Cheerleading has the highest catastrophic injury rate of any sport for females in the United States. And the vast majority of those injuries happen during stunts.

But here's what most people don't talk about: almost all of them are preventable.

The problem isn't the difficulty of the stunts. It's that teams skip fundamentals. They rush to throw extensions before they've mastered posture. They attempt basket tosses before they've drilled grip mechanics. They learn by trial and error instead of by progression.

What Actually Causes Stunt Injuries

1. Bad base posture — lifting with the back instead of the legs

2. Weak or incorrect grips — hands slip because no one taught proper rein technique

3. No catch protocol — when things go wrong, no one knows the emergency procedure

4. Skipping progressions — going from ground level to full extension without the steps in between

The Fix

At StuntSafe Academy, we built a course that teaches stunt safety from the ground up — literally. You start on the floor and don't go higher until your mechanics are locked in.

Stunt Safety Foundations covers:

• Posture mechanics for every position (base, back spot, flyer)

• All 5 essential grip types with partner drills

• Progressive stunt drills from floor level to extension preps

• Safety catch protocols for every scenario

• A 4-week structured practice plan

If you're a beginner cheerleader, a coach building a new program, or a parent who wants to make sure your kid's team is training safely — this course was built for you.

Your team is counting on you to know this stuff. Don't wing it.