Cheerleaders Need A Coach--Fast

Last week's near-miss accident at cheerleading practice that rushed a student to the hospital highlighted an important problem for this gymnastic club sport: not having a coach may be flirting with disaster. Though a search by the team and the Athletic Department was underway before last week's mishap, we call on Harvard Athletics to step up their efforts to find a coach--fast.

One of the repercussions of the potentially dangerous neck compression, which turned out to not be serious, is that the insurance company will not allow the cheerleaders to perform stunts until they have a coach. Although she points out, "It's not like a coach is going to catch the girl who's falling," L. Elaine Chestney '98, the president of the cheerleading club, said, "Having a coach is a very good thing," since such a gymnastic and potentially dangerous sport as cheerleading requires a coach to help perfect technique and prevent accidents.

John Wentzell, associate director of athletics, said, "This [accident] just highlighted the nature of their activity so we'll take a closer look at it," saying that he had met with the cheerleaders and they had discussed further ways to recruit coaches. However, Chestney expressed concern that they may not find a coach soon. The Harvard cheerleaders have not had a regular, paid coach in recent memory. Perhaps this lack of professional coaching has been an obstacle to competing in national forums; we hope that a coach is the first step toward that level of competition.

The cheerleading squad, though it might be all-female this year, need not be so. In addition to the years before Radcliffe merged with Harvard, men served as Harvard cheerleaders last year.

"Hopefully we'll work something out soon to get back to our pyramids," Chestney said. We too hope that one of the few teams on which men and women can work together to achieve athletic excellence gets a coach to help them in those efforts. The Athletic Department should work to quickly--and safely--get the cheerleaders back on each other's shoulders.