WAG Teen cheerleader forced to do splits article

[mommyof1]

Having said that, there seems to be a bit missing from the article to see if this is a normal behavior for this particular coach or if it is a whiny kid that didn't make the team due to flexibility issues.
Not sure.

In the article I read, the mother claimed that the child suffered torn muscles and ligaments. The coach claimed that this was "normal training for splits."

 

[twinmomma]

I'm horrified by this. My DD's gym has an acro program and the acro coaches work on flexibility with our T&T kids. This involves having the kids do a stretch and the coach working with them to stretch a bit more. If I ever saw a coach do anything like what is in these videos I would file assault charges. There's pushing a kid outside their limits slightly and there's abuse. The line is not hard to see.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

clearly, that girl had NO flexibility. musta hurt like...in fact she looked so inflexible that they would have had to make her unconscious and given her muscle relaxers and put a Peterbilt on her to get her down. CoachTodd is a bit mistaken.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

In the article I read, the mother claimed that the child suffered torn muscles and ligaments. The coach claimed that this was "normal training for splits."

yep...normal as 6 nostrils...

 

[Deleted member 14190]

the coach is a moron.

Me thinks unemployed is a better word

 

[Ali'sMom]

The tossing her off to the side at the end is the icing on the cake...

 

[sevenatenine2]

This reads as if you don't think that video is that bad really. That in itself is very upsetting to me. Alongside the fact that her teammates were laughing as they held her in place while she was clearly in such pain. I'm not upset with them per se - but upset that they have been taught to accept this as normal behaviour. I have a 12 year old daughter and there is no way she could do this to a friend whatever she though of her coach.

I don't know that she was clearly in pain--it's hard to tell how much of that was them pushing her down and how much of it was anxiety, like working herself up and making it worse, or how much was pain. Regardless, if an athlete is crying and screaming like that---we wouldn't stretch. I also don't ever push an athlete down at all. I might have them lift their hands up and let gravity do the job, but I don't apply pressure.

This was school cheer? Dang.

 

[honu]

Ugh! Sometimes adults are stupid and kids suffer the consequences of their stupidity. Feeling extra thankful for the knowledgeable and smart gymnastics coaches we have had that understood how to stretch! My email to the school would not have been as calm and respectful.

 

[raenndrops]

Me thinks unemployed is a better word

lol, but he had just recently gotten the job. Def should be "F - I - R-E-D…. gehhhhhhhhht FIRED!!!!!!"

 

[GymDad23]

Not sure what to think here and not discrediting anyone's opinions.....but when I first saw the video, sure, with the crying and screaming it shouldn't have been pushed so far past her limit, but did any of the other girls sound like they had too much of any concern? If their faces weren't blurred out, I'm sure you'd be able to see some humor. For gymnasts, I thought something like this is normal. My kids get their turns stretching with the coaches, which looks absolutely painful, but all of them get it done and they usually come out of it super pink faced and you can tell it hurts, but once they're done, everybody laughs (because it looks silly having the coach spread eagle your legs, or sit on your back and pull your arms way back, etc.). One of my kids is about as flexible as a brick, but he knows in order to get where he wants or needs to, some painful stretching is in order and can only help the cause. And, usually the "whiny" ones are always the ones that cry at practice or competitions and can't cope well with mistakes or failures, which at times can make the team uncomfortable. Something tells me this girl wanted her opportunity, but didn't want to work as hard as some of the other girls, so the evidence is showing.

Again, coming from the gymnastics world, I see it differently than some of the comments I've seen on other sites from cheer moms (maybe here too ). But yes, the coach should have proceeded with more caution and the girl..........should suck it up!! Sorry for being insensitive.

