seen girls get concussions, dislocated joints, and back and neck injuries. Her own daughter has gotten black eyes, fat lips — even a neck injury.

"The sport has just outgrown its rules and regulations," Capolupo said. "As a mother, I used to sit there with sweaty palms."

Not a 'club'

The sport has changed from what is the common perception of dancing and "rah rahs" on the sidelines, said Monica Welsh of Newburyport, whose 15-year-old daughter, Molly, is a Newburyport High School cheerleader.

"It's not that anymore. It's totally changed," Welsh said.

Welsh said she doesn't believe cheerleading is any more dangerous than any other sport — the problem is that it's classified as a "club" and doesn't have the same guidelines as other sports.

"I think it needs to be made a sport, and it needs to have the right equipment," Welsh said. "It's like sending a football player onto the field without equipment."

There needs to be a good place to practice and professional coaching at all levels, Welsh said.

"It needs more rules," she said.

Kristen Almquist, an instructor at All That Cheer and Tumble and a former Triton cheerleading coach, agrees the sport has evolved over the last several decades. It could almost be considered an "extreme" sport like skateboarding, where a creative element is involved in order to compete with others, she said.

Cheerleaders can feel pushed to move to advanced levels in order to compete effectively, she said.

But the sport is not any more dangerous than any other as long as the athletes stay at their skill level, she said. As a club, cheerleading doesn't fall under Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) rules as other sports do, Almquist said.

She also would like to see more training and instructional classes offered for coaches locally in order for them to stay educated and obtain certification.

During her 10 years in the cheering field, Almquist said the majority of injuries her athletes had were the same as other sports, such as broken wrists or ankles.

"It is dangerous, but it's only as dangerous as your training is," Almquist said. "There are guidelines in place. I think it's the enforcement of the guidelines that needs to be better watched."

Capolupo said she hopes to work with her staff to organize a forum for parents, coaches and local athletic directors to discuss safety in the sport. Eventually she hopes to work with the National Cheer Safety Foundation in California and the state Legislature to form safety regulations and guidelines.

Having proper training and certified instructors is critical, Capolupo said. The state Secondary School Administrators Association recently updated its 2007-2008 safety regulations for cheerleaders to mandate that all coaches must be certified through a safety course.

All cheerleading coaches must meet the same requirements set for other coaches by a school system.

It's also crucial that cheerleaders aren't working beyond their skill level and that they master a step before moving to an advanced one, Capolupo said.

While cheerleading is still classified as a club, Capolupo said she sees that changing in the future.

"It's become much more competitive," she said. "It is absolutely much more of a sport by what these athletes do. I think the sport has evolved so quickly, nobody's just stepped up and implemented any kind of (standard, required) safety guidelines."

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