All-Star Cheerleaders With Eating Disorders?

[AndyT_T]

The stories in this thread disgust me I just lost sooo much respect for college cheerleading.

 

[peytonnmariee]

ill give all the girls some cookies and ice cream JUST EAT!

 

[Aussiekat]

ive always had issues with my weight. as long as i can remember.

for me, its always hardest seeing beautiful girls on tv and in magazines and other media. The thought that i will never look that perfect breaks my heart everytime.
Cheer does help, just because its a time that i can think about something other than food.

Sweet pea, don't ever compare yourself to them. Most of those girls just won the genetic lottery and turned out beautiful just because... not because they worked really hard to look that way. Think about all the beautiful things your body can do because you're a cheerleader, and you can do all that because you work hard. A model can stand alone and be beautiful, on the mat it takes the dedication and hard work of ALL your teammates and coaches to make your routine perfect. That's far more admirable to me than someone who looks pretty and happens to be thin. You can't change the media, but you can change the way it affects you. Be strong, and be positive. You can't cheer with a broken heart.

 

[Fameous MOM]

sooo i have somthing that relates to this!
My team had this flyer who was mostly muscle! very skinny but as you know muscle weighs more than fat. So when we put her on the strongest group they got mad because they didnt have a tiny flyer. The main base called the flyer fat (whoo clearly wasnt fat at all, if anything underweight) and told her that she needed to lose weight. May i add that the flyer was only in 5th or 6th grade. Whenever they didnt hit a skill the main base would get all mad and rant and cuss at the flyer and tell her that she needed to go on a diet. This only made the flyer not want to fly , the girl got kicked off the team and the flyer is forever scared to fly now.

That is exactly what happened to my cp! She was on a youth 3 team and her bases were always calling her fat(both by the way outweighed her by 20-30 lbs) and every time she would come out of a stunt at practice they would whine she was too heavy. Finally they dropped her on her face from a full extension and did not attempt to catch her! I hit the roof. She came off the mat and said they did it on purpose because she was too heavy. I went to the coaches and begged them to take her the stunt group and even told them I did not care if she did not fly on that team. I had to take my cp to the dr so he could tell her that she was not fat that she was actually in the 50% for height and weight and that she also has little to no body fat! People need to teach their kids that calling people fat can do permanent damage! My 9 year old is always talking about her weight and it makes me sad.

 

[cheergirl4444]

i am 18 years old and i am a recovering anorexic. it is the hardest thing i have ever had to go through in my life. it was triggered by being the biggest flyer on my team fearing that if i got bigger i would be taken down. when i was taken down is when it got worse. i felt that if i lost weight that my coach would put me back in the air. i have been in recovery for about 6 months and i am a stronger person now then i ever was before. i know this is something that i will have to deal with my entire life but i am ready to face this disease head on and i am going to come out on top. anorexia, although it will always be apart of my life, i will NEVER let it run my life again. something that i wish someone would have told me more is to never judge yourself based on your weight or the way you look, never try to change who you are just to please other people, you are the way you are for a reason and what really matter is whats on the inside not on the outside.

 

[Mamarazzi]

Couple of things:
1. @kykycheermom , I love you. I just do. And @AllstarObsession , I am holding you in my heart and keeping you in my prayers.
2. I've watched a coach "kid around" with an athlete who was walking past with a cupcake, snatch the cupcake, rip off the top with the icing (eat it himself and hand the rest back) and say"Aren't you on Worlds Diet?? And you're a flyer!" He should have known better. I never, ever forgot this.
3. I get the weight issue with college cheer - it's not as much about looks or anything, as the fact that a guy can only be so strong. Never having done it, I'm thinking cupies are tough enough with a 100 lb girl, and they may be near-impossible with someone larger.
4. Parents - especially parents of flyers, not that bases can't suffer from this disease - please let your cps know they may not fly forever, and it's perfectly ok, and that's the best reason to be a well-rounded, healthy cheerleader.