 

[Ali'sMom]

Not sure what to think here and not discrediting anyone's opinions.....but when I first saw the video, sure, with the crying and screaming it shouldn't have been pushed so far past her limit, but did any of the other girls sound like they had too much of any concern? If their faces weren't blurred out, I'm sure you'd be able to see some humor. For gymnasts, I thought something like this is normal. My kids get their turns stretching with the coaches, which looks absolutely painful, but all of them get it done and they usually come out of it super pink faced and you can tell it hurts, but once they're done, everybody laughs (because it looks silly having the coach spread eagle your legs, or sit on your back and pull your arms way back, etc.). One of my kids is about as flexible as a brick, but he knows in order to get where he wants or needs to, some painful stretching is in order and can only help the cause. And, usually the "whiny" ones are always the ones that cry at practice or competitions and can't cope well with mistakes or failures, which at times can make the team uncomfortable. Something tells me this girl wanted her opportunity, but didn't want to work as hard as some of the other girls, so the evidence is showing.

Again, coming from the gymnastics world, I see it differently than some of the comments I've seen on other sites from cheer moms (maybe here too ). But yes, the coach should have proceeded with more caution and the girl..........should suck it up!! Sorry for being insensitive.

Whether she should suck it up, or not, as a coach/adult, when she begged for him to stop, he should have stopped. If she couldn't handle what supposedly needed to be done, then she could have been dropped from the team. First and foremost, whether the pain was real or not, she was screaming and pleading for him to stop.
And sure, some of the girls were smiling, probably thinking she was whining like you're thinking, but that still does not make it okay for a coach/adult to hurt a child. I don't know to what extent (don't recall what they said in her interview) but her back leg was injured from when he pushed his knee on it.

 

[amiandjim]

Also, there is a huge difference in the coach helping an athlete stretch and a group of kids plus coach forcing a girl down...that's not ok.

 

[skschlag]

Not sure what to think here and not discrediting anyone's opinions.....but when I first saw the video, sure, with the crying and screaming it shouldn't have been pushed so far past her limit, but did any of the other girls sound like they had too much of any concern? If their faces weren't blurred out, I'm sure you'd be able to see some humor. For gymnasts, I thought something like this is normal. My kids get their turns stretching with the coaches, which looks absolutely painful, but all of them get it done and they usually come out of it super pink faced and you can tell it hurts, but once they're done, everybody laughs (because it looks silly having the coach spread eagle your legs, or sit on your back and pull your arms way back, etc.). One of my kids is about as flexible as a brick, but he knows in order to get where he wants or needs to, some painful stretching is in order and can only help the cause. And, usually the "whiny" ones are always the ones that cry at practice or competitions and can't cope well with mistakes or failures, which at times can make the team uncomfortable. Something tells me this girl wanted her opportunity, but didn't want to work as hard as some of the other girls, so the evidence is showing.

Again, coming from the gymnastics world, I see it differently than some of the comments I've seen on other sites from cheer moms (maybe here too ). But yes, the coach should have proceeded with more caution and the girl..........should suck it up!! Sorry for being insensitive.

They were held down and forced to stretch. Multiple girls reported this, several quit, and this particular child was injured. That is not ok. If it takes 3-4 people to hold someone down to stretch, that is NOT ok. Gently helping a child stretch is one thing, but coaches should listen to the child and the child's body. My coach will stretch my child to a point, but will not go past it. It should not be super painful. It should not pull or tear muscles.

This is one of many videos of this occuring, girls asking them to stop, etc. Not a valid coaching technique.

 

[GymDad23]

Yeesh. I agree the coach was wrong on this 100%, just saying coming from what I've seen in the gymnastics world, I thought assisted (at times forced) stretching was the norm. I know that taking to the point of injury is very wrong, obviously. As stupid as people may think it sounds, I actually feel somewhat bad for this coach, though he is going to be reprimanded as he deserves, he's never going to get hired again in this business, and probably pretty safe to say because of social media and news attention, it will ruin his life in general. Again, his fault. But I doubt there are any coaches (of any sport) that coach even though they don't have any passion for that sport. Kinda sucks having to start fresh with something else.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Again, coming from the gymnastics world, I see it differently than some of the comments I've seen on other sites from cheer moms (maybe here too ). But yes, the coach should have proceeded with more caution and the girl..........should suck it up!! Sorry for being insensitive.

No. Absolutely not. Oh and Just No.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

From my days many many many years ago.

You wouldn't of made cheer if you couldn't do split. But that was way back in my day. In fact, its why I was on the dance team. I could tumble, couldn't split.

