OT Athlete A

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Athlete A definitely got me thinking about the cheer industry. After in light of recent events where a popular music producer in our industry has realized a statement regarding his own relations with a minor in which he did jail time for years ago yet is still able to produce music for much of our industry, it really makes me wonder if USAF even cares about background checks? Really just gave me an icky feeling.
 
Athlete A definitely got me thinking about the cheer industry. After in light of recent events where a popular music producer in our industry has realized a statement regarding his own relations with a minor in which he did jail time for years ago yet is still able to produce music for much of our industry, it really makes me wonder if USAF even cares about background checks? Really just gave me an icky feeling.
I’ve been checking this sub to see if anyone would mention it. Honestly it is sick that he was able to be a part of the industry with that kind of past. An industry that works with children should have absolutely no tolerance for that...
 


Wow.

And that's just one person.

I bet there are 2x more out there.

*Working with your kids in private.
*Inviting them to team sleepovers.
*In the back while kids are trying to warm up.
*Checking out who is unattended in the hotel areas/pools.
*Texting your kids on their personal phones.

You name it.

And cheer is much like gym with a "private culture."

In the sense that, you generally do not expect to come in and say, watch an entire weekend of their choreo camp. You are expected to drop and run, so you do.

I wonder how much of that will change.
 
The fact that it happened while he was a gym employee and USASF has him on their preferred vendor list is just mind boggling to me. And the people in the industry defending him and attacking the person who helped make this public? I'm disgusted.
I'm all for someone moving on from their past - but it should not happen in an industry where he was convicted and is centered around young athletes.
 
Sadly, it's about who is doing the accusing.

It's going to take a Big Deal Cheerlebrity Athlete to come out against an abuser for anyone to take it seriously.

Typically if one Big Deal Athlete comes out about it, others gain courage to speak.

Other kids are typically dismissed as being "salty" or "sour grapes."
 
Another thing that I think only has a matter of time til it breaks wide open and becomes a topic of news.

Emotional/Verbal/Physical Abuse by Coaches and Staff in Cheer.

It kind of bubbles under the surface. People will mention why they left XYZ or ABC All Stars or School but it seems to be brushed past super quickly.

Or the child or parent account is dismissed or discredited as sour grapes.

Sure, yes some people may be salty or exaggerating.

But everyone can think of certain staff or coaches at gyms or schools (in your area or elsewhere) that you repeatedly hear the SAME thing about from different people.

Example: Six different people leave Shady Athletics in one season saying "She grabbed my kid by the sweatshirt." Or "She called my kid a worthless a$s and said she is never flying again."

It all can't be 100% false, you know?
 
I am sure I will get hate for saying this. When people in cheer speak out they are treated beyond awful. Everything they have done wrong is pointed out. Recently an athlete spoke up about UK Cheer. Instead of looking at what was wrong about that cheer program, most looked at what was wrong about her. Most only cared about attacking her and speaking up for their favorite Cheer program.
 
I am sure I will get hate for saying this. When people in cheer speak out they are treated beyond awful. Everything they have done wrong is pointed out. Recently an athlete spoke up about UK Cheer. Instead of looking at what was wrong about that cheer program, most looked at what was wrong about her. Most only cared about attacking her and speaking up for their favorite Cheer program.

Well this is a slippery slope but I'll bite.

This athlete had multiple coaches and parents come out and speak about what a problem the family was and havoc they had caused at many, many gyms. There were hundreds of UK alumni that stated these coaches were nothing but stellar. I could be wrong, but I never heard any other athletes come forward to state that UK was a problem, only this one. You are not comparing apples to apples here.

I think victims are often bullied, but as someone stated above, there are many honest cheerlebrities that people WOULD believe. I think having a cheerleader come out that people would believe is credible would make a big difference in encouraging others to do the same.
 
The bottom line is the only thing that should matter is if her accusations were true or not. An investigation found that they were true.

It wasn’t really that true though. And even if the most damning stuff was true, it didn’t bother the athlete enough to come forward when it happened. She waited until after she was cut — six months later — to make a complaint. That’s was upsets me the most. If she came forward when it happened, fine. But it didn’t bother her enough to report it when she was on the team she wanted. It was only when she got cut that she and her mom decided to make a complaint with the intent of bringing down the program. All because mommy’s little princess had a tantrum. God help that kid in the real world.
 
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