Legal Liability for Cheerleading Injuries: Implications for Universities and Coaches

At the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball championship game in the spring of 2006, a cheerleader fell from a three-level pyramid stunt when she lost her balance during the dismount. The cheerleader, Kristi Yamaoka, struck her head on the basketball court suffering a concussion and a cracked vertebra in her neck. As the school band started the fight song, television cameras broadcast the cheerleader strapped to a backboard doing the arm motions for the fight song routine. Yamaoka received national media attention following her release from the hospital and was lauded for her school spirit.