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Woodland Cheerleaders Injured at Football Game

   As the Woodland High School football team fought for a win at the game against Holy Cross last Friday, the cheerleaders and fans experienced a scary situation.
   After a stunt went terribly wrong, two freshmen cheerleaders were injured on the sidelines.
   During a time-out, the Woodland cheerleaders performed three stunts for the crowd. As the girls were standing ready to show the audience this impressive one-legged stunt, one stunt group went too early. Nervous that she was off count, the flyer pulled her scale on the way up, instead of waiting until she was solid, making her feel off-balance. The flyer leaned too far and fell with no one to catch her, landing on the football bench and the athletic trainer’s table. Her main base hit her back on the bench trying to catch her.
   The sport of cheerleading has become more than pom poms and school spirit. Within the past couple decades it has become a sport of difficult stunts and tricks, with its fair share of terrifying injuries, including torn ligaments, sprained wrists, and broken necks.
   Doctors say that cheerleading has been the leading cause of  serious injuries in high school and college women.  In a recent study, researchers found that about 65% of female athlete injuries occur within the sport of cheerleading.
   There are countless stories about cheerleading accidents that not a lot of people know about. Many of these injuries are serious. If a stunt or trick goes wrong, the risk of getting hurt goes increases.  An overrated back tuck or a fallen stunt can lead to broken ankles and arms, and other serious injuries.
   The two Woodland freshmen cheerleaders were lucky to have nothing too harmful to their bodies,  but the flyer will be out for two weeks to rest her bruised back. Walking is painful for her now, so she is missing two days of school to rest it. Her base suffers from muscle spasms in her back, but will still be able to practice and perform at games.
   Cheerleading has become more extreme in the past few decades. It is now more about the risky stunts and impressive tumbling skills, instead of just yelling “Go team go!” at the local high school football game.