16:30: The Dangers of Cheerleading?

History Channel is running a 'THC investigate: cheerleading' special on the dangers of cheerleading & of cheerleaders falling on their heads. A multitude of similar stories & testimonies about cheerleaders breaking their necks.

There was one minor mention about how cheerleading 'not being a sport' keeps it from being monitored & regulated.

But...:

The cheerleaders say that it never occurred to them that they could fall on their heads. That last bit sounds like the most relevant part of the entire thing.

Some speakers mentioned that there are safety-precautions that could be taken. At the end of the segment, they championed the introduction of safety-equipment. And then they were done.

But the 'I never considered' comments from the cheerleaders, along with the comments from parents to the effect of 'But what are you going to do? Keep them in a plastic bubble?' make me thing that, if one wants to learn to do flips & other gymnastic feats associated with cheerleading, the place to do it is actually in a martial-arts course, not cheerleading.

I remember martial-arts training including 'how to fall without getting hurt', while the 'solution' taken by cheerleading is "don't fall".

I wonder how commonly the phrase "contingency plan" is part of the modern athletic vocabulary.

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