Cheerleader's death spurs calls for better safety practices
(Photo by Energized Athletics)
By Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff
Lauren Chang's siblings called today for more regulation and increased safety practices to protect cheerleaders like their "energetic, spirited, tenacious" sister, who died following a competiton last weekend.
"We hope her death will shed light on the inherent risks of cheerleading," sister Nancy Chang said, reading a statement through tears at a news conference outside Newton North High School.
Lauren Chang died Monday, a day after she collapsed during a performance at the Minuteman Cheerleading Championships in Worcester. It appears that her lungs collapsed following a kick to the chest, authorities have said.
Nancy Chang was joined by her brothers, as well as Re[resentative Peter Koutoujian, who co-chairs the Legislature's Committee on Public Health.
Koutoujian said he is working with the family to form an "appropriate response" to Lauren's death. He said that responses could mean anything from filing legislation to regulate cheerleading training and safety practices, requiring more medical personnel to be stationed at events, or starting a campaign to educate the public about how athletic, and often risky, cheerleading has become.
Koutoujian said the public's perception of cheerleading also needs to change.
"We don't think of cheerleading as something that is athletic, that is competitive, that is driven," he said. But Lauren "fought through pain, she fought through injury ... and all she wanted to do was cheer."
Family members spoke little at the news conference of the details surrounding Lauren's death.
"All we know is what happened," brother Jason Chang said. "We wouldn't want that pain for anyone else."
