WAG Teen cheerleader forced to do splits article

[Sarah_the_gymnast]

Thoughts?

Article

 

[ayyyrial]

It's kind of hard to tell from the video, but it looked like the coach was placing her into a square position while the teammates provided support to help her keep her shoulders up. Didn't look like they were forcing her down. But obviously shouldn't have been done if she wasn't ready for it, either mentally or physically.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

That's absolutely horrifying

 

[Ali'sMom]

I didn't read this article, but I did see the videos. And an interview with the girl.
As the coach squared her, he also pushed his knee down on her back leg, definitely forcing her.
He, along with some administrators in the school, are currently on leave during the investigation.

 

[2G1B]

Nope. Not OK. That kid is repeatedly asking an adult to stop and is being ignored.

My DD is not flexible by gymnastics standards and struggles to keep her splits. Apparently when she was 8 years old her coach/gym owner pushed her completely down into her split on her bad leg (she barely had a split on her good leg, she was a good probably 5 inches up from her bad leg, so it was a significant amount that she was pushed down). Her teammates were the first to tell me about it and then she still talks about how awful it was and how much she was crying. My dd is NOT one to cry at practice. She is no longer at that gym (neither are a number of her teammates).

 

[Sarah_the_gymnast]

(Just want to add that i am FIRMLY against this. I put it up here for the point of discussion)

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

No. Never. Stretching should be a bit uncomfortable at most, NEVER painful or without proper warmup. My teammate has a kick in her routine, she kicked her leg up too high without proper warmup and tore a muscle in her leg. Right before competition. She was out for that competition and with that also state. She was out for 2 months I think. It still bothers her, almost 1 year after the fact

 

[Jenny]

Tearing / pulling a hamstring badly during stretching is a nightmare to recover fully from.

Kids have to want to stretch. And she obviously did not want to do this. Terrible how they ignored her pleas to stop.

 

[SMH]

She was clearly in pain- they should have stopped immediately. She said 'please no' many times, poor kid.

 

[skschlag]

ANd this child was not the only one. THere are lots more videos of other children. THis was the only one they showed. It was a pattern at this particular place, accordin to the article.

 

[Learning Parent GB]

It's kind of hard to tell from the video, but it looked like the coach was placing her into a square position while the teammates provided support to help her keep her shoulders up. Didn't look like they were forcing her down. But obviously shouldn't have been done if she wasn't ready for it, either mentally or physically.

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.

 

[ayyyrial]

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.

It sounds like there are videos from other angles where you can see the coach pushing down on her which definitely should not be done. In the video I saw, it looked like a stretch that could be appropriate if done correctly and respectfully. But my point was that regardless of whether the stretch is intrinsically dangerous, in this case it's clearly inappropriate because the girl is so obviously not OK with it. Coaches need to know and respect their students' limits. And in general, as people, we shouldn't ever be touching someone else against their consent.

 

[amiandjim]

And if you watched until the end, it looks like he kinda picks her up and just discards her in a heap on the floor. The whole thing is totally inappropriate.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

I have no problem with this until the child says stop !!!! Bunch of bone heads

 

[Natasha]

The coach says "It is a technique I learned growing up." Unfortunately there are some coaches out there who simply coach the way they saw coaching done when they were young and do not get trained or apparently even think about whether it is an okay practice or not. My younger dd has just started cheer and there are a number of things that I find unsettling in the cheer world- primarily regard for safety being ignored.

 

[Learning Parent GB]

It sounds like there are videos from other angles where you can see the coach pushing down on her which definitely should not be done. In the video I saw, it looked like a stretch that could be appropriate if done correctly and respectfully. But my point was that regardless of whether the stretch is intrinsically dangerous, in this case it's clearly inappropriate because the girl is so obviously not OK with it. Coaches need to know and respect their students' limits. And in general, as people, we shouldn't ever be touching someone else against their consent.

Sorry I misunderstood you, but thank you for clarifying.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Thoughts?

Article

the coach is a moron.

 

[MuggleMom]

When I did gymnastics the first gym I went to the stretched me in the splits till I cried. I went home and told my mom about it and I never went back to that gym. Luckily there was another one in the area and I did just fine there. I agree when working on increasing flexibility it can be uncomfortable maybe even a bit painful buy you should always be in control of when you stop.

 

[CoachTodd]

I could go so many directions with this one.
1. Too many cheer coaches try to over stretch before warming up.
2. Too many cheer coaches don't know proper technique
3. H.S. cheer coaches tend to be worse that elite cheer coaches.
I have done plenty of assisted stretches with the kids. If they are older girls, the coach has to be especially careful if he is a male. You stretch to a point of discomfort AFTER the muscles are warmed up.

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.

 

[RAMS]

There is video all over the news on this and it happened to more than one kid. It's not about a whiny kid. The video made me sick to my stomach.