Monday, February 22, 2010

Rough Draft: feature story

Girls across the globe are pleasing crowds with one of the world’s most dangerous sports: cheerleading. Behind the glitz of the uniform and the neatly tied bow in their pony tails, cheerleaders are at risk for serious injuries.

Although many would say that cheerleading is simply jumping up and down, yelling, or pointlessly throwing people into the air, many disagree. After doing online research, I found that seven randomly pulled websites about the most dangerous sports ranked cheerleading in the top ten among street luging, motorcycle racing, cave diving, rugby, bull riding, rock climbing, horseback riding, big wave surfing, and base jumping.

Livescience.com lists cheerleading at the most dangerous female sport. With the number of injuries due to cheerleading increasing, the question of how dangerous cheerleading truly is, continues to rise. From injuries as small as a sprained knee, to injuries as serious as a broken neck resulting in paralysis, cheerleading is not something that participants take lightly.

Cheerleading has recently been reviewed in order to determine whether or not it’s a contact sport. According to Lindsy DeFilippo, a former cheerleader, “when you have cheerleaders who stunt and tumble, that takes a lot of strength, practice, and endurance like other sports.” According to an article on MSNBC.MSN.com, cheerleading has reported more injuries in the past year than football, basketball, and soccer, making cheerleading one of the most injury prone sports in the world.

After talking to Hannah Popelka, a freshman cheerleader at Wittenberg, she explained the campus’s outlook on cheerleaders. “Well I haven’t been on campus that long but no one really cares or gives us much respect (like during crowd cheers and stuff). But as people, they’re like ‘Oh you’re a cheerleader? Cool!’ and move on. It doesn’t seem to matter very much in a good way or a bad way.”

On a college campus, the priorities of a student don’t typically include paying attention to what their cheerleaders are like or what they do at games. More concerned with homework, classes, their own sports teams, Greek life, or other extra-curricular activities, college students seem to be less likely to notice what the girls in the uniforms on the sidelines are doing.

According to DeFilippo, cheerleaders are viewed as “preps”. Popelka believes that the girls are viewed as “ditzy or slutty. We’re definitely not seen as strong or athletic at all. In movies cheerleaders are the popular ones but I don’t know how that holds up in real life.” Stereotyping of cheerleaders has been going on since day one and I think that can be attributed to the media.

When movies and television shows portray cheerleaders as the blonde air-head who gets all of the guys, that’s how our world is going to perceive them as well. When asked about why she thought cheerleading was a sport, DeFilippo said, “we memorize cheers like other sports memorize plays, we practice several times a week and condition just like other sports.”

In terms of respect, the girls feel like it is lacking. “No one ever responds to our crowd cheers. When we turn directly to the crowd and ask them to join in and they just look at us like we’re crazy, it’s a little disappointing” said Popelka. “Cheerleaders definitely don’t get the respect that they deserve” DeFilippo explained “the stereotyping and teasing really gets old.”

Noticeably, it is believed that there is more to cheering than jumping up and down yelling. Behind the fancy uniform and the grosgrain ribbon, lies a girl longing for respect.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Chief Loney: rough draft

Aside from can collectors coming in students' houses, making sandwiches, and using cell phones, Chief Carl Loney has few complaints. In just one hour, Chief of Police and Security at Wittenberg University, Carl Loney, opened my eyes to a world of unknown.

Loney has spent 30 years with the Sheriff's department, beginning at age 18. He has been with Wittenberg for the past eight years and claims he would not trade it for anything. "Being a police officer is just me" said Loney. Contrary to popular belief, the Wittenberg police are not out to get students, they are truly more concerned about students' safety.

"Streaking the Hollow has been going on since day one!" said Loney. "It ain't like robbin' a bank in my book!" Loney said that streaking is not destructive, and he's trying to explain to his younger officers that it is a situation that they can (and maybe should) be a little more lenient on.

Loney talked about his tolerance level in comparison to the Springfield police department's. "I think that we are very much a part of the campus life now" Loney explained. He said that being on a college campus, they know what is going on. "We want you to have a good experience here" Loney said. It's not the students versus the police department, in actuality, they're "looking for the element that doesn't belong".

One of those key elements being liquor law violations. The crime log (accessible on Wittenberg's website) shows a significant decrease in liquor referrals since 2006. Although Loney said that alcohol infractions are the biggest crime problem on campus, he also believes that students seem to be taking more responsibility for their actions.

On a comedic note, Loney spoke of one his craziest encounters here at Wittenberg. He was called to Myers hall when a young man discovered he was not alone while using the men's restroom. Straight out of a small hole in the bathroom wall came a snake, looked the student right in the eyes and slithered back in. He chuckled as he told this old story.

The thirteen Wittenberg Police officers (plus Chief Loney) are out for students' safety. The officers are there for students through thick and thin. Loney said, "Just don't vomit in out cars!"