Videos show high school cheerleaders being physically forced to perform painful splits

[workinclasszero]

Videos show high school cheerleaders being physically forced to perform painful splits
Chuck Schilken Contact Reporter 8-24-17


ideos showing multiple high school cheerleaders crying out in pain while being held in the splits position have led to an investigation by Denver Police and the placement of five public school employees on administrative leave.

According to KUSA-TV, which broke the story early Thursday, East High administrators have had access to at least one such video since June and have received complaints from some of the girls’ parents for months. But Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg said in a statement Thursday that he just learned about the issue that day and that the school system would be conducting its own investigation into the matter.

East cheerleader Ally Wakefield is seen in one video apparently being physically forced to do the splits, despite crying out nine times in less than 24 seconds for those holding her to “please, stop.”

Her mother, Kristen Wakefield, said: "This is a grown man pushing my 13-year-old girl so hard against her will while she's crying and screaming for him to stop that he's ripping tissues in her body."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-cheerleader-splits-video-20170824-story.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Speaking as a former cheering coach, there is no need to

hurt these kids. Yes, sometimes it helps to apply corrections or some physical pressure, but you have to know (and make clear to the kids) that you should be aiming for discomfort, not pain.

[msongs]

2. "aiming for discomfort" is that in the public school employee job description? nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. It is if physical improvement is involved.

Exercising for improved physical ability and health is uncomfortable because you are extending yourself a _bit_ outside of your normal range of movement or ability level. That's what causes bodies to become stronger or more flexible.

There is no need to torture kids to help them improve, but it doesn't feel as comfy as just sitting around either.

[procon]

7. It is torture.

Recall, if you will, how the advocates for torture from the Bush administration used "stress positions" to induce excruciating "discomfort" in prisoners. They omitted any reference to pain because then they would actually have to call torture, torture, and that would be illegal and morally reprehensible.

The video of the cheerleaders shows the coaches torturing screaming, pleading young girls by forcing them to endure painful "stress positions" that were clearly well beyond their physical capabilities. Evidently the series of multiple videos showing these incidents forced the coaches to take a leave of absence, and now the Denver police is investigating several cases of child abuse, has they damn well should.

[procon]

4. WTF!?

Sweet Baby Jeebus, save us from people who think "it helps to apply corrections (and what the hell does that mean?)" because "you should be aiming for discomfort". Sadistic much?

No one would even train a dog like that, let alone a kid. Any normal adult knows that not everyone has the necessary body type or physical abilities to perform every type of athletic exercise. Forcing someone into extreme physical positions will tear tendons and rupture muscles which leads to permanent injuries... list any of the professional sports players who suffered a career ending injury.

[workinclasszero]

5. Yeah do that to a dog and wind up in jail so fast it would make your head spin

But teenage girls....meh.

WTH is wrong with this country? I swear!

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Corrections, as in "if you feel

the stretch in the back of your knee, bend it slightly until you feel it in the back of your hamstring, otherwise you are stretching out tendons and ligaments instead of muscle, which can cause joint problems down the road."

That is what coaches are supposed to do. _Coach_ them, hence the title.

And again, discomfort is not a bad thing in stretching. Pain is. Teaching kids to know the difference between stretching for improved flexibility versus pain for no good reason is part of the job description.

[procon]

15. Did you actually watch the video?

A grown man is exerting his full body strength to forcibly hold that young girl down. That's NOT a stretching exercise! Of all the sports my kids played, the dance classes, swimming and gymnastics, or yoga lessons, I never saw any of their coaches or instructors do anything like that. They never made the kids in their care scream in pain or writhe in agony trying to escape.

Stop making excuses for the goddamned coach, that wasn't "coaching", what he did was way beyond mere "discomfort". What a ridiculous rationalization! This was a terrible abuse of the coaching staff's authority and it should condemned because no one was protecting those young girls from physical abuse.

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. I don't know how to make myself more clear. I am not defending what

they did. I was trying to explain how it should have been done.

[Egnever]

21. You did fine

Sometimes you cant avoid the perpetually outraged here.

[greyl]

24. Agreed. nt

[peabody]

14. He (GreenPartyVoter) was not

defending the practice. He was merely saying that a stretch should be uncomfortable but not painful. If you don't have a little discomfort in your stretches then why bother stretching at all. In the video, it clearly showed that she was stretched way beyond discomfort and into pain territory; it became dangerous--a tendon could have been torn.

[Beaverhausen]

6. Clearly you did not watch the video

there are multiple people holding her down and pushing her beyond what her body can do. She is crying and asking them to stop.

are you sick?

[Cal Carpenter]

8. I think you didn't read the post you are replying to.

That poster was not defending the coach in question.

eta: In fact it looks like a lot of people are reacting without reading the post in full. Geeez, is everyone around here on edge or what?

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Thank you. I thought I was being clear in stating

that kids shouldn't be hurt, but apparently not?

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. Do you honestly think I would have been

allowed to hold a coaching position for 11 years in an Elementary school if I was sick or a danger to my kids?

Reread my post. In no way was I defending what those people were doing to those kids. Had a guest coach done that at one of our basketball games, I would have put a stop to it. Safety was always my top priority, and our principal and parents all knew it.

[Beaverhausen]

18. did you watch the video before you made your post?

yes or no

[Egnever]

22. .

[LittleBlue]

11. This is sadistic torture

That coach needs to go ASAP, and the school needs to begin an inquest into how this happened.

[workinclasszero]

17. I agree

This is some kinda sick child abuse.

[shanti]

19. The coach just got fired.

Sounds sadistic to me.

[clutterbox1830]

20. That was painful to watch. Hope she is alright.

Although I do have to admit that I had to do something similar during high school. It was not for cheerleading, but for hockey.
I was a hockey goaltender and could not do a natural split before. So my coach held me down (with my consent) every practice until I could do it. It was painful, but in my head at the time I knew if I wanted to play goaltender I had to do splits.

[peabody]

23. Sort of the same here.

I use to do Tae Kwon Do and they would pair you up with a partner to stretch you. It was always a slow stretch but to a point where it's slightly uncomfortable. But the person being stretched was always in charge and he/she could always say to back off if it got unbearable.