 

[arilt95]

That is exactly what happened to my cp! She was on a youth 3 team and her bases were always calling her fat(both by the way outweighed her by 20-30 lbs) and every time she would come out of a stunt at practice they would whine she was too heavy. Finally they dropped her on her face from a full extension and did not attempt to catch her! I hit the roof. She came off the mat and said they did it on purpose because she was too heavy. I went to the coaches and begged them to take her the stunt group and even told them I did not care if she did not fly on that team. I had to take my cp to the dr so he could tell her that she was not fat that she was actually in the 50% for height and weight and that she also has little to no body fat! People need to teach their kids that calling people fat can do permanent damage! My 9 year old is always talking about her weight and it makes me sad.

is that your cp in the picture? she's soo tiny! i never let my flyers hit the ground, ever. it's a no no. and i know all flyers arn't 20lbs and i can just toss them as light as a feather,but in general they are all pretty light. You can't critize them becuase then the flyers lose your trust and they become loose and scared and the looser you are the heavier you are no matter how light. People can be so rude these days, i wish i could personally tell all the cheerleaders or flyers going through this that they are just fine and that the bases are being ignorant and rude. Best of luck to your daughter and tell her to keep her head high!

 

[PghxCheer2]

I don't know if any of you have heard of the website Operation Beautiful, but I love it and the message it sends. You should definitely check it out. http://operationbeautiful.com/

 

[cupieqt]

The stories in this thread disgust me I just lost sooo much respect for college cheerleading.

My story was from about 12 years ago. I hope things have changed since then but we were expected to keep our weight below 115 and it said so in the contract. It may still be in college contracts and they may still have to weigh in, but I'm hoping it's done privately.
And it's not just college....all of cheer and other sports have girls with these problems....

 

[cupieqt]

I pray for all girls that ever feel insignificant or un-special or have an eating disorder or body dismorphic disorder. You're all beautiful to me and I love helping young girls see it in themselves!
Strong, powerful, beautiful girls flying around the floor and making it look easy!

 

[CharlieCheers]

I think the factors are different, In cheer, we aren't judged on our physical appearance, as apposed to gymnastics they are actually scored on their bodies. But in cheerleading, when your around tiny girls theirs always pressure. Especially flyers who feel they are to big for their bases. I don't and have never had an eating disorder, but when I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes I lost 20 pounds in less than a week, and that was one of the things they miss diagnosed me with.

 

[bburke1]

College cheerleading can be extremely intense when it comes to this.. I wont name the place because I don't want to bash them but I had a friend who was a great tumbler..especially for that team.. and ended up having a lot of issues because she was told she was "big" (and by big I mean it was all muscle!) One of my best friends on the same team made it freshman year and sophomore year, then got cut in the middle of the season and told she wasn't toned enough.. She's about 5'2 between 110-115 at the most. The crazy thing is, it's not like this school is even known for their cheerleading by any means. They are a good squad, but if the pressure is that heavy for this school I can't imagine how it would be at some of the top programs! Very sad issue for anyone to face.

 

[mattiemill]

me and another flyer on my team definitely felt pressure from a certain base to loose weight but we didnt let it get to us. we would always get compared to the other TINY girls who had totally different body types than us. at first it was hard but then we would make jokes and laugh it off, not taking any of it seriously. the coach put us on the team and as flyers so if we felt like if anyone had a problem with that they should take it up with him, not us. eventually it stopped but it was really annoying- im so glad we had eachother because i dont think i would have been strong enough to stand up for myself alone.

 

[Fameous MOM]

is that your cp in the picture? she's soo tiny! i never let my flyers hit the ground, ever. it's a no no. and i know all flyers arn't 20lbs and i can just toss them as light as a feather,but in general they are all pretty light. You can't critize them becuase then the flyers lose your trust and they become loose and scared and the looser you are the heavier you are no matter how light. People can be so rude these days, i wish i could personally tell all the cheerleaders or flyers going through this that they are just fine and that the bases are being ignorant and rude. Best of luck to your daughter and tell her to keep her head high!

Yes that is my baby! You are too sweet and I wish all cheerleaders thought like you!

 

[sun77]

ive always had issues with my weight. as long as i can remember.

for me, its always hardest seeing beautiful girls on tv and in magazines and other media. The thought that i will never look that perfect breaks my heart everytime.
Cheer does help, just because its a time that i can think about something other than food.

For the CP I knew, it helped to actually see the process magazines go through in touching the photos up, and all the makeup and lighting techniques the TV people use. It made such a difference to understand that most of the perceived natural beauty is absolutely fake. It really is astonishing what they do to trick the eye. Please try to remember that. (hug)