On day one of the two-day CHEER 2014 finals, 17-year-old cheerleader Fiorentina Poh of the Cyrens from SM Sri Kuala Lumpur damaged her cornea.
“It was during a toss – I was in the front spot when my flyer was about to land and her leg kicked my eye,” she explained.
Even though she had to be rushed to the hospital, Poh returned to perform the next day, which she did grinning from ear to ear.
And Poh wasn’t the only one who performed through the pain. Many of the cheerleaders at CHEER2014 could be seen sporting bandages and heavy strappings on their wrists and ankles.
As it is with any sport, there are bound to be injuries in cheerleading. While safety standards are constantly improving, and are strictly enforced in all competitions to eliminate major injuries, the odd sprain still crops up in every team.
The difference with other sports, however, is that cheerleading is all about getting people hyped up, so the cheerleaders don’t show all the literal blood, sweat and tears they put into perfecting their performances. They smile through the pain while pushing their bodies to the limit, performing their jaw-dropping stunts all for their love of the sport.
Emily Chu, 14, of the SMK Bandar Utama Damansara (3) Stompers exemplified that toughness as she turned up atCHEER 2014 with bandages over her shoulders.
When rehearsing a shoulder stand, her teammate’s feet slipped and it scraped off the skin on both shoulders. And yes, that is as painful as it sounds.
“I cried a few times,” confessed Chu. “But I told myself to just go for the competition, and it’s been okay.”
Another cheerleader who performed through the pain was Ruhisha Subramaniam, 16, of Sri KL’s Rayvens, who twisted her ankle six weeks before the competition.
During the finals, she had to administer an anti-inflammatory spray to her ankle to suppress the pain.
“I just want to perform!” she said, her eyes alight with excitement. “I’ve worked so hard over the past year, and I don’t want that to go to waste.”
The Blitzerz from SMK Bandar Utama Damansara (4) almost lost their captain Yoyo Ho Yuin Yow, 16, who damaged ligaments in her ankle.
Despite arriving at the stadium in a cast, Ho was determined not to let her team’s hard work throughout the year go to waste.
“I’m just going to do my best,” she said. “I must at least try. We can’t just give up like that.”
Coaches like Tan Yee Ming, however, have to know where to draw the line.
“The rules are always being updated in America (by the International All-Star Federation) for better safety, but the most important thing is coaching.
“The coaches have to make sure the cheerleaders understand the rules, and the level of coaching in Malaysia is improving all the time,” said Tan, who is also an internationally-certified judge and co-founder of cheerleading company Cheer Aspirations.
But at the end of the day, Tan said the cheerleaders themselves play a huge role in deciding whether they’re fit to perform.
Ruhisha Subramaniam, 16, (second from left) still competed at CHEER 2014 even with an injured ankle.
“If it’s a minor injury, they’ll just have to learn to be tough and carry on, because if they pull out, the whole routine might be affected.
“That’s why we teach them to know their bodies and pain thresholds. They have to know when it’s just a sprain, or when something might be broken. If there’s any major injury, they have to call it quits,” she said.
According to Tan, the most common injuries in cheerleading are sprained ankles and wrists. The flyers tend to sprain their ankles when landing, and the bases sprain their wrists when tossing and catching. “They have to flex the muscles in their wrists a lot, and that’s not something people do every day. Wrists are actually quite weak.”
For the cheerleaders, the risk of a few sprains and bruises is nothing compared to the thrill they get from the sport.
“I feel fine,” said Poh confidently before she took to the mat, where her team later won their fifth CHEER All-Girls title in a row. “It’s my last year to compete in CHEER, and we have no substitutes. I want to pull through for my team and I am confident we can do this.”
These girls are more than just cheerleaders – they’re fighters.
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