GIRL SUES TO GET ON CHEERLEADING SQUAD

A Tallahassee, Florida, girl not chosen to be a high school cheerleader has threatened legal action against the school district if she isn’t put on the team. Coaches and a few cheerleaders at Leon High School say they likely would quit the team themselves if the selection process were bypassed — a move Leon County Schools may be considering. The school district has overruled cheerleading judges in the past, intervening when certain girls did not make the team at several other schools in the district. “They should not put an athlete on the team that doesn’t deserve to be on the team,” said Caylen Berry, Leon’s head cheerleading coach. “A decision like this would question my integrity as a professional. It also questions the entire legitimacy of tryouts and cheerleading as a sport.” Berry has coached for eight years, and this will be her second year at Leon. She said she refuses to have “something like this” stain her career. Berry said that during the recent tryout, she fell twice during the same tumbling routine and was ranked too low for a place on the squad.
* Gimme an S! Gimme a NOWFLAKE!
* I don’t suppose she’d be happy with a Certificate of Participation?
* It doesn’t sound like she’s doing very well in Debate Club, either.
* I know I shouldn’t, but I wince at the phrase, “the legitimacy of cheerleading as a sport.”