In Honor of National Cheer Safety Month the NCSF Offers Free Concussion Baseline Testing

March 1, 2011 - PRLog -- NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA, March 01, 2011 -- The National Cheer Safety Foundation (NCSF), home of the Cheer Safety Experts™ and the only independent cheer safety organization in cheerleading, announce a new grant program to cheer teams that offers free concussion baseline testing for 5000 cheerleaders.

As a part of a month long safety awareness campaign focusing on head injuries, the first grant has been awarded to The Spirit Consultants (TSC). The Spirit Consultants are dedicated to providing personalized comprehensive cheerleading skills training emphasizing cutting edge safety, team building and goal achievement through their summer cheerleading and dance camps, year-round private stunt clinics and competitive choreography instruction for all high school spirit programs.

“This simple test will give health care professionals an important tool to resource in treating concussed cheerleaders and is an important step in protecting the health and welfare of the child athlete”, shares Micheal B. Minix Sr., M.D., leading medical expert on Child Athlete Abuse Syndrome and founder of Athlete Safety First.

The award offers baseline testing to every athlete who attends one of The Spirit Consultants’ spectacular summer camps. Last year over 1000 cheerleaders were fortunate enough to experience the best cheerleading camps have to offer. The Spirit Consultants brought over 20,000 square feet of cheerleading mats to stunt on in a temperature controlled environment with mature, highly trained staff, AEDs on site and certified athletic trainers available 24 hours a day.

“At TSC safety is our number one priority! We are always looking for ways to increase safety, so to be the first cheer camp to offer this invaluable service to our cheerleaders is amazing,” responded David Kirshner, president of The Spirit Consultants.

Concussion prevention, awareness, proper treatment thereof and return to play guidelines is a top priority in the sports safety community. The National Cheer Safety Foundation continues to lead the movement alongside their partners at the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, the United States Sports Academy, STOP Sports Injuries and the Youth Sport Safety Alliance.

Kimberly Archie founder and cheer safety expert in 23 cheer injury cases wants parents to know, “Cheerleading is the leading cause of catastrophic head injury to high school and college athletes. We defy gravity, concussion baseline testing is imperative for cheer participants and parents should not allow their child to perform stunts or tumbling without it.”

National Cheerleading Week was started by Linda Lundy at Cheer Integrity in 2005 and expanded in 2008 to National Cheer Safety Month. Wide spread notoriety followed after Jay Leno poked fun at “cheer safety being only for a month no wonder it’s so dangerous” on his highly rated night time talk show in 2009. That same year the NCSF named injured, 9 year old, Jacklyn Becker as the first National Cheer Safety Month featured cheerleader.

This year’s featured cheerleader is the NCSF’s own executive director Krista Parks-Robinson, “As a traumatic brain injury survivor in cheerleading I am so proud to be a part of providing this service to young, female athletes!”

The National Cheer Safety Foundation a volunteer organization founded by parents, operated by former cheerleaders and backed by the Cheer Safety Experts™ is dedicated to injecting science into cheer safety to reduce injury, disability and death from cheer injuries through research and education of parents, cheerleaders, coaches, gym owners and administrators. To report your injuries go to www.cheerinjuryreport.com and to find out more information about safety or grants go to www.nationalcheersafety.com or call 1-800-596-7860.

Media contacts:

Marie Bargas
contact@nationalcheersafety.com
1-800-596-7860