Blog 18: 2 Hour Meeting Answer #3

1. What is the most important factor to progress to a Level 2 All-Star Cheerleading team?
2. Always prioritizing safety when attempting skills is an important factor to progress to a Level 2 All-Star Cheerleading team.
3. A. All-Star cheerleaders unfortunately get injured often due to multiple reasons, such as improper supervision/coaching, improper technique in stretching or conditioning, or making a simple error when tumbling or stunting. According to Dr. Kurt Bryant, the majority of athletes that come to his office to be treated for an injury, especially sprains and strains, are cheerleaders and gymnasts.
B. According to a study done by Brenda Shields on the most common injuries that occur in cheerleading, stunting is the most dangerous aspect of cheerleading due to fall-related injuries such as concussions, sprains, strains and breaks. It is because of this that it is essential athletes always attempt every skill, especially harder skills such as tumbling and stunting, with upmost caution.
C. I know from first-hand experience that becoming injured during the season puts a very long hold on progressing in any aspect of cheer. I experienced two injuries during my season because of improper conditioning and treatment, and I was unable to tumble, jump, or even do my dance full-out during practice for over a month. You can't stop practicing something and expect to be able to do it perfect again after a month of not doing it. Since I had to focus on re-perfecting my skills more than once throughout the season, it took valuable time away from me working on skills outside of my level such as a backhandspring.
4. Aside from literally experiencing the negative aspect of this answer first-hand, the multiple scientific studies I've read on fall-related injuries and the lecture I attended by Chiropractor Kurt Bryant were really insightful about how important it is to keep safety a key factor in everything you attempt while cheering. They taught me that simple things such as making sure you have a coach spotting you when attempting a new skill, or always tumbling on a spring floor are simple things athletes can do to prioritize their safety that will make such a huge difference short-term and long-term.
5. I plan to study all three of my answers more in depth. The towers assignment has shown me what topics I need more research on, and and it's mostly on my three answers, especially my first and second answer.