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Cheerleading Safety Checklist

There has been an explosion in the number of cheerleading injuries in recent years.  Safety experts, including the NCCSIR, the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators (AACCA), and the National Cheer Safety Foundation, suggest twelve steps to help prevent cheerleading injuries.

Cheerleading Injuries in High School Sports: Less Common, But More Severe

High school cheerleaders don't get injured as often as athletes in other sports, but, when they do, the injuries are more serious, finds a first-of-its-kind study published in the journal Pediatrics.

Texas Youth Football and Cheer Program: Ten Ways It Is Walking The Talk On Safety

Participation in youth sports in general, and in youth football in particular, is on the decline in some parts of the nation.  One of the biggest factors driving the decline is a concern about injuries. 

Lots of youth sports programs say they want to improve safety, but how many are actually making the effort to implement best health and safety practices?

Lots of youth sports programs say they want to improve safety, but how many are actually making the effort to implement best health and safety practices? I can't speak for every program, but I know one that is definitely walking the talk: the youth tackle and flag football and cheer program in Grand Prairie, Texas, where I spent the first week of August educating and training kids, parents, coaches, and administrators on ways to make football safer as part of MomsTEAM Institute's SmartTeams| UNICEF International Safeguards of Children in Sports project.

Atlanta Medical Group Proposes Sport-Specific Return-to-Play Guidelines

Four years after the American Academy of Pediatrics adopted the recommended return-to-play (RTP) guidelines proposed by the Third International Conference on Concussion in Sport, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHA) has proposed sport-specific guidelines for ten sports known to put young athletes at the highest risk for concussion.

NFHS 2014-15 Spirit Rule Changes Focus on Minimizing Risk During Inverted Stunts

Changes adopted by the National Federation of State High School Association (NFHS) to the rules for Spirit in 2014-2015 are designed to minimize risk during inverted stunts.

Cheerleading: High Rates of Catastrophic Injuries and Concussions

Cheerleading:carries the highest rate of catastrophic injury in sports, accounts for fully two-thirds (66%) of all catastrophic injuries in female athletes has experienced a sharp rise in the number of emergency room visits since 1980, with cheerleaders ten times more likely to sustain concussions in practice than in competition

Concussions in Cheerleading Happen, Too

William P. Meehan, III, M.D., Director of the Sports Concussion Clinic and the Micheli Center for Sports Injury Prevention in the Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, explains how today's cheerleaders have a higher risk of concussions during practice, which is unusual, and recommends that athletes engaged in competitive cheer undergo baseline neurocognitive testing every year.

 

NFHS Response to AAP Statement on Cheerleading Injuries

In a written response to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) release of a Position Statement with guidelines to help prevent cheerleading injuries, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) stated that it agreed with many of the recommendations and pointed to its efforts over more than 20 years to minimize risk for high school cheerleaders.

Many Cheerleading Injuries Preventable, Pediatric Group Says

The increased popularity of cheerleading as a competitive, year-round sport involving complex acrobatic stunts has been accompanied by a steady increase in the number and severity of injuries, many of which could be prevented by taking simple safety precautions, says the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Heather McKenzie (Informatics Nurse): Days As Athlete Over, It's Time To Pay It Forward

Being the mother of an athlete is a challenging yet rewarding role. So MomsTEAM has designated May as Sports Moms Month and is celebrating by asking some of our favorite sports moms to share their wisdom by responding to a series of questions.

So far this month we have heard from a fascinating range of sports moms, from a mom of an Olympic athlete to moms who were themselves Olympic athletes, from a mom of two former minor league baseball players to a Minnesota hockey mom and author.

Today, we hear from Heather McKenzie, a nurse, sports mom and cheer coach from Union Bridge, Maryland:

MomsTEAM: Were you an athlete and what sports did you play as a youth (under 19)?

A nurse and sports mom to four active young kids believes that, now that her own days as a youth athlete are over, it is her turn to pay it forward by volunteering as a cheerleading coach for her 8-year-old daughter's team.
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