When my daughters were high school cheerleaders, I sat in the bleachers biting my nails and covering my eyes, hoping they wouldn’t get hurt. After they both graduated I gave a big sigh of relief that my worrying about cheerleading injury days were over. Not so. Now they both have daughters of their own in cheerleading – whole new generation for me to worry about.
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According to the United States Sports Academy, cheerleading injuries account for more than half of calamitous injuries in female sports. Most injuries are caused by direct hits on the body from falling on a gym floor. Studies have shown that other surfaces such as grass, rubberized track and artificial turf are not any safer. The safest surfaces for cheerleading are spring loaded floors or foam mats, which usually are not available at sporting events such as high school football games.
This is my granddaughter Natalie now at age 13 and at 9. She and her sisters have been cheerleading since they could walk. Her family owns Tilt Tumble and Cheer in South Lyon (Michigan), where Natalie practices safe tumbling and cheer stunts daily. Natalie and her sister Alli just completed their competitive cheer season with the South Lyon Paws UNDEFEATED! Here’s what Natalie has to say about Cheerleading Safety (the girl knows what she’s talking about!)
Cheerleading Safety by Natalie Tilt
There are many rules middle school cheer teams must follow in order to keep athletes safe. One important safety rule is that you can never let your flyer hit the mat. This means that the girl who is being held in the air can’t fall and hit the ground. This prevents injuries such as broken bones and concussions from an athlete falling to the ground from high in the air. It also prevents the flier from losing trust in her stunt group. Another rule to go along with that concept is that the backspot must be looking at the flyer the whole time or the team will receive a penalty. This rule was also established to protect the flyer because if she is falling the most important part is to catch is the head and neck, this is the responsibility of the backspot. Another rule strongly enforced in cheer is that all participants must remove all jewelry. This prevents any incidents in which the jewelry gets caught on something or hurts the cheerleader. The final, most important rule, is to always try your hardest. This rule is very important because without trying your hardest, you are putting yourself and others in danger. This may not sound like a dangerous situation but if you are slacking and only putting in half effort you could not land your tumbling pass and injure yourself. Also when you are in a stunt group everyone’s effort counts and effects the stunt group. If you aren’t giving it your all then the stunt could come down and many people could get injured. These are some of the many very important rules of cheerleading.
More Little Helpers For Cheerleading Safety
Cheer Safe http://www.cheersafe.org/march-is-national-cheerleading-safety-month
USA Cheer https://www.usacheer.org/
American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators http://aacca.org/
Nationwide Children’s http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/specialties/sports-medicine/sports-medicine-articles/cheerleading-injuries-risk-factors-and-prevention-tips-article
Cronkite News http://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2017/10/12/flipside-cheerleading-prevalence-catastrophic-injuries
United States Sports Academy http://ussa.edu/?s=cheerleading+injuries
National Today http://www.nationaltoday.com/national-cheerleading-safety-month
It’s January 13, 2021 almost half way through January, and time to check in on our New Year’s Resolutions! Are you keeping yours 13 days into the New Year? My New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 are the same ones I have every year. To get and keep my house more organized (I can hear my family and friends laughing) and to eat healthier. We’ll deal with my housekeeping later. I have a “plan,” for eating healthier, but since I’m not real good at sticking with plans I won’t reveal my plan until I’ve had some success with it. I will say, though, that I am keeping a written journal of everything I eat, how much I exercise and everything else I do for the day. I can’t remember what I did five minutes ago, let alone remember what I ate five days ago.
I’m really trying this year with being healthier. But I’m a weak and willpower-less individual, so I have to find a way to make this easy so I don’t give up so fast like I usually do. My husband and I are both heart patients. My husband has a mild case of prostate cancer. We both need to eat better. But those health conditions have always been issues when I didn’t stick to my resolution of eating healthier. So what’s different this year? I’m getting FAT! I weighed less than I do now when I checked into the hospital to give birth to my 8 pound baby.
I’ve always been slender with a nice flat stomach. I know putting on weight comes with age, but the fact is that I never really exercised like I should have been – I was just lucky with my weight. Then, about seven years ago, months before I got to wear my beautiful “mother of the bride” dress, the fat just appeared. And it stayed. And it’s still here.
Putting vanity aside, I’m not medically obese or anything like that. In fact, my Body Mass Index is right where it should be and my doctors are fine with my weight. But I’m not fine with it. It’s uncomfortable and my clothes don‘t fit. I’m afraid that when I go into the swimming pool with my grandchildren, they might mistake me for an inflatable pool toy.
There are many lists and suggestions out there on how to keep your New Year’s Resolution, but they all have certain tips in common. Since I’m a simple girl, I’ll start with these three tips from Carrie H. Kennedy, PhD., ABPP:
- Make your resolution realistic
- Set an overarching goal and then set achievable and measurable steps to achieve the goal
- Make your resolution measureable
In an article in Psychology Today Magazine, David P. Feldman shared an interview he did with psychologist Judith Beck Ph.D. According to Dr. Beck, we fall into traps in thinking about our goals (now I feel better about my lack of willpower). Four common traps are:
- We set resolutions that overwhelm us
- We don’t anticipate obstacles
- We engage in all or nothing thinking
- When we get off track, we beat ourselves up
February is Heart Month, which is another reason to eat healthier and stick to it. So what are your suggestions for sticking to your New Year’s Resolutions? Please let me know – obviously I need help! Thank you in advance and have a Grand Day!
More Little Helpers!
If you’d like to break down the tips to success even more, check out these ten tips from Lifehack and notice the tips in common.
Make resolutions that reflect your values
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/lab-real-world/202101/more-resolution-connect-your-values
Five resolutions we should all make
Sex and pleasure for a happy new year