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Cheerleading Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
You are not alone anymore. If you are experiencing or have experienced sexual abuse by anyone in the cheerleading world (think coaches, doctors, choreographers, team assistants, etc.), we are here to help you take your power back.
The Dark Side of Cheerleading.
For all its fun and vibrant spirit, competitive cheerleading is full-out grueling: its practices can be closer to Marine Corps boot camp (who would have thought?). In the late 1960s and early 1970s, cheerleading began transitioning more into gymnastics, with both male and female participants adding aerial hurdles + helicopters + tumbling to the original precision syncing of military-like movements instead of the safer, more ballet-like jumps that defined the sport before.
With these changes, more male coaches/spotters started to enter the sport, and somewhere between then and now, the sport became a growing hotbed of SA.
If you or your daughter has survived sexual assault in cheerleading, we’re here to help you reclaim your balance.
“As a parent, I wouldn’t dare think that you would allow a predator, or even a previously convicted or charged predator, to own a gym, let alone coach a cheerleading gym.” – Fatima Smith, activist, cheer SA survivor.
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Is There a Systemic Culture of Sexual Abuse in Cheerleading?
Absolutely.
Cheer as a sports culture first came under suspicion for sexual misconduct in the early 2000s. Sometimes, survivors who braved telling their stories would later drop charges under pressure from authority figures. Many survivors still drop charges for the same reason, to barely hint at the power imbalances hamstringing participants.
If this is you, we want to help you conquer your fear. We totally hear you – but you can do it. We want to help.
What Is The Cheer SA Backstory?
In September 2020, a USA Today investigation revealed that more than 180 people working with underage cheerleaders had previous criminal records for sexual misconduct involving minors (under 18), but only 21 were named to the blacklist.1
We have said it before: Predators go where children go.
Two years later, in September 2022, the first major civil lawsuit linked to cheerleading sex assault accused Scott Foster, the owner of South Carolina franchise Rockstar Cheer & Dance, of sexually abusing at least six boys and girls and providing them with drugs and alcohol, according to the federal lawsuit. A year later, Foster committed suicide, theoretically when he learned the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was investigating him.2
Seven other coaches were charged along with him for a range of wrongdoing, “including rape, providing drugs and alcohol to athletes, groping and inappropriate touching, & the exchange of sexual messages and images.” 3
An out-of-court settlement was reached in April 2024 for an undisclosed amount.
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What Are Cheer’s Governing Bodies Doing about SA?
The US All-Star Federation (USASF) and USA Cheer + Varsity Cheer, the sport’s principal governing bodies, announced a ban on flagrant SA offenders and affiliations but proceeded to name only 21 to the list while continuing to sanction gyms and studios where owners & coaches clearly checked all the skeevy boxes.4
“The organizations governing cheerleading are failing to detect and respond to reoccurring sexual abuse,” wrote Cecilia Hurt, editor of The University of Mississippi School of Law Journal, in her critique titled, “Uncovering Sexual Abuse in Cheerleading (November 2022).
Meanwhile, there are more than four million competitive cheerleaders nationwide, from young kids to college students.
“The organizations appear to be negligent in implementing and enforcing the policies that will protect the safety of their young athletes,” she noted. “The ongoing sexual abuse in cheerleading seems to be perpetuated by a lack of internal investigation, improper policies, and a culture of silence.”5
Are There Cheerleading Sexual Abuse Lawsuits?
Yes. By 2023, a total of 12 civil lawsuits had been filed across seven states representing 21 ex-students who claimed they were survivors of “a pervasive culture of drugs, pornography, and sexual abuse in the world of competitive cheerleading.”6
A South Carolina mother told her daughter she thought her cheerleading coach at Rockstar in Greenville, S.C., was a nice guy. The comment spurred a shocking “conversation and guilt she still can’t shake,” according to NPR.7
“My daughter said, ‘Mom, he’s not what you think,'” said the woman, who NPR is not identifying to protect her daughter. It was then that her daughter told her she had been forced to perform oral sex on the coach when she was 13 years old.
“I paid for someone to murder my daughter’s childhood,” the woman said.
Why Contact A Case for Women?
A Case for Women was founded in 2016 and has a fierce female team of dozens across the country. Many of us have been proud, disciplined, award-winning cheerleaders + a number of us have survived sexual assault in different contexts.
Please help stop the silence! Just one voice can open the floodgates, giving others like you the courage they couldn’t find before. The last thing you need is to sit on the fact that you were coerced into abuse without even necessarily understanding what was happening to you.
Activists and vocal survivors say silence is the truth’s worst enemy. We get it. But you are NOT TO BLAME & YOU ARE NOT ALONE! We are here to help you find your “cheer voice.”
We’re here to listen to your story. Contact us now.
LET US HELP
Sources
- Sandy Hooper, Alexis Arnold, “Dozens of cheer coaches convicted of sex crimes not banned from sport by USASF, USA Cheer,” USA Today, September 18, 2020.
- Unnamed, “Cheer coach found dead amid allegations he sexually abused dozens,” Associated Press, September 2, 2022.
- Ibid.
- Daniel Libit, “Varsity-Backed Cheer Governing Body Faces Debt and Obligations,” Sportico, January 3, 2023.
- Cecilia Hurt, “Uncovering Sex Abuse in Cheerleading,“ University of Mississippi School of Law Journal, November 2022.
- Victoria Hansen, “Ex-students file 12 sex abuse lawsuits against 6 cheerleading gyms in 7 states,” NPR, January 24, 2023.
- Ibid.
