It has been three years since this conversation, and given today’s events in cheerleading, I would like to revisit the topic of my daughter’s abuse.
While I am sure this post is merely a memory to most of you, it is still a part of our everyday lives. My 16 year old child carries diagnoses of Major Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. My husband is a combat veteran and retired Army Ranger who is 100% disabled with PTSD, so understand that I do not make that claim lightly. My daughter still suffers from panic attacks at cheer practice and thoughts of self hatred due to the seeds that were planted in her at such a young age by her cheerleading coach, whom she wanted the approval of so very much. Her nightmares still occur, more frequently during times of stress, monthly at best. There have been three suicide attempts, one recently.
Yes, she is getting the appropriate help and has been doing so. She is a fighter and I will fight for her until my last breath. We will beat this thing eventually. I hope that she is healthy enough to go off to college on her own when the time comes. At this time, she is not well enough to attend public school or participate in cheerleading.
This is very private information and I fought myself hard over whether to share it or not. I know that many of you will simply gossip about my daughter and not truly care about her pain and that causes me a great deal of anxiety. Ultimately, that character flaw is your problem to deal with. I have decided to dig up this conversation and share this new information because it is important to realize that the abuse kids deal with by coaches has a profound, lasting effect. The bad feelings simply do not go away when you move away or find a better gym. The seeds that these destructive adults plant in kids grow. When a child is hurt by a trusted adult, they are changed forever. Even when the hurt is “only” verbal.
My funny, smart, artistic, kind, and athletically talented child believes with her whole heart that this world would be a better place without her, all thanks to an adult who professes to be “all about the love”. Her story is far from the first, and far from the last to come out of that place. Yet I still walked away from sharing her experience feeling like a great many people did not believe me, or blamed me for her coach’s behavior. Why is that? I’d love to know what we stood to gain by my sharing that experience here. Whatever we might possibly have gained has surely been overshadowed by the monumental loss of my child’s happiness.
When I first posted her story here, many of you shared your support, and a few were upset with me for sharing the truth. Later, we were blamed for things that happened on Twitter that we had nothing to do with. My daughter was relentlessly bullied by current and former athletes, adult coaches, fans, parents, and anonymous accounts. We received threats of physical harm and threats that our house would be burned down. We were excluded from social groups and activities. We lost friends. We were openly mocked on social media and in public at competitions. It was so pervasive that her new team would form a group around her when walking to and from warmups to shield her. It has not stopped and I don’t think that it will stop. I let that shut me up before. I will not be shut up now.
Lastly, the team mom that replied to my post is also no longer with the gym. I hesitated before to share the screenshots of our conversations, because she had been one of my closest friends. I still care about her, however I have no hesitation to share now, should anyone doubt the validity of my story.
I urge anyone here who has been through a similar situation to speak up as well. This is not going to stop until we make it stop.
Editing just in case anyone is unclear: My daughter was NOT mistreated at Stingrays. Stingrays is a GREAT place for kids. :)