When I was in high school, the security apparatus didn't like that I reasonably noted the horrific public health consequences of cheerleading and suburban sprawl in my school newspaper columns. The New York Times now has a story and podcast on the horrible monopolistic cesspool that is modern cheerleading. I'm sure the security apparatus loves the horrific incidence of concussions and other serious injuries among young people.
"From 1980 to 2001, emergency-room visits for cheerleaders soared nearly 500 percent. Over that same period, competitive cheerleading was responsible for more catastrophic injuries to female athletes than all other high school and college sports combined, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research. And those statistics included “bases,” the girls at the bottom of the pyramid, who were at lower risk for head injuries. Restrict the data just to flyers, the girls being tossed in the air, and injury rates became “semi-suicidal,” according to Dr. Robert Cantu, medical director of the research center.
“The flyer was the riskiest person in all of women’s sport,” he said recently. By some metrics, the risk of catastrophic head and spine injuries was higher in cheerleading than in football."
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