Sport Status Benefits Cheer Athletes
November 16, 2012
On Oct. 22, 2012, more than 18 years after the MHSAA conducted its first Girls Competitive Cheer Tournament, the American Academy of Pediatrics proclaimed that cheerleading should be designated as a sport at the high school and college levels.
Of course, that’s been the case for some time in Michigan (see July 23, 2010 blog). Since planning began prior to the 1993-94 school year, the MHSAA has attempted to treat girls competitive cheer in all ways like every other MHSAA tournament sport.
The reason for the Academy’s statement is its concern for injuries. While cheerleading does not generate as high a rate of injuries as gymnastics, soccer and basketball, the rate of catastrophic injury is comparatively high.
Researchers note that the injury rate in competitive cheer actually has been declining over the past few years of the 28-year study (1982-83 to 2010-11); and they opine that the decline is related to the increased attention cheerleading has gained as its profile has been raised. The designation as a sport usually leads to improved facilities and equipment and better trained coaches. We agree.
Conduct Unbecoming
December 21, 2012
We had some of the most exciting games ever – and a couple of “instant classics” – but as I watched the MHSAA Football Finals at Ford Field in late November, I sensed a loss of something schools have successfully preserved until now. It is this:
While first the NFL and then the NCAA have allowed showboating behavior on the field, high schools have not ... until recently, it seems.
At the high school level we have penalized sack dances and end zone prances ... until now, apparently.
I am so disappointed – embarrassed, really – that coaches and officials are allowing players to strut and point after touchdowns and tackles and to demonstratively wave their arms to signal incomplete passes. Drawing attention to themselves. Disrespecting opponents.
Such behavior has no place in educational athletics; and it’s time we address it. Before it’s so much a part of school sports culture that we cannot.