What are the World's Most Dangerous Sports?

The Isle of Man TT. 239 deaths since 1907 on a road course that is nearly 38 miles long, and an average lap speed of 131 mph.

Motocross: I'm not here to claim motocross is the toughest. I just wanted to put out another topic of discussion. Now I'm not talking about a weekend rider, but an amateur national or even a professional motocross racer.

When Olympic trainers are calling it "one of the most physically and mentally demanding sports in the world," it is not a sport to discount. The racing varies for pros and amateurs but I've had enough experience to back it up. I've raced at Loretta Lynn's, which is the most competitive amateur race in the world where people from all across the country and from other countries as well come to race. You must compete in an area and a regional qualifier and finish among the top four to eight racers in your region in order to qualify.

Once I qualified, I would bump up my normal training schedule in order to be in top shape. That would consist of biking 12 miles a day at the hottest point while wearing a black hoodie and a 30-pound weight vest. I'd drink a gallon of water, then hit the gym. I would do this four to five days a week. Now all this training still would not prepare me enough for Loretta Lynn's. This event takes place on Loretta Lynn's ranch (yes the country star) in Middle Tennessee in 100 percent humidity with 110 and even 120-plus degree heat. You must race three 20-minute motos and the best overall of the combined wins. About 42 riders line up on the gate and try to squeeze into the first corner, which half the time results in a wreck, and the rest of the riders duke it out on the track, throwing elbows, kicking out the opponents' front tires, and pretty much using your bike as a weapon.

Of those 42, on average about eight or so won't finish the first race due to bike malfunction or injury. I broke my hand in the first moto, (the most minor of injuries) and raced the remaining two not faring too horribly. Check out some videos online if you don't believe me.

As far as injuries go, the top seven out of 10 racers for this year's Monster Energy Supercross season were out due to injury with everything from broken backs to broken femurs. In addition, I competed at an amateur national in Mesquite, Nevada last week where they had three ambulances and a flight-4-life helicopter on site at all times. And trust me – they were all used.

I'm not qualified to heckle other sports, but cheerleading? There is still yet to be a girl who has grown a pair and raced against the boys in the pro ranks or even the amateur for that matter.

I think its funny how people say "You have the horse under your control and it's your fault for injuries." So not true! When riding, at any moment a horse can spook at a sound, or something only they can see. A horse can refuse a jump and you wouldn't even know it until it happens. No matter how well trained you or your horse are, it's in a horses nature to react that way. Clearly, people don't know much about Horseback riding.

I also believe that competitive cheerleading is a sport. If you jump and no one catches you, you can fall wrong and break your neck. Very dangerous.

Competitive cheerleading is a sport. It is dangerous, but not the most dangerous. Cheerleaders are just fragile.

I've done cheering and lacrosse. Cheering is 50 times harder. Whoop dee do if a lacrosse ball hits you as a goalie because you're wearing padding. In cheering you have no padding and you get hit a lot. Cheering is a sport; look it up.

All sports in which you bet with your life are dangerous.

As a flyer, I have to say cheer is the most dangerous sport. If all goes well, I get caught, don't kick my bases, and do a pretty flip in the air. If not, I could die, or kill a base.

Those football players who say cheer isn't a sport should be required to attend a week of cheer practice, and until then, they'd best shut up. Not to say that cheerleaders shouldn't have to go to a football practice, just that in cheer we run a lot, then do flips, springs and other things where we could be seriously injured, and then stunts.

I would love to see these football players do a full liberty, or a twist basket toss perfectly, and those are easy stunts. After we do all that, we condition and do fancy bb workouts that my football friends could not do. We do wall drills and lift timers. We do all that, and then get up the next day and do it all over, for a week, or better, a whole season. Then tell me cheer isn't a sport.

Horse riding is so one of the most dangerous sports! I rode an ex polo horse for about half a year. It was in a snaffle and completely nuts! I had to hack it out twice and bloody hell, with every trot she tried to gallop off with me! And before that I had one of the best horses every but she fell over with me and I smacked into a fence and she landed on top of me! And on a hack she tried to buck me off mid canter! And I'm only 13 and I've fallen off about 10 times!

