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Zaida Martinez Ruiz

Mrs. DeBock
English 4 H
18 October 2016
Essential Question: How the service hours will benefit my project?
Working Thesis: Coaching will demonstrate all the cheerleading athletes do at their practice.
Refined Thesis: Coaching cheerleading will demonstrate all the skills, drills, ability, technique,
and exercises that will prove cheerleading meets the requirements to be a sport.
Annotated Bibliography
Bagnulo, Angela. "Cheerleading Injuries: A Narrative Review Of The Literature." Journal Of
The Canadian Chiropractic Association 56.4 (2012): 292. Advanced Placement Source.
Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
According to Bagnulo, Cheerleading is a rapidly growing sport with participation in the
United States increasing by approximately 18% per year and starting in athletes as young as 5
years of age. The injury rates also increase due to more gymnastic-like maneuvers used in
cheerleading. The most common injured area is the ankle, while the most common type of injury
is being a sprain. One of the common suggested causes of ankle injury is the practice surface.
Surveys were taken in the high school and colleges around the United States testing the injuries
of the athletes. Injury rates and data were presented with similar results between highschool and
collegiate athletes, and between other athletes participating in different sports at the same level.
The most common injuries experienced by this population of cheerleaders were strain or sprain

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of the ankle(15%), neck (7%), lower back (5%), knee (5%), and wrist (4%). 46% of cheerleaders
were able to return to the next performance or practice while 50% had an average of 2.5 weeks
off, 3% were prohibited from participating the remainder of the season. They can become more
severe including concussions, fractures, dislocations, and death.
Egan, Nicole
Weisensee, and Amy Mindell. "Is Cheering Safe?." People 71.2 (2009): 73.
MasterFILE Premier. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
Being under regulation of an athletic department will aid in injury prevention including
mandating qualified coaches, certified athletic trainers, number of spotters, restricting those who
are less experienced from pyramids and basket tosses, and providing safer practice locations and
times. A 40% decrease in injury has been shown when trained coaches are present. Parents of
cheerleaders have founded the National Cheer Safety Foundation to help manage risk in their
cheer athletes. They have created a website that allows for cheer injury reporting and support for
cheerleaders and parents. This foundation is setting the stage for injury prevention, and hopefully
after some time it will have gathered enough data to influence the school systems and
cheerleading organizations to offer their support. Like the National Cheer Safety Foundation,
parents, athletes and health care professionals must take the time to be well educated on the
sport, the potential for injury and possible preventative methods.

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Howard, Sara Catherine. "Competitive Cheerleading." Teacher Librarian 3 (2005): 30. Academic
OneFile. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.
Cheerleaders and cheerleading coaches write letters to school and local newspapers to
explain the athletic demands of cheerleading, and people are listening. States are listening, too,
but it is not always easy to know exactly which ones are paying attention. According to Susan
Loomis, the "spirit rules liaison" for the National Federation of State High School Associations,
somewhere between 17 and 20 of the 50 states defined cheerleading as a sport in 2002. On the
other hand, cheerleading can be a highly demanding physical activity. Many cheerleaders work
as hard, if not harder, than their counterparts on traditional sports teams. There are squad
practices, gymnastics classes, individual training sessions, and even the physical injuries
associated with traditional sports. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reported an
estimated 4,954 hospital emergency room visits in 1980 caused by cheerleading injuries. By
1986 the number had increased to 6,911, and in 1994 the number increased to approximately
16,000. The most common cheerleading injuries are busted lips and broken arms.
Peters, Craig. "Chapter 3: Spirit Or Sport?." Competitive Cheerleading (2003): 22. MasterFILE
Premier. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
Is cheerleading a sport?: The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was
developed in 1906 to protect its athletes but cheerleaders are not included under this realm.8
Although not recognized as a sport by the NCAA, a study by Thomas et al in 2004, demonstrated
that the physical fitness of a cheerleader is similar to that of any other collegiate sport by

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comparing results on various physical tests (push-ups, V02 max, body composition, etc). Just
like any other varsity sport, cheerleading has summer camp, tryouts, regular practice schedules
and competition. Comparable to gymnastics, a high level of strength, agility, power, and
flexibility are required for the acrobatic-like maneuvers, cheerleading stunts and pyramids.
Sports injuries are occurring and it is to be expected that similar injuries can occur in
cheerleading.
Schulz, Jason "Cheerleading, Preventions In Injuries Out." (2011): Credo Reference Collections.
Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
The NCAA Injury Surveillance System (ISS) is currently the largest collegiate athletic
injury database. An injury database is a resource to base safety and risk management decisions
and to further injury prevention research. Although cheerleading has been around since the
1960s, it has only recently become a sport involving gymnastic and acrobatic maneuvers that
have significantly increased the amount and severity of injury. This necessitates control in
guiding the rules and regulations especially at the university level where more difficult stunts are
being performed and this can only be possible if cheerleading is supported and recognized as all
other varsity sports are. On the one hand, cheerleading is about team spirit and positive attitude.
That is where cheerleading's roots are. It is a way to support a team that is struggling to win a
game, and a way to celebrate a team is accomplishments on the playing field. It is about
developing self-confidence and personal excellence, setting goals, and working hard to attain
them. It is also about learning to work with other people in a team environment. Even at the
highest levels of cheerleading competition, non-athletic concerns take center stage. Cheerleaders

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and coaches know that if the smiles aren't bright and wide enough, if the eye contact with the
judges isn't there and the hair and makeup aren't just right, their team will suffer on the scoring
sheet.
"Welcome To American Cheerleader's WHO's WHO OF U.S. Cheerleading Coaches 2011."
American Cheerleader(2011): 170. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
After watching teams at competitions, camps and events and it became very clear that
athletes are the product of their coaches. Kids follow the examples of the adults around them,
and as coaches they have a great amount of influence on their athletes. How coaches create an
environment of encouragement is the key to successful coaching and player performance.
Coachs primary job is to be encouraging individual athletes, as well as the whole team.
According to Athletic Insight, the relationship between a coach and a student-athlete determines
overall motivation and stress levels. Coaches and players also must work together to achieve
success, but it is up to coaches to be dependable leaders who genuinely connect with and
encourage players.