![]() The state formerly permitted high schoolers to apply only two credits - or two years’ worth - of athletics classes toward the 26 credits needed to graduate. The state has long allowed students who are members of sports teams to take one athletics class during a normal school day, a period that can be filled with anything from watching game films and weight lifting to sitting in study hall. Texas is unusual in that high-school sports aren’t completely extracurricular. students.Īnd when surveyed by the district last year, a majority of Seattle parents and students preferred to keep the C-average requirement.īut district officials, who plan to talk about the proposal at a School Board meeting tonight, insist they’re not watering down expectations, and the change would mirror what most other districts require.Ī new Texas law that could double the amount of academic credit high-school athletes receive for playing sports is stoking a long-standing debate in the Lone Star State about whether athletics should count the same as schoolwork. Student athletes would need to pass five of six classes with D grades or better.ĭistrict officials understand there are concerns about relaxing standards at a time when everyone from President Obama on down is pushing for higher expectations for U.S. If the School Board approves recommendations endorsed by Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, as well as most district high-school principals and counselors, a D average will be good enough to earn a high-school diploma. Seattle Public Schools may do away with a nearly decade-old requirement that all students earn a C average to graduate, and an even-older policy that athletes maintain a C average to play on school teams. Weight-related medical problems are also beginning to crop up among the giant teenagers. “Compared to just 15 years ago, there’s a huge difference.”ĭoctors and trainers are reporting increases in certain injuries - stress-related muscle and ligament tears, knee strains and foot fractures - that can be directly attributed to the strains placed on developing bodies by extra bulk. “If you were to weigh the lines of high school football teams, they’re significantly higher in recent years,” said Brian Carr, a physical therapist and trainer at Georgetown High School. Once a rarity, teenaged mega-players have become a common sight under the Friday night lights. The largest of their linemen is approaching 350 pounds. They are the Central Texas high schools of McNeil and Cedar Park. They aren’t big-time colleges, or even Division II or III squads. ![]() Both boasted intimidating offenses built around sumo-sized linemen half of the two teams’ centers, guards and tackles tipped the scales above 300 pounds. Last weekend, two football teams faced off in a fierce divisional rivalry. “In our study, stunts were defined as cradles, elevators, extensions, pyramids, single-based stunts, single-leg stunts, stunt-cradle combinations, transitions and miscellaneous partner and group stunts,” said author Brenda Shields, research coordinator in the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. ![]() Data from the study showed that nearly all (96 percent) of the reported concussions and closed-head injuries were preceded by the cheerleader performing a stunt. Published as a series of four separate articles on cheerleading-related injuries in the November issue of the Journal of Athletic Training, the study focused on general cheerleading-related injuries, cheerleading stunt-related injuries, cheerleading fall-related injuries and surfaces used by cheerleaders. cheerleading injuries from June 2006 through June 2007, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Stunt-related injuries accounted for more than half (60 percent) of U.S. ![]() Although integral to cheerleading routines, performing stunts can lead to injury. Whether rallying the crowd at a sporting event or participating in competition, cheerleading can be both fun and physically demanding.
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