Horseback riding is the most dangerous! (I'm not talking about bull riding, base jumping and other extreme sports) but horses are definitely more difficult and dangerous than cheer. What's worse: a 100 pound human falling on you, or a 1,000 pound and more animal, trampling you at top speed!

In cheer, it probably takes a few months to learn stuff, while in riding, it takes years, and I'm not saying cheer isn't a sport, or it isn't dangerous, but horseback riding is more dangerous.

Horse riding is one of the worst. I know -- I have been riding since I was 5 and in the that time, I nearly lost my eye when my horse trod on my face and I took a massive chunk out of my leg when I was thrown into a fence. My scar for that is bigger than my hand.

People say horse riders have padding, but you have no idea what it is like being thrown into a massive, solid cross country fence. Trust me, you come off worse.

Horseback riding is definitely the most dangerous. I mean, yeah cheer and other sports are very hard and dangerous, and I'm not saying horses are the most dangerous, but it's one of them, but with cheer, or soccer, or baseball, what's more predictable when something goes wrong? What's worse: a human being, or a charging, 1,000 pound horse? Believe me, horseback riding is not easy, it's definitely not just sitting there. Whoever said that never rode. Whoever does say that, shut up, because you don't know what you're talking about.

Yeah to everyone who claims that cheerleading is not a sport, I'd love to see you try and do what we do daily. The stretching tumbling and flying, not to mention dancing and the cheer. I give you that school cheerleading is not a huge deal. But for all stars, you sign up just to go to competitions and compete. And to the gymnast who commented. Yeah, you can flip on a balance beam. But let me see you do your tumbling on our mats then, instead of taking your 10-30 minute break before your next event, go straight into stunts from there, then jumps, then another stunt and don't forget a pyramid, dance and cheer.

Cheerleading takes countless hours of practice, conditioning and skill. It takes endurance and how about this one, guys? We don't get pads or a ball to play with. We throw cheerleaders who sometimes weigh more than the bases do into the air and they expect us to catch them, not hurt them and safely put them back on the ground.

OK, I am a horseback rider and it is very dangerous. My first week my horse got spooked and bucked and I fell. Horseback riding is one of the most dangerous sports out there. I have five friends that cheer competitively and two of them are flyers, but none have been injured past bruises. Yes, cheer is a sport but it's considered s dangerous because so many people do it. Horseback riding is probably one of the most dangerous sports, but not thought about because not as many people ride. We risk our lives every time we sit in a saddle but I wouldn't have it any other way. You must know the risks.

Also, I did gymnastics for five years. It is hard work but I was out on a injury and I had a growth spurt and couldn't compete. But in gymnastics, one wrong move or flip and you can die. Same with horseback riding, you know, minus the flip.

But horse riding also involves patience, coordination, balance, strength and time because we spend years perfecting our skills. That's why most riders in the olympics are 30 and older. But also we have to care for living creatures and clean saddle and it's so much more. I wake up with aching muscles and go do it all again.

Now I play rugby, and it has an element of danger. horse racing, yes that's pretty dangerous, but everyone seems to have missed what surely has to be the world's most dangerous sporting event. The Isle of Man TT races! Run since 1924 or something, it's motorcycle racing on a road course just over 34 miles per lap. This year's week of racing has just finished and sadly, i believe four people died this year. If you've never seen it look it up and watch an onboard camera of a section. It's got to be 20 times more dangerous than moto gp.

Gymnastics and horse riding!

Um, no! O.K., I ride horses, and do dance and cheer. Each sport is dangerous! In horse riding, you're on 1000-2000 pounds unpredictable animal but do have the choice of wearing helmets and safety vests. You can get hurt, of course. Many people get hurt on horseback.

In cheerleading, you're being tossed 5-10 feet in the air and have no padding, no helmet, no nothing, and you're expecting girls or guys of your age to catch you.

In dance, it's very few, but people have certainly died. It's not a major dangerous sport but you can get hurt. So saying one sport is more dangerous than another is just a dumb remark. Sure, more people die in one sport than in another, but still each sport is unique and equally dangerous.

I am a horse rider, i have been riding for four or five years now, i wish i could have started sooner yet my mum did not let me because she was frightened I'd get hurt. I am now almost 15, and i have had a try at cheerleading, and no doubt, yes it is hard. i guess it's a sport where it involves flips, etc., and that in a way is like gymnastics i guess. I don't know.