As far as "sucking it up". Yep I get it and that passed "sucking it up".

No how that kind of stuff would happen in our gym. And for my kid it would never happen more then once. But thats just me.

 

[twinmomma]

Not sure what to think here and not discrediting anyone's opinions.....but when I first saw the video, sure, with the crying and screaming it shouldn't have been pushed so far past her limit, but did any of the other girls sound like they had too much of any concern? If their faces weren't blurred out, I'm sure you'd be able to see some humor. For gymnasts, I thought something like this is normal. My kids get their turns stretching with the coaches, which looks absolutely painful, but all of them get it done and they usually come out of it super pink faced and you can tell it hurts, but once they're done, everybody laughs (because it looks silly having the coach spread eagle your legs, or sit on your back and pull your arms way back, etc.). One of my kids is about as flexible as a brick, but he knows in order to get where he wants or needs to, some painful stretching is in order and can only help the cause. And, usually the "whiny" ones are always the ones that cry at practice or competitions and can't cope well with mistakes or failures, which at times can make the team uncomfortable. Something tells me this girl wanted her opportunity, but didn't want to work as hard as some of the other girls, so the evidence is showing.

Again, coming from the gymnastics world, I see it differently than some of the comments I've seen on other sites from cheer moms (maybe here too ). But yes, the coach should have proceeded with more caution and the girl..........should suck it up!! Sorry for being insensitive.

You realize there were about 7 videos of the same thing with other girls right? it wasn't a case of one girl wanting to be in the spotlight or who couldn't suck it up.

 

[OrangeKangaroo]

She said stop- that means stop - period - that's when it crossed into becoming assault in my opinion. When someone or more than one someone holds you down against your will that is perpetuating violence and assault.

 

[txgymfan]

. As stupid as people may think it sounds, I actually feel somewhat bad for this coach, though he is going to be reprimanded as he deserves, he's never going to get hired again in this business, and probably pretty safe to say because of social media and news attention, it will ruin his life in general. Again, his fault. But I doubt there are any coaches (of any sport) that coach even though they don't have any passion for that sport. Kinda sucks having to start fresh with something else.

It " kinda sucks" having to heal from torn ligaments and muscles too. It also "kinda sucks" to not trust the adults that should be guiding you. It even "kinda sucks" to have a mans hands where you don't want them and being powerless to stop it.

It is hard to change careers but don't waste your pitty on this A$$. I don't care if it's happened 1000 times in the "gymnastics world" you come from. It's WRONG and you " feel somewhat bad for him" ......... I DONT!

 

[DefiniteMaybe]

I'm starting to get the feeling that Chalkbucket may be getting more closed minded to diverse viewpoints/opinions. I kind of feel one of the main purposes of a board like this is to be able to respectfully share and read other opinions about controversial matters.
So here I go again. And again, I have a different opinion about this situation. But then again, a couple of my own kids were drama queens in their day. Once, when one of my kids was getting her vaccinations, she acted EXACTLY like the cheerleader in the video did. I wish I had video so you could compare the two. She was fighting them and begging them to stop. Screaming and crying. They had to hold her down. I cried watching the whole thing. She later laughed about it and laughed that I got so emotional watching her freak out.
On another note, I've watched girls get stretched for years. I've been at a gym where one coach stretched her girls, and a second coach disapproved of the stretching. The second coach wouldn't stretch her girls. Over time, the first coach had exactly zero girls with pulled or torn soft tissue, and the second coach had several--I always assumed the second coach had so many soft-tissue injuries because her girls were throwing the same skills with less flexible soft tissue. So, I think it's POSSIBLE that the cheerleader was injured doing jumps or some skill that jerked her obviously inflexible body. I don't know. I just think it's possible.
I think it's possible that there's way more to the story than meets the eye. I've heard there are other videos, but I've yet to see another. I've heard there are others who agree with the girl in the video, but I've found that people (especially young people) are far too willing to jump on a bandwagon. I honestly don't feel that I have enough information to make an informed decision. I can't imagine what people would think if they saw a video of my dd getting her shots that time. I'm sure that would've appeared to be abuse at its finest. So, for the above and many other reasons, I reserve judgement.