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

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 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 That the House of Representatives— (1) supports the designation of National Cheerleading Safety Month (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.

Summary: Expresses support for: (1) the designation of National Cheerleading Safety Month, (2) efforts to educate cheerleaders on the importance of safety, and (3) efforts to promote measures to increase cheerleader safety.