Confessions of a Wannabe Cheerleader
We all know that NFL players are some of the most injured sports athletes around.
According to the National Center of Catastrohopic Injury Research, 97% of all catastrophic sports injuries happened to NFL players.
What’s a “catastrophic sports injury”? Something that leads to paralysis or death.
So let’s take a look at what sport is number two on the Center’s list:
- 2/3 of all catastrophic injuries to female athletes in high school and college occur to cheerleaders
How did other women’s sports fare? Here’s a list of the sport and the number of catastrophic injuries that have occured from 1982 through 2010:
- High School Sports
- 78 – cheerleading (there were also 9 deaths)
- 9 – gymnastics
- 5 – swimming
- 4 – basketball
- 9 – track
- 5 – softball
- 3 – field hockey
- 2 – ice hockey
- 2 – lacross
- 3 – soccer
- 1 – volleyball
- 35 – cheerleading
- 2 – gymnastics
- 3 – field hockey
- 1 – soccer
- 2 – skiing
- 1 – ice hockey
- 1 – track
- 1 – equestrian
- 1 – softball
- 1 – lacrosse
The most common types of cheerleading injuries are head injuries, facial injuries, and neck. 98% of cheerleading injuries are treated and released.