College University Of Florida Cheerleaders Grounded

[Kentucky Girl]

University of Florida grounds cheerleaders from acrobatics, tumbling | The News-Press | news-press.com

GAINESVILLE — University of Florida cheerleaders have been grounded.​

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UF officials told cheerleaders on Nov. 16 they could no longer perform acrobatic stunts and tumble during games. The decision came days after an Orlando Magic cheerleader was injured during a performance at a basketball game.​

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The Gainesville Sun reports university officials said they took a proactive stance “to protect the cheerleaders” instead of waiting for a tragedy to occur.​

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Cheerleaders disappointed that they couldn’t tumble at their last home game of the season took their protest to social media, tweeting under the hashtag #Unground UFCheer.​

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Athletic association spokesman Steve McClain told The Sun that the danger associated with acrobatic stunts is “simply not worth the risk to the cheerleaders or to the University of Florida.”​

 

[SmileyRyleigh]

I really hope this is temporary... i also really hope this doesn't spread around the country... Florida is one of the colleges i want to cheer at

 

[GeauxTigers]

Because it's not like the football players ever get hurt or anything...
I wonder why the dangers associated with football are worth the risk...
Oh right...the university doesn't make millions off of cheerleaders.
(no knocking fb or anything, personally love college fb, just trying to show how illogical it is)

Also, the Gators' fb offensive coordinator is amazing!
Twitter / CoachBrentPease: If our cheerleaders can't air ...

By the way, the Orlando Magic cheerleaders were attempting to do a 2-2-1 on the court without a mat, which is illegal in college. Sure, the stunt she fell from was a shoulder stand but I feel like college generally has more safety precautions than the NBA to prevent this kind of thing because most NBA teams don't do stunts.

And not just stunts? Tumbling too? Because it's not like you have a gymnastics team right?! The highest gymnastic skill you can perform in college is a full and you hardly ever see that on the sidelines. On the sidelines you mostly do tucks and when you run out with the team you mainly do a ton of backhandsprings down the field...maybe end with a full. So TUCKS & BACKHANDSPRINGS?!

This is SO unbelievably upsetting.

 

[Ems]

Because it's not like the football players ever get hurt or anything...
I wonder why the dangers associated with football are worth the risk...
Oh right...the university doesn't make millions off of cheerleaders.
(no knocking fb or anything, personally love college fb, just trying to show how illogical it is)

This a big irritation. When a football player gets injured, not much happens. When a cheerleader gets injured "OH MY GOD CHEERLEADING IS SO DANGEROUS, IT'S THE MOST INJURY-CAUSING ACTIVITY FOR GIRLS!"
This is very upsetting... I wonder if some cheerleaders will quit because of it? I wouldn't want to cheer if I couldn't stunt. Just cheering on the sideline is so boring. And also, from personal experience, nobody pays attention to you when you're holding a sign on the ground. People look when you throw girls up in the air.

Also, totally unrelated, but do you cheer for LSU?

 

[notyourcheermom]

I think it's important for people to Tweet #ungroundUFcheer. It shows up on savefloridacheerleading.com, which is a page solely directed for this issue with UF Cheerleaders. Hopefully the University changes its mind. If this University is allowed to set a PRECEDENT with this action, other universities will absolutely follow. You are not talking about some small unknown university here. I am not familiar with the governing body of HS cheer and/or college cheer. Could they intercede on the cheerleaders' behalf? They are following the rules. It is something that may not affect you or your University today, but if it stands, it will in the future.

 

[GeauxTigers]

This a big irritation. When a football player gets injured, not much happens. When a cheerleader gets injured "OH MY GOD CHEERLEADING IS SO DANGEROUS, IT'S THE MOST INJURY-CAUSING ACTIVITY FOR GIRLS!"
This is very upsetting... I wonder if some cheerleaders will quit because of it? I wouldn't want to cheer if I couldn't stunt. Just cheering on the sideline is so boring. And also, from personal experience, nobody pays attention to you when you're holding a sign on the ground. People look when you throw girls up in the air.

Also, totally unrelated, but do you cheer for LSU?

Am I a cheerleader for LSU? Nope lol
Do I cheer for LSU? Heck yes in the general sense...I am a HUGE LSU football fan lol. That bama game was so upsetting...not as upsetting as UF being grounded...but still...

 

[Ems]

Am I a cheerleader for LSU? Nope lol
Do I cheer for LSU? Heck yes in the general sense...I am a HUGE LSU football fan lol. That bama game was so upsetting...not as upsetting as UF being grounded...but still...

My boyfriend is a huuuuuuge LSU fan. We were both very disappointed with the outcome of that game. The game against Ole Miss though... Scary. Good thing we came back and won it! Though back to cheerleading...
I agree with notyourcheermom, I feel like grounding teams could spread and I really don't want that to happen. I feel if it does, modern cheerleading will cease to exist and we'll go back to 1950's.

 

[CricketCheerMom]

Did any other schools ground their cheerleaders? FAU & FIU did not because I saw the game.

 

[Kentucky Girl]

Did any other schools ground their cheerleaders? FAU & FIU did not because I saw the game.

Nope, just the University of Florida.

 

[ACEDAD]

I tweeted earlier that since 2 people died at the Macy's parade, maybe that should be shut down since it's more dangerous than Florida's cheerleading.

This is just really silly.

 

[Ashley]

Because it's not like the football players ever get hurt or anything...
I wonder why the dangers associated with football are worth the risk...
Oh right...the university doesn't make millions off of cheerleaders.
(no knocking fb or anything, personally love college fb, just trying to show how illogical it is)

Also, the Gators' fb offensive coordinator is amazing!
Twitter / CoachBrentPease: If our cheerleaders can't air ...

By the way, the Orlando Magic cheerleaders were attempting to do a 2-2-1 on the court without a mat, which is illegal in college. Sure, the stunt she fell from was a shoulder stand but I feel like college generally has more safety precautions than the NBA to prevent this kind of thing because most NBA teams don't do stunts.

And not just stunts? Tumbling too? Because it's not like you have a gymnastics team right?! The highest gymnastic skill you can perform in college is a full and you hardly ever see that on the sidelines. On the sidelines you mostly do tucks and when you run out with the team you mainly do a ton of backhandsprings down the field...maybe end with a full. So TUCKS & BACKHANDSPRINGS?!

This is SO unbelievably upsetting.

Not to disagree with your point, but grounding cheerleaders at a game because they might get hurt is not the same as football players getting hurt. Football is the point of the game, that's why everyone is there. If a cheerleader gets hurt, it takes time away from the game to deal with something that's happening on the sideline and unrelated to what's going on on the field (or court).

To say its done to protect the cheerleaders is disingenuous, it's to protect themselves from that kind of distraction.

To be clear, I'm not defending the decision, just explaining the difference in your argument.

 

[SharkDad]

There are big differences in the risk a university holds vs the type of insurance they have for cheerleaders vs football players.

There needs to be a college governing body for cheer that can educate NCAA and school administrations on the proper risks and certifications to mitigate risks in cheer as opposed to any other sport. It needs to be represented and driven by coaches and people i nthe sport who are leaders and unbiased but not representatives of the industry.

I've said many times "ANY cheer program, even the all-mighty UK and Lousville programs are one board meeting or athletic director away from being cut"