Texas middle school cheerleaders suffer burns from coach's harsh punishment, sparking outrage

A strong relationship between teachers and students is based on trust, respect, and mutual care. Punishment is typically a last resort, used when students show no interest or fail to take responsibility in learning. However, one Texas instructor turned a school football game into a nightmare, forcing her students into an unimaginable situation. According to ABC-KAMC, at least 13 eighth-grade cheerleaders from Lubbock Independent School District (ISD) suffered first- and second-degree burns on their hands during the event.

The incident occurred last week at Evans Middle School in extreme heat. The middle school cheerleader students were punished to perform “bear crawls” and “crab walks,” with temperatures rising up to 125°F (52°C). Some of them later shared the “terrifying experience” with their parents, who found it extremely outrageous, according to EverythingLubbock.com.

When Angel Thomson asked her daughter about her day, the teen's response shocked her. The mother recalled her child saying, “‘Mom, you want to know how my day was in cheer?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ She told me that they got a punishment and showed me her hands,” per the outlet. The girls were made to crawl on a hot outdoor track for a mile, with a majority of them falling sick in between the “barbaric” punishment and being unable to complete it.

“We told her our hands are burning, and she said she didn’t care, and she made us go back down on the track,” the outlet quoted one of the cheerleaders as saying. The teenage girls were threatened about their future careers in the field by the cheerleading coach, alleged some other parents. Meanwhile, an investigation into the incident was launched by the school district, and the controversial teacher was placed on administrative leave. An apology was also issued by the administration, regretting the incident. “It was malicious. It was intentional,” the mother of one of the cheerleaders, who asked to remain anonymous, added.

After the incident, many cheerleaders reported their injuries to the school nurse, but no immediate action was taken. Additionally, one of them sought a medical checkup from the University Medical Center’s burn unit as reported by Toronto Sun. Now, the parents of the children want criminal proceedings against the coach. Amid the furor, another instructor, on condition of anonymity, took to social media to express their anguish about the incident. “That teacher/coach is absolutely screwed, and rightfully so. Even if the weather hadn’t been close to 100°, and even if they hadn’t been doing crab walks on the track, that punishment is abusive, excessive, and absurd,” the Texas coach, who goes by u/GrendelDerp, wrote on Reddit.

Adding to it, u/buffalotrace remarked, “As a former coach, I believe discipline should be instructive and corrective, but never harmful. Extra running, taking away a privilege, and having a heart-to-heart about expectations and why you (and the team) have them are all appropriate approaches.” One more instructor, u/thesmacca, said, “I coach middle schoolers (swimming), and this is reprehensible. If they really did something wrong—like, truly wrong (is doing a cheer you didn’t like really wrong?)—you bench them.”