Author and graduation date: John J. STAWANSKI, January, 1999

Committee members: Robert Moore (Chair), Dennis Selder, James Noto

Thesis title: An Analysis of Freestyle Aerial Skiing Injuries

The purpose of this study to determine the incidence and rate of injury that occur in the sport of freestyle aerials. This investigation involved 588 athletes, 359 males and 199 females. All athletes selected were participants in freestyle training camps at the United States Olympic Training Center (USOTC) in Lake Placid, New York. Data were collected retrospectively using injury reports on file. at the USOTC. Every injury occurring during each camp from January 1989 to January 1994 was recorded. Names were omitted to ensure subjects' anonymity. The results of this study showed that rate of injury to be one injury for every five athletes and the incidence of injury to be: 20.9 injuries per 1,000 athlete-days. The chi-square technique found that men are more likely to be injured than women and winter training is more dangerous. than, summer training. In efforts to provide a safer training environment, the freestyle association should consider placing a greater emphasis on summer training, rather than winter training. Future studies might include evaluation of incidence of injury specific to competition versus training, comparing incidence of injury, across skill level (i.e., novice, developmental, national), and should analyzed in a prospective manner to improve accuracy and validity of data.

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