A cheerleader’s recent spill during a routine stunt at a basketball game is raising questions about Syracuse University’s efforts to support its athletes.

Kristen Leister, a sophomore performing arts major and two-year member of the SU cheerleading team, is recovering from a Jan. 18 accident during the SU versus Georgetown basketball game in the Carrier Dome.

Leister was performing a stunt with fellow cheerleader Tom Harper, a sophomore computer science major. The stunt required Harper to throw Leister into the air. During the twist she performed in the air, Leister shifted backward a little bit, causing Harper to catch her only by her legs.

Leister landed on her head and left shoulder, giving her a concussion and dislocating her shoulder.

‘It’s something we’ve done a billion times,’ said Leister. ‘Nothing’s ever really been wrong with it before.’

Leister was treated by Syracuse University Ambulance personnel. She was then taken to Crouse Hospital, where she spent the night, Leister said. Her parents arrived at the hospital shortly after she arrived.

‘When I got to the hospital one thing the coach, (Dena Segbers), kept on saying was ‘I’ve asked for proper padding,” said Kirk Leister, Kristen’s father. ‘I wondered why the cheerleaders were on that hard concrete. That’s something I’m still wondering.’

Segbers accompanied Leister to the hospital in the ambulance, where Leister’s parents met them.

‘She has asked for padding. She didn’t understand why they had to be on hard concrete. That’s what she was thinking while my daughter was sitting in traction,’ Kirk Leister said.

Currently, the cheerleaders practice on a padded floor, which they share with the club gymnastics team in Manley Field House, but they perform all of their stunts on the unpadded court.

Although the safety equipment needs to be updated, injuries are not unexpected, said Ashley Streeter, a senior finance and marketing dual major and four-year SU cheerleader. Athletes sign-up with the understanding that the long season, which lasts through football and basketball, leaves bodies susceptible to injury. Injuries are often unpreventable flukes that could not be prevented by padding, Streeter said.

‘Anything we haven’t done a million times on padding we don’t do on the court or at games. We consistently practice on padding,’ Streeter said.

The padded floor has taken a beating over the years and is no longer performing up to par. The padding is old and full of holes, Kirk Leister said.

The cheerleading team has been in discussions about purchasing a new floor with the gymnastics team and the university, however, the university has been unresponsive, Streeter said.

‘The university doesn’t really respond very quickly to us,’ Streeter said. ‘We’re not looked at as a club sport, we’re not looked at as an activity (and) we’re not looked at as a varsity sport. We’re stuck in middle and we don’t qualify for something. It’s hard to find someone to turn to look out for our needs.’

Segbers, who became head coach last year, has been working to gain more recognition for the cheerleading squad on campus. The team is also optimistic that the new athletic director, Daryl Gross, will also be more responsive to the team.

Segbers declined comment, referring instead to the athletic department. Representatives of the athletic department said no one was available to comment, and that the cheerleaders were not actually treated there.

‘The university needs to provide more attention. They’re a little negligent,’ said Kirk Leister.

According to her father, Leister was sent to Manley to be examined by the athletic department’s orthopedist, but was turned away and told to come back on two separate occasions.

‘Here’s one of your athletes getting hurt out there and you just kind of blew her off and turned her away,’ Kirk Leister said.

Kirk Leister hopes that some changes are made so that another cheerleader does not have to be injured. The changes are important and not that expensive, he said.

‘They can spend thousands of dollars on football and basketball, but they can’t have safety for the cheerleaders. That’s not right,’ Kirk Leister said.

Published on February 7, 2005 at 12:00 pm