But to be honest, horses have a mind of their own, a will of their own, a personality of their own. they will make their own decisions. They are unpredictable, yes cheerleading dangerous, but horses, no matter how 'tame' or 'bombproof' they may seem, in less than a split second they could turn around an kill you instantly. all it takes a one small mistake.

I have, of course, had a few bone breakages, and bad falls where I've hit my head hard and passed out, but it takes more guts and determination get get back on the same unpredictable horse that just threw you off than it does to try another flip with the same teammates you'd trust your life with and can speak plain english (or another language) to them, for horses, this cannot be done, as I'm sure everyone will agree with me on that one. Unless anyone knows any english speaking horses, then I'm sure everyone will agree with me.

No matter how tame a horse may seem, they are still wild with a mind of their own inside, and to get back on the back of such a strong animal which has put you in a hospital bed, now that takes guts because the next time for all you know you may never leave that hospital bed, so just keep that in mind before you say its not in the top five of the worlds most dangerous spots.

Yes, bull riding is very dangerous, but they are less unpredictable, as you expect them to buck like hell, not all horses you expect that from, so when they do they will take you by surprise, and yes, it can kill you.

Horseback riding is definitely extremely dangerous. You are dealing with unpredictable animals that can turn on you at any moment, no matter the horse. I'm lucky; I've been riding for six years and I've had two broken bones, my wrist, which was broken in three places, and my baby finger, which snapped while I was jumping, but I've, however, fallen off countless times. I definitely believe that horseback riding should be on the list. It's pretty much a risk factor.

Cheerleading is not a sport! The most deadly sports are definitely lacrosse and rugby, but in rugby people try to kill you and you have no pads and crap, it hurts to be tackled by a 145 pound man. people break arms and legs every game. talk abut dangerous.

Gymnastics: All you cheerleaders say you learn it. try doing all your tumbling on a four-inch beam. or running full speed towards a stationary object to flip over it. try the uneven bars - letting go and flipping and catching it again. or floor routines. try all that. every gymnast i know (including myself) has suffered from some type of serious injury. look it up. many people have died.

yeah, guys, it ain't no sport but aiming for a trampoline while in a helicopter 10,000 feet in the air is pretty dangerous! everything we have after jumping is a winged suit to aim our fall, or you're dead meat. If you're lucky, you may survive with injuries. I've tried and luckily survived with only a broken finger.

i think fishing is the most dangerous, hands down.

i have been horse riding for five years now, and i have had one bad injury because of my natural skill at the sport. it is the only time i am balanced. i once (or six times, four in one lesson) went straight over my horse's head because she stopped. i was in agony for weeks because i landed on my arm. i missed one week and then went straight back to riding, although i got put on bigger horses because they were more suitable for my height.

but i have been lucky so far, some day in the future i will break a bone, but let's hope it isn't major. but you put your faith in a living animal with its own mind. my worst injury was chipping my tailbone, at a football match (gaelic football) but do you know how? we did a mexican wave and my seat folded up and i didn't notice. i hit my tail full force off a metal bar then a concrete ground and it didn't hurt until the day after, but trust me: some day i will break a bone. It's going to happen eventually.

Horseback riding is more dangerous than a lot of sports. Half the time when you fall off it has nothing to do with you. Yesterday, I was cantering over some jumps when my horse spotted the open door and decided that he wanted to go outside, so he started to buck. When I stayed on he bolted, and continued to buck while sharply turning until I fell off and landed on my head. He galloped towards the door, and almost trampled me, but I was lucky enough to only get kicked in the back.

Also, unlike other sports, when you fall off a horse if you aren't too badly hurt, you're expected to catch the horse and get back on. Racing is even more dangerous. Just try galloping among a pack of other galloping horses at high speeds. If you fall off you will most likely be trampled by 10-plus horses who can't stop in time.

actually cheerleading is a sport, they have cheer competitions, and that's what makes it a sport. same thing that makes bowling a sport.

i hate when people say cheerleading isn't a sport. and its always the people who have never actually been in cheerleading. it takes a lot of hard work and determination to do well at cheerleading. It's not all "2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate."

