There have been a lot of articles floating my way recently regarding the risk of specializing in a sport at a young age. It has sparked some great conversations in the Healthy Cheerleading Group on Facebook. …

There is yet another scandal rocking the cheerleading world by way of sexual abuse and although I am no longer in the day-to-day world of cheer, I am saddened by the blemish it puts on the sport that has been my world for 40 years. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cheerleaders-sexually-abused-scott-foster-coaches-lawsuit-rockstar-cheer-greenville/ I don’t have children…

I was talking with a former teammate of mine, last week, who asked me what my favorite part of cheerleading was. My answer was “the team”. He reminded me that being a team is important in every aspect of life. Being a part of a team is like having an…

It’s been a while since I last wrote. My dad was in the hospital/rehab since November and I’ve been very distracted making sure he is safe in the facility and able to return home. Now that he is home, my siblings and I are trying to navigate his change in…

It has been a LONG while since I was in uniform on that cheer floor, but the memories feel like yesterday. When you cheer in college, you learn what it’s like to really be committed to your school. …

What does your warm up for cheer practice, games or competition look like? I hear often that most warm ups consist of static stretching, running, jumping jacks and then into more sport specific conditioning: jump, stunt and tumble drills etc. . This surprises me because I know that it is…

Ankle sprains are the most common injury in cheerleading. A 2022 article in the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine, by Amy Lu, BS et al noted that ankle sprains make up 22–45% of cheer injuries. Like all athletes, cheerleaders naturally want to recover from an injury as quickly as possible…

Low back pain is a top reason cheerleaders miss practice or events and one of the top reasons for a visit to the emergency room. While there are some catastrophic events that can contribute to low back pain such as a fall from a significant height that leads to a…

5 things I learned in 2021 December to January always seems like a good time to review the last year and make a plan for the next year. We set goals or resolutions for things we want to accomplish or change. We make a promise to do something different. …