East cheer coaches and the National Cheer Alliance staff watched as freshman Lillian Williams lunged to save a flyer dismounting from an all-squad pyramid. Since the flyer had not yet learned to “fall safe,” or fall through the middle of the bases below her, their heads collided, leaving Williams with a concussion lasting two weeks.
East’s athletic trainer, Dakota Gelsheimer, came to the cheer team with concerns about stunt safety after seeing injuries such as Williams’ at football games and NCA camp.
Gelsheimer first approached the freshman cheer coach and program director, Mallory Gaunce, near the end of second semester last year. After hearing many cheerleaders complain about back pain and shoulder instability during the season, Gelsheimer emphasized the importance of strengthening cheer’s stunt safety.
At the beginning of this semester, Gelsheimer once again spoke to the competition cheer team about stunt safety, stressing the fact that their performances are in the public eye.
“People have their phones out [recording]. The football team is filming and the cheer squad is going to be in the film,” Gelsheimer said. “So it’s one of those things where people are always watching and it’s about how it’s going to be perceived. We needed to work a little bit harder to try to catch [flyers] or do stunt safety.”
Gelsheimer put more emphasis on cheer’s injury rate after the Kansas State High School Activities Association started a study tracking concussions in KSHSAA regulated activities in August of 2018.
The study was first developed by KSHSAA to look at the dangers of football, but they soon realized it was important to keep records on injury rates in all KSHSAA regulated activities. Gelsheimer now tracks concussions in activities including football, cheer and dance. According to Gelsheimer, cheer has only seen two girls with official concussions and a few go on watch since August.
Gelsheimer and Gaunce say the rumor about injury rates increasing this year is a misconception. It only appears that way because Gelsheimer has been tracking concussions closer and reporting them to KSHSAA, something she was not required last year.
“We have just been very cognizant about tracking [concussions] so we just talk about them more,” Gaunce said. “Really with our new coaching staff they are very adamant that we need to start being safer so it’s just that we are more aware [of injuries].”
Gelsheimer added that if injury rates in cheer were to increase, she could contact KSHSAA to address concerns about making the team safer. This would lead to an NCA staff being brought in to help the team focus on fundamentals and temporarily removing stunts from their routines.
As of now, Gelsheimer has not considered contacting KSHSAA because she believes the team’s stunt safety is increasing. Gelsheimer attributes this to safety exercises each practice and the new mandatory weights class held most Thursdays after school which helps build strength and confidence.
Since Gelsheimer’s meeting with the cheerleaders and coaches, the team started to partake in safety exercises for 30 minutes each practice.
Flyers and bases often work on trust falls together to increase core strength and trust.
“The exercise teaches [the flyer] to use their core and stay tight when they fall instead of flailing their arms,” Williams said. “It also teaches [bases] to be stronger when flyers are falling because it’s almost like deadweight.”
Aside from the safety exercises, Gaunce also leads the weights class. If a cheerleader cannot attend weights, an instructor must sign off on another activity such as a Fusion Fitness class. They can also send in what Williams describes as a “sweaty selfie” to prove they worked out.
“[Weights has] really been helping with endurance,” Williams said. “If you can’t do a two minute 30 second routine without dying then it’s going to be really hard once we put the stunts with it. So that really has helped and made us all stronger.”
But Gaunce believes the weights program has not made as big of an impact as she would like. The team tries to hold it every Thursday, but with so many Thursday football games they have only had it a couple times a month. Gaunce hopes to have a more developed weights program next year.
Growing the weights program will hopefully decrease injuries even more in the future. But so far, Williams is grateful for the step forward with the new programs and the team putting in the work to be safer.
“Everyone was very taken aback when [Gelsheimer] had to come talk to us because I don’t think we saw what she was seeing,” Williams said. “We were all just focusing on cheer and now that we’re all focusing on being safe I’ve noticed more positivity and everyone’s working so much harder to catch falls. People aren’t as scared to try new skills because they know that as a flyer they’re going to be caught or as a base they’re going to be safe.”