Just because you're not shooting a hoop or tackling anyone, that doesn't make it any less of a sport. especially when you're throwing someone up in the air hoping she doesn't kick you in the mouth, knocking out your teeth, as she comes down. or when you're getting thrown in the air hoping they don't throw you somewhere way off and you don't land on your neck and end up paralyzed for life.

Horse riding is really dangerous. What about cross-country?

Cheer is a dangerous sport, and a real one. I'd like to see you try to pull a heel stretch mid air, or a front spring round off back spring. you nail those perfectly first try, I'll eat my shoe. Cheerleading is more dangerous than anything. You should try it sometime.

cheerleading isn't a sport. you cheer for people who play real sports and you think just because you must be an athlete or it's dangerous makes it a sport? i think not. maybe if you weren't awful at what you did and didn't fall all the time it wouldn't be dangerous. try playing lacrosse or a contact sport where people's goals are to hurt you and then talk.

cheerleading all the way. already this year my team has had many injuries such as a broken nose, someone was dropped and ended up in a neck brace with a dislocated shoulder, broken fingers, bruised and cracked ribs and collar bones.

cheerleading is ultimately the most dangerous sport out there. those who say cheer isn't a sport or not dangerous has obviously never been a flyer or at the bottom of a falling pyramid. sure, some cheer teams are all about just that -- cheers without stunts.

But have you people ever seen a competitive cheer team. I've grown up watching my cousin and her friends cheer and do competitions and the injuries are insane. You want to see how dangerous cheer can be, then watch cheer expo in halifax in march. just you wait and see how bad it can be. in 2008 it was voted the number one most dangerous sport in the world.

I'd like to see someone other than another cheerleader do our stunts and our tumbling, learn all our routines and keep up with the extra fundraising the parade and other things we do. cheer is a sport!

what is this? horse riding is dangerous but the most dangerous in the world is bull riding because you're always going to fall off or get thrown.

And, more bull riders and up in the hospital with worse injuries.

Horse riding! Horses are unpredictable, and it's the most dangerous. Everyone who is involved in horse riding for more than three months has probably had a few very bad falls.

I was galloping and the horse bucked. I fell off and now there is a bone in my neck that is out of place!

I can't ride anymore. In fact, i can hardly do anything. Horse riding is the most dangerous, so watch out horse riders. You'd better hold on hard!

Cheerleading is a really dangerous sport. it's not as easy as it seems its just as physical as any other sport. tons of people get injured tons can die from it also. so don't say it's not a sport because if you look up the definition, cheer truly falls under that category.

You didn't expect to see cheerleading? This debate continues to make me laugh. People wonder why cheerleaders lash out at people in argument over what they do. And it's because they are the only team sport that gets targeted.

I think some of these cheerleaders are dumb saying that these extreme sports aren't as hard. Because some of them are harder or more dangerous. But as a cheerleader, do I go around telling soccer players, or swimmers, or basketball players that what they do is not a sport? Or that it is not dangerous? No. So why is it that the cheerleaders get the bad reputation and get told that what they do is stupid, huh? Because no one deserves to get put down for something that they work so hard at.

From my point of view, it's hard to take when someone tells me I'm not an athlete. I go through a lot of pain and frustration that I get absolutely no credit for. I can give you the answer. The only part of cheerleading that the public really gets a chance to witness are the sideline cheers done on the edge of a football field. But what most people don't know about is what's going on behind the scenes. Football games are our breaks. It's like being able to take a day off for us.

Have any of these people who are calling out cheerleading as not being a sport attended a competition? Or a hardcore practice the night before we're going to compete? I can almost guarantee that they have not. These people who are judging this sport before they really know anything about it should do a little more research. Or look into a team that's not a joke, because some teams are. But give the girls who work their tails off and perform like they're superwomen -- give them some credit.

Horse riding all the way! I've only just turned 14 and I've been riding for four years. I have already broke my leg and my bone popped out of the skin and i had rods sticking from the inside of my leg for nine months.

I have shattered two bones in my foot, knocked a bone out of place in my arm, chipped the bone in my coccyx and dislocated my shoulder! Yes, i still horse ride and i want to for the rest of my life but horse riding is very dangerous!

