OKLAHOMA STATE
COMPETITIVE CHEER & STUNT
PHOTOS & MORE
Bracken Building Something Bigger Than Herself
Josh Poteet
The practice gym in Gallagher-Iba Arena boasts the success of its basketball programs as it prominently features banners that cover the walls from end to end. Banners showcasing Final Four runs, Elite Eight appearances and conference championships – the success is hard to ignore. But the team that is practicing in that gym might be the most successful out of anyone who uses it – the four-time national champion OSU STUNT team.
STUNT, led by head coach Lindsay Bracken, uses the facility multiple times a week as they prepare for its upcoming season and a chance to win their fifth national championship.
Bracken, who hails from Michigan, has made a home and built something special in Stillwater. She cheered at the University of Michigan while in school and then made the move to Oklahoma after graduation.
“I met Leroy McCullough at a cheer camp and asked him if he would be willing to take a grad student at Oklahoma State,” Bracken said. “He said yes and so I came and tried out and cheered at OSU for five years.”
McCullough is now the coach of the Team USA cheer squad and has turned the entire cheer program at Oklahoma State over to Bracken. McCullough won multiple national titles in Stillwater and Bracken has continued that legacy.
Since the STUNT team was founded in 2011 and has won four national championships in its five years being active. While Bracken wants to win, she is focused on something bigger than titles – making STUNT an NCAA sport.
“STUNT is going for emerging sport status this year,” Bracken said. “Emerging-sport status is essentially the transition between club sport and NCAA-sanctioned sport.”
If STUNT becomes an NCAA sport that will allow the team to recruit with resources outside of Stillwater which would only further the success that the program has had. Despite the four national championships, countless All-Americans and the emerging-sport status, Bracken's main objective is one thing – getting better.
“The goal is to keep getting better,” Bracken said. “ I want us to put out a product that makes Oklahoma State look good. There have been teams that didn’t win but I was really proud of, and teams that did win where I feel like we didn’t give our best.”
The big-picture mindset that Bracken has is what you want in a coach that is leading one of your most successful programs. Although there aren’t any banners on those walls in Gallagher-Iba now, that could change if Bracken keeps the STUNT team moving in the right direction.
CAUTION
Deanna Fuller
Out of all the sports that the world encompasses, cheerleading can be considered one of the most dangerous activities of all time. Beyond the pom-poms, skirts and flashy make-up, some of the most resilient athletes endure injuries that range from minuscule to life-threatening. Toughness is a trait that these competitors are born with and keeps them coming back for more. Although the public does not get the opportunity to see all that goes into what these athletes do, it can be concluded that the challenges cheerleaders face injury wise are on the same keel as any another traditional sport, if not higher.
According to Livestrong.com, Cheerleading is by far the most dangerous sport for female athletes. The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research found that cheerleading accounted for 70.5 percent of catastrophic injuries -- fatal, disabling or serious -- suffered by college athletes. High-flying routines create unique risks for cheerleaders. The athleticism it takes to never truly have an ‘off-season’ and constantly fight through some of the pain is a lot more than just “go team, go.”
“In cheer, in general day-to day injuries, there’s definitely a lot of high ankle sprains and things like that,” OSU Cheer certified athletic trainer Hanna Mundy said.
“The more severe injuries would be concussions, ACL tears, anything in the knee area really and any type of shoulder/labrum or rotator cuff injuries or tears.”
Most spectators think cheerleading is just about looking pretty and cheering on the school you represent, but over the years the need for more precautions to be taken has been in high-demand.
“I have our cheerleaders on an ACL prevention program, which is just a plan that has a few exercises that they do before every practice to help activate some of the muscles and help stabilize the knee,” Mundy said. “Any type of taping or bracing for anyone that may be more prone to or already have a preexisting injury or condition that would make them more susceptible to injury.”
Recognition and respect is a vital component for this sport and industry if any progress is to be made in furthering technology and taking measures to prevent any mishaps before its too late.
