We understand the cheer industry is doing little to bring our issues to the forefront. It is now up to us to bring it to light. This is our SHOUT OUT to the sports world. We are here…please help us!
Among us are brave athletes who have stepped forward to lend their voice, to help us understand the plight of the cheer athlete. From sexual abuse to emotional trauma, our pain is real.
Our stories are real. These abuses happened and are still happening to some of us. We are coming forward to prevent the abuse, the degrading, the absolute pain some athletes bear when they are stuck in a bad environment.
We LOVE our sport, we cherish the friendships, the overall atmosphere we collectively create for ourselves. What we want to stop is the lack of empathy the industry has for our cry for help. We do not understand the complete silence in standing up for us, for our well-being, for our safety.
This is a global issue. We are from many countries around the world and our common goal is to change the cheer industry into a positive and safe place for us as athletes. As athletes, we deserve a safe haven in which to train and compete. We deserve change.
What exactly do we want? We want the cheer industry to stand behind us and not hide the abusive behavior. Unite together and take charge of the bad behavior, remove the bad coaches and give us your guarantee you will DO better, you will BE better.
For some of us, the pain is still there, still vividly real. But we have hope that those outside our cheer industry will help us bring this to light, will help us bring about change to our sport.
World-wide, our cheer industry has a sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and a physical abuse problem. This will not go away until those that are protecting their peers step up and acknowledge there is a problem. Put athlete above profit. Put athlete above winning, please.