I believe horse riding should be pretty high in the ranking. Horses are unpredictable animals and you never know what they will do. They weigh half a ton. I have only been horse riding three years and i have suffered multiple fractures after being thrown off or trampled. And also having a horse trip over and land on me.

At least with things like motor sports you have complete control over the car and if you fall it's because you lost control. In horse riding if you fall it's because you can't control anything because the horse controls you!

It's hard to say the most dangerous because you have to take into account how many people get hurt, but not hurt enough to go to the hospital or have to go to the hospital, but don't die. Also, you have to take into account the number of people who play the sport. Basketball gets the most injuries, with over 500,000 per year. Horseback riding comes in at around 70,000, less then baseball. But we all know horseback riding is more dangerous then baseball. But so many more people play baseball. So things like base jumping are hard to score.

I'd say horseback riding is dangerous because almost everyone gets hurt at some point and a lot of serious riders have a lot of hospital trips during their career, however the number of people who actually die isn't a big number because horses may be unpredictable but they aren't usually vicious.

Cheerleading is a sport but I think it's like horseback riding. A lot of people get hurt but it can't be considered very dangerous because not a lot of people die. Still, I think horseback riding is more dangerous. I know a lot of horseback riders and a lot of cheerleaders and almost every horseback rider has been hurt (many have had horses fall on them) but I don't know of a single cheerleader being hurt.

I'm surprised that gymnastics and skate sports aren't on the list.

motocross and bull riding are way more dangerous than cheerleading. a 1800 pound bull or heavier stepping on you is way dangerous and so is a 150 to 200 pound bike landing on you at high speeds. If you're going off a jump going 30 to 40 miles an hour then wrecking can mess you up way bad.

You just get injuries most the time from cheerleading. A lot more people die from way more sports.

Cheerleading is not a sport. just because some athletic commission decides to call it a "sport" doesn't make it a sport.

Did you know that chess and Magic (yes the stupid nerdy card game) are also both considered sports? so is this game called bakhazi in afghanistan where you play keep away on horseback with a goats carcass. i think we can agree that though some crazy people may consider these things sports, they are not sports. Neither is cheerleading.

Also, cheerleading, though quite dangerous, shouldn't be considered the most dangerous sport in the world because the only reason there are so many injuries is that people are practicing without the proper equipment, training, or coaching.

if skydivers and base jumpers were to practice with the same lack there would be a 100 percent death rate.

pole vaulting.

You have got to be kidding if you think that cheerleading isn't a sport. I know that different schools run their squads in different ways, but have you checked the statistics? Cheerleading is ranked as the number one most dangerous sport. Way higher than football.

For instance in cheer, who is the most likely to get a broken nose if a flyer is doing a double down? The back spot. But, in football, do we know who is most likely to be hurt? No.

Cheerleading is so dangerous because it has so many possible injuries without padding/helmets, and these injuries are hard to control because the things cheerleaders do are so accident prone. To make this more clear, it's hard to prevent certain accidents because the slightest thing could cause a serious injury.

As a cheerleader, I know how bad injuries suck. I tore my elbow, have stress fractures in both legs, and broke my ankle, all in my first year. I play volleyball, lacrosse, do cheerleading, ran track (until this past year), and am a former gymnast. Cheerleading has had the hardest practices. I sweat the most during that workout, and I have gotten injured only during cheerleading.

I have to agree that our team was created to support our school, but we still compete nonetheless, so I'm not sure how you can consider something like chess a sport and not cheerleading. That's ridiculous. I'm sick of people disrespecting the hard work we cheerleaders do.

We don't think we're the coolest kids at school, we don't set bad examples, we don't back down from competition, we finish our routines with the biggest and cheesiest smiles on our faces. We do crazy tumbling, stunting and yelling, all while smiling and acting happy, even when we hurt ourselves. We have to go on.

We perform under intense pressure. For those of you who believe that flyers are small and really lightweight, some of them are. But not all of them. Taller flyers are prettier than shorter ones, according to my coach, so I base girls who are 5'8" and trust me, they're not the lightest people in the world. It's not easy to throw and catch someone if they aren't holding their own weight.

Flyers have to be able to hold themselves up and squeeze to make themselves lighter for bases. If you don't believe that cheerleading is hard, or a sport, please look up cheerleading at the University of Kentucky. I don't think you could do the things we do unless you're a fellow cheerleader.

