Safety vest for double down practise

[Shancheer]

Hi all,

Sorry if this has already been covered - I couldn't find it if it has!

I am thinking about buying a safety vest for my squad so the flyers can wear it when learning double downs & tosses.

Has anyone used one within their team - pros, cons - are they worth having? Do you believe it reduces injury?

Thanks in advance!

[jandotcom]

Hi all,

Sorry if this has already been covered - I couldn't find it if it has!

I am thinking about buying a safety vest for my squad so the flyers can wear it when learning double downs & tosses.

Has anyone used one within their team - pros, cons - are they worth having? Do you believe it reduces injury?

Thanks in advance!

Sounds interesting.  Do you have a website with more info on this vest that you could PM me?

Thanks,
Jan

[Kong]

I would have to question a vest on the athlete for a couple of reasons:

1.  What would it do for mobility?
2.  What would it do for the bases who have to catch the top? 
     What type of protection does it offer?  If it's all soft, is it worth it?  If it's hard, it would pose a safety risk for the bases who have to catch the top.

Kong

[Shancheer]

I heard about the vest after one of those 'Cheerleading Exposed' things on E (massive bang up about how dangerous cheer is). However they did bring up a valid point about some injuries which occur to flyers when new to practising double downs or having to repeatedly practise stunts which you can kind of imagine due to the impact on their stomachs and backs where all those precious organs are.. I do teach my flyers not to catch themselves when learning twist downs/ double downs, but to put their arms straight down over chests and stomach so it does somewhat protect them if they happen to land on their stomachs.. but even so.

I'm from Aust, I figured they would be being used in the US already but maybe not!

What does everyone think about their use?

ADMIN NOTE:
Link has been removed because it is a non-Varsity product and has not been approved by Varsity.com to post.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation of our Community's Rules

[Shancheer]

Kong -

1. Not sure about mobility. I'd love to get my hands on one so I can see. If its just for double downs, I'm not sure that it would matter so much?

2. Catching the flyer - again, without having seen one in the flesh, hard to say. I think it would only be something worth using if the flyer was to be caught in the cradle position. Anything else could make it difficult if it slips up/down the flyers body.

[ucaCHEERalum]

It looks padded and the last thing that I want as a coach is any kind of bulk that would impede us from catching someone.  That bulk puts more "space" between the flyer and their real safety net when stunting - her bases.

Another problem with things like this is that it gives people (parents, cheerleaders, and coaches) a false sense of security.  There is absolutely no substitution for learning things by way of progressions.  If your girls are struggling to get their single rotation dismount down then the shouldn't be attempting a double full, etc., etc., so on and so forth.

Further (and I'm gonna pick on you NHS and Shan) - if your top girl can't complete two rotations AND catch herself...she shouldn't be doing them.  Its unsafe.  Its like sky-diving without a reserve parachute...different situation...but the end result (person hitting the ground, hard) could unfortunately be the same.

[CoachErin]

I have seem these used once. I didn't like them, pretty much for the reasons that ucaCHEERalum stated. I think the biggest component to safety is progressions and proper instruction. I believe that following progressions and learning (and executing) proper technique reduces your chance of injury just as much, if not more, than any device.

[stuntmnstr]

I do teach my flyers not to catch themselves when learning twist downs/ double downs, but to put their arms straight down over chests and stomach so it does somewhat protect them if they happen to land on their stomachs.. but even so.

Huh!? Sorry, but you're protecting their ribs at the expense of their head and neck? They need their arms to catch themselves. I hate seeing all these supposed double downs where they just "spin" and don't even land in a proper cradle. If I was judging, that wouldn't count as a double down, just like landing a full with your body squared up but your feet landing at a 90 degree angle isn't a full.

I don't know about the vest either. I prefer progressions for my team before ANY kind of spotting, matting or devices like this.  But I can see it being helpful for practicing them over and over, like a spring floor is helpful for practicing tumbling over and over. I'd just be careful not to substitute something like this for good progressions.

And have your flyer catch herself in a cradle.

[Shancheer]

Hello again,

Thanks everyone for your responses!

Completely agree with everyone about proper progression and not having flyers attempt skills they're not yet capable for, and just by the by, I haven't actually taught any of my cheerleaders double downs yet, they are just perfecting full downs first up - I was just inquiring about the vests as we are a little (i.e. A LOT) behind here in Australia with regards to cheerleading and some things you have been doing for years can take a long time to trickle over here to us.

Thanks again all, definitely some food for thought!