[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 175 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 175

    Expressing support for designation of March 2015 as ``National 
                      Cheerleading Safety Month''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 26, 2015

 Mr. Veasey submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Expressing support for designation of March 2015 as ``National 
                      Cheerleading Safety Month''.

Whereas approximately 3,600,000 youth participate in cheerleading activities 
        each year in the United States;
Whereas there was a spike in catastrophic cheerleading injuries during the 2005-
        2006 season leading to an invigorated safety effort that has seen a drop 
        in injuries each year following and the risk of serious injury is now 
        statistically lower than most other sports and athletics in schools 
        thanks to this added vigilance;
Whereas cheerleading has experienced a major reduction in injuries in recent 
        years, thanks to increased regulation and coach training, such that, in 
        the 4 years that cheerleading has been included in the National High 
        School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study, cheerleading has been 
        consistently ranked among the safest sports in high school for overall 
        injury rate with between the 16th and 18th lowest injury rate out of 20 
        high school sports;
Whereas according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission's NEISS reporting 
        system, cheerleading emergency room visits are now low compared to 
        several other girls' sports;
Whereas in fact, girls' cheerleading resulted in fewer emergency room visits in 
        2011 (36,925) than girls' basketball (94,886), soccer (70,043), or 
        softball (52,986);
Whereas with all youth athletic activities, continued safety awareness and 
        vigilance is needed;
Whereas March is a time to raise awareness, prevent injuries, and increase 
        overall safety in cheerleader performance through the creation and 
        promotion of National Cheerleading Safety Month;
Whereas USA Cheer, the United States All Star Federation for Cheer and Dance 
        Teams (USASF), and American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and 
        Administrators (AACCA) raise awareness, prevent injuries, and increase 
        overall safety in cheerleader performance through their CheerSafe 
        initiative to continue to improve the safety of the more than 3,000,000 
        cheerleaders in the United States;
Whereas CheerSafe members commit to ensuring that every cheerleading team be 
        trained under the direction of a knowledgeable coach, and that every 
        cheerleading team follows established safety rules and that they have an 
        emergency plan in place;
Whereas, since the implementation of this training through CheerSafe, there have 
        been no catastrophic injury claims stemming from a cheerleading 
        practice, game, or competition;
Whereas nearly 98 percent of emergency room visits for cheerleaders are 
        designated as ``treated and released'', resulting in no hospital stay;
Whereas the most common emergency room visits involve sprains and strains to the 
        ankles, knees, and wrists; and
Whereas March 2015 would be an appropriate month to designate ``National 
        Cheerleading Safety Month'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the designation of ``National Cheerleading 
        Safety Month''; and
            (2) supports efforts to educate cheerleaders on the 
        importance of safety and promote efforts to raise awareness, 
        prevent injuries, and increase overall safety in cheerleader 
        performance.
                                 <all>