People fail to recognize that what we do is harder than running and catching a ball, and wearing pads, and running into other people (football.) Not to single out football, we fully support our teams, but cheerleading deserves some respect. It's getting way more dangerous and competitive than it used to be. It is a sport. It is a challenge. It is dangerous.

Please try to understand how hard it is to be constantly beaten and bruised from other people landing in your arms. We have scabs and bruises all over from catching. Tumbling and stunting take a great amount of strength and you have to be fit and tight (like squeezing your abs) when tumbling. We don't have the luxury of a spring floor (gymnastics.) We use the basketball floor and the school's track to tumble on.

Cheerleading isn't how it used to be, and it's time we start getting some respect. It's time that we're not taken as a joke. For instance, the people at my school take the dance team more seriously than us. It's unfair, considering we took second at state, and our practice space? A hallway.

We were consistently docked points for our spacing issues, but really, we couldn't help it. We were practicing on two mats (competition floor is nine or seven mats)!

I apologize for the length of this post, and if you're still reading this, thanks. I know I'm wordy. But anyway, please don't stereotype cheerleaders as whores, or stupid or weak and just a pretty face, because just remember, that doesn't define a group. It defines each person. Those words are hurtful and being stereotyped as the meanest people who are skanks isn't a good thing. We're not all like that.

There are plenty of girls who do other sports (like basketball, soccer, tennis) who are promiscuous, but you don't hear a Taylor Swift song about how basketball players get the guy. Like I said, it depends on the person, not the sport.

I think I've made enough points. Cheerleaders from BC- love you all! You're like family! (Once someone's life rests in your hands, you get close to your team.)

for the person at 45 (Cheerleading). A flyer can be any weight, usually less than 130 but can be more, it depends on how strong the bases are. Cheerleading can be dangerous, because if the bases don't catch you, you can break any bone or even fall on your head. So cheerleading is dangerous.

What about 'skydiving without a parachute'.

No kidding: this is not only a way to kill yourself instantly, but I have some skydiving friends which are doing this sport and still living. The goal is: while falling down, fly to another skydiver (with parachute) and hold tight!

Cheerleading is definitely the most dangerous sport in the world. I have seen and heard about more deaths in cheerleading than any other sport. In 2008 there was a survey done that said cheerleading was the most dangerous sport in the world because it put more people in the hospital than any other sport in the world!

OK so horse back riding is a very dangerous sport! You can speak to your horse and expect them to understand, but they can only understand through your body movements while riding and even then you can't fully stop them from bucking or ducking out of a jump. I love riding anyway!

I'm pretty sure cheerleading is not the most dangerous sport. gymnastics is twice as dangerous. I'd like to see some cheerleaders swing on the bars and land on your hands and whatnot. Big deal that you can throw a girl in the air. flyers are usually light weight so it doesn't take much muscle strength and there's three or four spotters so it's obvious you're all sharing the weight. I've heard more people die from rock climbing than cheerleading.

three day eventing, about 100 deaths and 1000 injuries for horse and rider. I've been riding my whole life and I'm 18. I got a concussion a month ago and countless injuries.

cheerleading is not a sport. sure there's rigorous training and practicing, granted, but those same things go into pretty much any activity you want to take seriously. you're just cheerleaders; the name says it all.

What about skiing and sailing skiing? you could do anything and sailing. you could get knocked unconscious.

OK. The reason a lot more people die in cheerleading or any other sport more than base jumping is because there's a lot more people doing cheerleading. If you have the same amount of people doing base jumping as cheerleading, that would be a huge problem.

Also, cheerleading isn't a sport. And stop giving examples of why a sport is dangerous. any sport can kill; i guarantee that. These are just statistically the most dangerous. It's just that not that many people do them.

You've got to be kidding me. Some of you say that though horseback riding calls for a lot of skill, if you've got it under control then it's your fault you're injured. No. It's that way for other sports, because if you do the right thing you won't be injured.

When horseback riding, you could do the exact right things and still be injured, because you truly aren't competing against the other riders, but your horse, who doesn't fully understand when to stop. I'd like to see some of you ride a horse and she how it feels if it gets spooked by a shadow and you fall off and break your back. Yeah, and you say it's not dangerous.

