And You Thought Cheerleading Wasn't a Sport!

Did You Know?

1. Each year, more females are severely injured in cheerleading than athletes in any other sport (National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research).
2. A first-year medical student named Jack Campbell at Minnesota became the first documented cheerleader in 1898. It wasn't until World War II that women started to dominate cheerleading, because the men were off to war.
3. In July 2004, the University of Maryland became the first Division I-A school to recognize competitive cheerleading as a varsity sport and count it toward its Title IX requirements.

Last year, a team of epidemiologists led by Dr. Barry Boden from the University of North Carolina analyzed 29 of the 39 catastrophic cheerleading injury reports. The majority of injuries (27 out of 29) were to females. Dr. Boden and his team found that the rate of injury was five times higher for college cheerleaders as compared to high school cheerleaders. Injuries resulted most commonly from pyramid formations and basket tosses.



Cheerleading is part of a team sport!  You are responsible for "Getting the crowd up!"  You perform, you inspire, you make people think, "How did she do that!?!?!?!"  Cheerleading has been around since the late 1800s in America and is bigger and better than ever today.  Some of the most incredible routines I have ever seen were either at football or basketball games and you walked away from the event saying, "How on earth could they pull that off?"



Not only are cheerleaders usually pretty good looking, but they are also smart too!  Did you know that most cheerleaders carry a "B" average in high school and college - in fact, 83% of them do!  81% of cheerleaders are age 14-18 years of age.  62% of them are also involved in another sport besides cheerleading.

Next time you watch the cheerleaders in "awe" as you sit in the bleachers or stands, just remember the statistics mentioned above.  They are not only good looking, but they ARE smart students too!

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Steve Crouch, Calligrapher & Owner of Award Certificates By Steve, located in St. Louis, MO has created and operates the largest collection of hand-lettered Italic calligraphy award certificates available for purchase on the Internet.  He has over 13 various cheerleading award certificates available on his website and to contact him via e-mail, E-Mail address click here. Over 300 award certificates in 32 separate categories.  Visit his website at Award Certificates By Steve.