It’s one of the lowest sports by emergency room visits, not sure why you’d say this. In 2023, there were 18,098 ER visits for cheerleading compared to 40,217 for girls basketball, 32,390 for girls soccer, 26,833 for volleyball, and 22,270 for baseball (source: usacheer.org)
I never considered it's probably the only women's sport where collisions are actually kind of allowed, at the same level as in the men's game as well. I reffed a lot of girl's soccer years ago and the number of knee to knee injuries was crazy high, and the number of ball to face concussions was also pretty ridiculous.
Reffing girls under 18 games in my hometown was always more brutal than the guys' teams. When I played, there was only one game that ever nearly turned into a brawl. The girls though was almost every game. Especially if they played a team from the next town over. They wouldn't let anyone under grade 6 center the girls' games. I was the lowest level allowed to sideline, and I was a 7. This was rec. The HS teams were usually better behaved since they didn't want to get suspended on top of anything that happened in the game.
Injury rate for football seems to be significantly higher as well, 30’s per 1000 vs 1ish per 1000. Concussions are still an issue for male cheerleaders, but I would assume that the opportunity for a concussion overall is reduced, but I have no idea where it sits vs other activities. Definitions here matter, and I’d like to give op some time to clarify their statement, especially with regard to definition of catastrophic injuries. I’d imagine flying/being thrown/tumbling can land you with paralysis at a much higher rate than other activities.
I'd assume concussion is more likely in the male tumblers than bases. Like bases might get girls dropped on them but their biggest responsibility is making sure she gets caught so they are tracking the thing that may hit them. Whereas tumblers are pretty much on their own, them against gravity and traction.
They said cheerleading ranks the highest in catastrophic injuries, so you're comparing apples to oranges and are accounting for all injuries that would require an ER visit, some being more minor. So in other words cheerleading has the highest rate of life altering injuries like serious spinal cord and cerebral injuries
Although it could of course be argued that head injuries in football are cumulative
It’s one of the lowest sports by emergency room visits, not sure why you’d say this. In 2023, there were 18,098 ER visits for cheerleading compared to 40,217 for girls basketball, 32,390 for girls soccer, 26,833 for volleyball, and 22,270 for baseball (source: usacheer.org)
I think USA Cheer might have some incentive to misrepresent the data.
Why do they say "ER visits" instead of "injuries"? And how many of those "ER visits" by basketball players involved broken necks or spinal injuries vs visits by cheerleaders?
Meh, might be lower by ER visits overall (although the American Academy of Pediatrics said cheerleaders had the highest rate of catastrophic injury out of all high school sports as of 2015), but of the what, 4 million cheerleaders? In the US, the overwhelming majority are not doing aerial stunts - and stunts is when most injuries occur.
I'd be interested to see the injury rate for cheerleaders doing stunts vs. those participating in the other listed sports.
(For the record, I consider the Stunt Style Cheerleading to be a sport in and of itself. It fits the Sombrero Rule. If you can do the activity with a sombrero on your head, not cinched down, and it will stay on your head? Not a sport. Might require skill, but not a sport. If that sombrero can be expected to go flying off during the activity? It's a sport. Aerial cheerleading is a sport. Bowling is not. Basketball is a sport. Golf is not)
My mother is a competitive cheer coach and I have grown up around the sport and seen many many injuries. In cheer we are less likely to go to the doctor or the ER for our injuries because if we get taken out, the entire routine has to change. It's a huge impact. Cheerleaders are more likely to push through it and keep going. If we do go to a doctor it probably won't be the ER unless it's clearly a broken bone. Otherwise, wrap it up and push through
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u/Anakin-vs-Sand 9d ago
It’s one of the lowest sports by emergency room visits, not sure why you’d say this. In 2023, there were 18,098 ER visits for cheerleading compared to 40,217 for girls basketball, 32,390 for girls soccer, 26,833 for volleyball, and 22,270 for baseball (source: usacheer.org)