I myself am a cheerleader and it is definitely the most dangerous by far! but gymnastics is also just as bad as cheer.

I think you all should know what you're talking about before you speak.

Competitive cheerleading is a sport. Just like basketball, football etc. the teams are created to compete. We just look a lot better, train harder, have harder conditioning, and we don't get the luxury of wearing helmets and pads like all of you lucky sports players how play with balls.

I can guarantee the girls we lift, throw and catch weigh a lot more than the balls you throw around. And I'd much rather be in the middle of a football tackle than have an entire pyramid come down on top of me. (I've been in both, so I know from experience.) An elbow or knee to coming down on top of your head, full speed, hurts a lot worse than getting hit with said body parts or the ball. If you haven't participated in an elite competitive cheer practice then i suggest you shut your mouth.

I've played soccer, golf, football, basketball, softball, baseball and ran track, but i stuck with my competitive cheer team because it gave me the best workout and it was the most challenging. I ride horses, as well. I have since I was three and I've broken three bones total and 19 (rebroken a few as well) and I've had about an 1/8th of the injuries.

Golf can be very dangerous. Many people don't notice that. If someone on a hole parallel to yours hooks or slices the ball and it hits you it will break a bone or kill you. Golf balls go a hell of a lot faster than people think (they go anywhere between 80 and 140 mph). I've almost been hit many times. The code-word "Fore!" is the only reason golfers have warning.

Cheerleading is so dangerous.

I've been on two teams for the past five years and I've been to the hospital so much that they remember my name.

So many girls have died or have been injured from cheerleading!

We practice almost every night and compete in many competitions. You try running to throw people in the air/ flying in open air. Running to hit a back flip well having to yell and dance.

We take some good hits in the head sometimes, just like football players.

We do flips, crazy tumbling and flyers do a lot of balancing, just like gymnastics.

We have to all be on time to do a cheer/ dance like dancers

We work out with weights so we can lift people in the air, like any other guy.

I bet if you say it's not dangerous, then you have never tried it.

Is cheerleading an actual sport?

Well, to sum it up in one word, no, but first hear me out.

Cheerleaders are athletes without a doubt. I graduated from Lafayette High School where the cheerleading squad is the cheerleading squad to beat.

They practice every day after school for several hours, just like other sports teams. They exercise and lift weights. Again, another activity common to most sports teams.

They learn gymnastics, dozens of cheers and dances and compete on regional, state and national levels. The LHS cheerleading squad even calls extra practices on weekends, hires trainers and modifies their routines for different competitions.

So what’s not sports-like about this activity?

Although many more cheerleading squads are competing, which is a great thing, not enough squads are going the distance to make cheerleading an official sport.

The Women’s Sports Foundation says that to be considered a sport it has to be “a contest or competition against or with an opponent.” So pretty much, the sole purpose of the activity is to compete.

When a school creates a basketball program, they create that program for the sole purpose of competing.

No matter how much you hate it, cheerleading squads are not created just to compete. Although there are exceptions, if the football and basketball teams were eliminated from the sport’s program then most schools would terminate the cheerleading squad as well.

There is no doubt that many girls join cheerleading squads purely for the competitive nature of the activity, but that doesn’t make it a sport. They were created to support the team, whether they actually like to or not.

Sorry girls.

new safety equipment for cheerleading, maybe?

how about cute sparkly helmets and knee pads?

okay, lets be serious here.

It's not just about which sport carries the most injuries, but how tough you have to be to be able to play.

Cheerleading doesn't involve any kind of contact/ tackling/running/ or one vs one activity. Neither does horseback riding.

I'm sure it takes a lot of skill to be able to ride a horse, but if it's under your control than any injuries that occur are due to your faults.

Also if you're mountain climbing, you are just asking to be injured! same with bull riding. clearly you are going to get hurt.

Gymnastics! Duh! Standing on a four inch beam, jumping backward onto your hands.

Swing on a bar, getting to the top, letting go, flying over the top of the bar and catching it again.

Or on the high bar facing the low bar, swinging and letting go, turning and catching the low bar. Running down the run way doing a round off with your feet landing on the board jumping backward onto the vault and flipping off! Doesn't that sound smart? I think not!

i could go on and on about how dangerous gymnastics is but i won't!

