Cheerleaders Should be Soaring to New Heights

If you do not leap you do not know what it feels like to fly. The stunting ban in Nebraska should be repealed. This ban prohibits cheerleaders from being fully able to participate in the activity of cheerleading.

Imagine if the sport of volleyball was grounded. This would entail all of the participants playing the duration of the game on the ground without jumping to set, hit, or block. The game would be changed drastically and would most likely receive a lot of negative attitudes from spectators and fans. It would be a disappointment and frustration especially to the players and their coaches. They would be limited in the sport that they love and that they have put so much effort and training into. This situation coincides with the activity of cheerleading. In Nebraska, and several other states, the activity of cheerleading has become ground bound, which prohibits tumbling, stunting, and lifting. This law has hindered the activity of cheerleading and prevents men and women from doing the activity that they are passionate about. The stunting ban in Nebraska should be repealed and cheerleading should be made a sport allowing cheerleaders at their respective university to safely and fully participate in this limitless activity.

To begin with, cheerleading was drastically changed in Nebraska after the result of an unfortunate accident by one of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln’s cheerleaders. The accident left Tracy Jensen, a UNL cheerleader, temporarily paralyzed after a severe spinal cord injury during one of her practices in 1996. She was initially paralyzed from the neck down, but during her rehabilitation, she regained limited use of all four limbs. However, she still experiences physical and psychological difficulties as a result of her accident. She settled her claim of negligence against UNL for $2.1 million. As a result of this lawsuit, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln has made the policy of ground bounding cheerleaders. The Athletic Department at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln set this policy in place restricting two person stunting. They believe this will prevent future injuries from occurring during the activity of cheerleading. Furthermore, because of the guidelines set in place at UNL, both the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s cheerleaders and the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s cheerleaders are ground bound as well. High schools and other colleges in Nebraska do not have to abide by this law. Each individual cheer squad has their own rules of what they can and cannot due according to their school's individual insurance policies.

Most of the arguments that all cheerleading should be ground bound are because of injuries that cheerleaders can experience through these difficult cheerleading maneuvers. There have been 26,000 cheerleading injuries in the USA annually since 2007, an increase of 400% from 4,954 in 1980. Moreover, as cheerleading has evolved the complexity of the activity has increased, leading to more injuries. Therefore, schools have set regulations in place to prohibit future injuries from being experienced by their cheerleaders. As of 2002, Duke was the only other Division 1 school to enforce similar restrictions. In addition, Iowa and Florida are ground bound today. These restrictions limit cheerleaders to only dancing and shouting cheers. Being ground bound regulates all back flips, tumbling, tossing, and pyramid building. Furthermore, the University of Florida’s athletic director claims regulations are a positive move for cheer squads. “Instead of waiting for a tragedy to occur, we are taking a proactive stance to protect the cheerleaders.” However, numerous cheerleaders and their coaches oppose these types of regulations.

Moreover, cheerleading should be made an official sport to help set precautionary methods in place to reduce the injuries. According to Dictionary.com, a sport is defined as an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess, and often of competitive nature for entertainment. Cheerleading meets these criteria because it is a physical activity where you can compete for entertainment. Furthermore, cheerleading is an activity for both men and women but there are a greater number of females in this activity. However, men and women both participate equally in the activity physically. Additionally, at schools that allow stunting and tumbling, cheerleaders must perform numerous different maneuvers during a game or performance. Girls must routinely execute taxing feats of gymnastic prowess, with sequences that involve tumbling,leaping, jumping, tossing, and human-pyramid building. As a result, if cheerleading was deemed a sport, proper regulations could be set in place to protect cheerleaders. Consequently, making it a sport would allow cheerleaders to participate fully in the activity that they put all of their time and effort into and are passionate about. Regulations could include safety measures for cheerleaders, proper training for coaches, and adequate surfaces when performing stunts. A Boston area pediatrician states, “We need to stand up for what is right for our patients and demand they get the same protection as their football colleagues.” Cheerleading can become a safe activity if properly administered. Cheerleaders would then be given the same privileges as athletes if it were considered a sport. "In our society,it's acceptable that every year a number of young men will die on a football field. But, my heavens, if a female breaks a fingernail, or her arm, well, then it must be time to ground them.” Additionally, cheerleaders engage in every game that athletes do, and it is not fair that they are not given the same advantages as athletes. In 2011, the USA Cheerleading and USA Gymnastics submitted a proposal to the National College Athletic Association (NCAA). It was rejected because in order for a sport to be considered for the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women list, 20 or more varsity teams and/or competitive club teams must currently exist on college campuses. Furthermore, cheerleading is still not listed as a sport or under the Emerging Sports for Women list by the National College Athletic Association.

Finally, I met with the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s athletic director, Paul Palinske. He came from the University of Wisconsin where stunting was permitted. He noticed a tremendous difference in the atmosphere at our games versus Wisconsin’s. He claimed that cheerleading here at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, cheerleading lacks the vertical excitement that is should. Also, he continued to say that he sees cheerleading as an underutilized activity. Nevertheless, all of the universities in Nebraska are under the same policies and because of the regulation at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, the University of Nebraska at Kearney has to comply as well. Correspondingly, people deem the risks are greater than the rewards in terms of stunting and tumbling. However, if given the opportunity, Palinske would lift the ground bound regulation on cheerleaders. Still, he does not see this regulation being overturned in the near future for the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and therefore the University of Nebraska at Kearney will not be able to lift the ground bound regulation as well.

All in all, cheerleaders should be granted the opportunity to fully participate in the activity that they love. This gives them the privilege of tumbling or pyramid building which would lead to an increase in the performance level and an increase in the number of participants at try-outs. Enthusiasm would be heightened. As a result, cheerleading should be officially regarded as a sport to put regulations in place to limit injuries. Moreover, cheerleaders at the universities in Nebraska would be able to completely engage in the activity of cheerleading. Hopefully, cheerleaders will flip over a repeal to the ban on the activity and keep helping mount the enthusiasm at games. This could successfully be attained if cheerleading was recognized as a sport by the National College Athletic Association.

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