A friend from cheerleading fell off while stunting and fractured her spine. Certainly made me sit up and take notice of how dangerous cheerleading can be.

As of today, the injuries (though mild compared to said friend) I've sustained are:

1. A bruised breastbone (from basing and supporting the flyer's weight),
2. Reduced mobility in my neck because of a bad sprain,
3. Wonky nose after getting kneed by a wayward flyer,
4. Twisted shin (don't ask me how, I never knew it could get twisted before either), though to be accurate, I only aggravated it after cheerleading.

Dad has been seizing every opportunity to regal me with stories of paralysed cheerleaders. "We Yaps have weak backs and necks," said he over dinner. "Did you see the documentary on American cheerleaders? A girl fell on her face and lost all her teeth. And she shattered all the bones in her face."

Thanks, Dad. That really puts things into perspective.