More on the Psychosocial Dimension of Cheerleading Injuries
Cheerleading coaches, parents, and everyone connected with the spirit industry are trying to find ways to improve safety and reduce cheerleading injuries.
As I mentioned in my previous posting, researchers in sport psychology have identified 3 factors that are associated with increased risk for athletic injuries (not cheerleading per se). These are: stress, social support and coping skills.
The model proposed by the researchers is a multi-directional model, that is, one thing affects another which affects another. So, a person’s personality interacts with and is affected by a history of stressful events and the way the person handles the stressful events is affected by the individual’s personality.
Without getting too academic here, allow me to look at one dimension today and that is stress.
Stress can be defined as the demands of a situation exceed the resources to respond to those demands. Again, athletes who experience high levels of stress, whether on or off the “field” are at greater risk of being injured.
So, coaches are encouraged to keep an eye on those cheerleaders who are experiencing high life stress and especially those who seem to have few coping skills.
How do you know if a cheerleader is under a lot of stress? Well, sometimes you can sense it or you might hear about it if you listen to the chatter in the team. But here are some other ways to know if a cheerleader is going through a rough time.
Signs and symptoms of stress:
PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
Feeling ill
Cold clammy hands
Profuse sweating
Headaches
Tense muscles
Altered appetite
BEHAVIORAL SYMPTOMS
Difficulty sleeping
Lack of focus, overwhelmed
Performs better in practice than competitions
Substance Abuse
Cutting
PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS
Negative self-talk
Uncontrollable intrusive negative thoughts and images
Inability to concentrate
Self doubt
Stay tuned tomorrow for more!
Tags: cheerleader, cheerleaders, Cheerleading, cheerleading injuries