In horse back riding there have already been 13 horse deaths and 20 people dead and about 100 injured.

gymnastics.

Horseback riding! In horseback riding there are over 10 deaths a year and 100 drastic injuries! I've been riding since i was five and now i'm 14. I've broken my right and left arms, and my collar bone, and my leg all from horseback riding.

when i broke my right arm (at the age of 10) it was a double bone open fracture! That means i broke my ulna and radius, and they both popped out of my skin (yes i saw my bones). My arm was almost split in half (it looked like a Z). i spent two weeks in the hospital and had three surgeries, and i had a long metal rod going through my arm.

the doctors told me if i broke this arm again there would be a chance they would have to remove it. yet i still ride; horseback riding is my life. I'm only 14 (just turned 14 a week ago) and i'm jumping over four feet. this is my life and i will never give it up. but every time i get on my horse's back, i'm risking my life!

The most dangerous sport in the world is obviously air racing! Accidents in this sport are almost always fatal.

i agree. cheer is the most dangerous. i almost broke my neck!

I barrel race, (horse riding) and I gallop My horse around three barrels at break neck speed in less than 16 seconds.

Look at some barrel racing photos, and you will see how sharp the turns are. You are basically parallel to the ground. Horses are dangerous to be around period, and barrel horses are psycho.

I understand cheerleading is hard, but you are depending on an 1,200 pound animal with riding, not humans who have a reasoning mind that are easy to communicate with.

Apparently, jousting is one of the most dangerous pastimes, with 636 killed for every 106 who die skiing or diving (according to a google search on dangerous hobbies). The combination of charging horses, armor and pointed lances (even when designed to snap) is naturally a risky enterprise, I looked into taking it up but you really need a lot of time and money to end up in the saddle.

Cheerleading is all the way the most dangerous. you're doing flips and then being thrown in the air. If you make one wrong move, you can bring down your whole stunt and hurt someone badly.

so true! cheer is dangerous!

Cheerleading all the way. Ive broken my arm and my leg and it's screwed for life now. I think cheer is dangerous because, not only are we doing crazy flips, but we are also being thrown into the open air, hoping we will be caught. the bases are hoping you don't fall on them.

cheerleading.

cheerleading and hockey are the most dangerous. bull riding is dangerous too.

While riding horseback I sprained my hip after a two foot jump.

The #1 dangerous sport alive is babysitting. Those kids can be terrible. One time i almost got killed by a 2 year old. He was a mean lil bugger. He pulled out a knife and threatened to stab me because he was bad and i was going to put him in the corner.

i say the most dangerous is gymnastics. you have to be brave to do half of those skills. many people have died from the sport, and i myself almost did.

there are so many risks to gymnastics. cheerleading can be dangerous depending how you look at it. some of it isn't, but some is. but gymnastics in general has risks every way you look at it.

its actually cave diving. you can get stuck. Cheerleading is a very close second

it's called cheerleading and many people die from it!

Well, the safest sports in the world are table tennis, golf and badminton -- and wrestling we all know by now that it's fake, so in these sports you can never even think of a serious injury. The world's most dangerous sports are too many. It will take a lot of time to classify them but i would say skiing and motorsports. Driving a road car on public roads can also be dangerous, so just think how dangerous can motorsports be. Any form of motorsports can be dangerous, whether it's Formula racing, NASCAR, Touring Car, Motogp, Motor cross, rallying or any category of motorsports are the most dangerous sports in the world. In formula 1 in the last 14 years no driver has been killed so that does not mean that motorsports is not dangerous!

Cheerleadingg..DUHH!!!

Interested to see where plain old motorcycling features (not racing or motocross).

Good start. I would add mountain climbing and canyoneering, gymnastics, anything of high speed involving a vehicle be it auto racing or motor cycle, diving the middle of the list would be our contact team sports. The safest sports are the pure endurance-strength sports where mostly temperature is the big challenge.

Many more than 15 people are killed each year in cheer than in base jumping. It is ultimately the most dangerous sport.

Horses are unpredictable and deadly, believe me. i've fallen off my horses many times and they are unpredictable

on aug 22, 2008, horseback riding was put on the list at #3

What about horse back riding? you never know what the horse will do!