LUBBOCK, Texas — Thirteen cheerleaders at Evans Middle School are suffering from first and second-degree burns on their hands after they said their cheer coach made them perform “bear crawls” and “crab walks” on a hot outdoor track as punishment.
The girls, who are all eighth graders and on the “red” team for the squad, told EverythingLubbock.com they were punished for performing a cheer at a football game that she didn’t want them to do. They said the coach found it “disrespectful.” What came next for the parents and the kids was a nightmare.
“I had asked [my daughter], ‘Are you okay? How was school?’ She put our stuff down in the car, went to sit down and said, ‘Mom, you want to know how my day was in cheer?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ She told me that they got a punishment, and shows me her hands,” Angel Thompson, a mom of an Evans Middle School cheerleader said.
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The girls were told to do the bear crawls and crab walks for a mile, but most weren’t able to continue after two laps due to the pain, some even got physically sick from it. The girls said the punishment happened on Wednesday afternoon at around 2 p.m. One of the parents went to the track to check the temperature that afternoon and said it was at least 125 degrees.