By Christopher Calnan
An Illinois father is suing a cheerleading school that allegedly forced his daughter to practice with a concussion. The complaint mirrors the national trend of cheerleading-related injuries.
Kevin Beck filed the complaint for his middle school daughter who suffered a concussion in February 2016 while a member of the Cheer Alliance Inc. in St. Charles, Illinois, the Daily Herald newspaper reported.
The complaint was filed Feb. 14 in the 16th Judicial Circuit Court. A case management conference is scheduled for May 2, according to a court filing. The lawsuit is among a rising number related to cheerleading injuries that are more frequent as the sport seeks to be viewed as more athletic than traditional cheerleading, experts say.
Beck’s daughter, who joined Cheer Alliance in December 2015, was allegedly injured during a Feb. 19, 2016, practice in which a teammate fell from a pyramid formation and struck the girl’s head. Beck’s daughter, whose first name was not provided in the Daily Herald report, was instructed to keep practicing although she was visibly injured during the fall.
“Three coaches saw what happened, told the girl to ‘sit on the sidelines’ for a bit before being told by one of the coaches in an ‘overly aggressive and intimidating manner’ to return to practice and participate again,” the Daily Herald reported citing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that Cheer Alliance and its staff are liable for willful and wanton conduct, not providing the girl with a medical evaluation or recognizing she was concussed and failing to protect her from “further harm and worsening injury” by forcing her to practice and engage in repeated tumbling runs when she showed “visible impairment of stumbling and falling.”
St. Charles is a relatively wealthy suburb about 40 miles west of Chicago.
It’s unclear when Cheer Alliance was founded or how many workers it employs. Owner Carrie Chicoine couldn’t be reached despite an email request for comment and a message left on her telephone voicemail.
A Rockford, Illinois, company listed as Carrie Cheer Inc. operates under the Cheer Alliance name, according to a 2016 filing with the Office of the Illinois Secretary of State.
Cheer Alliance is now in its 12th season, its website indicates.
The Becks’ attorney, Laura Marchiori from the Chicago-based law firm Armstrong & Marchiori, didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Daily Herald reported that the lawsuit does not list the girl’s age or hometown. The Becks seek unspecified damages in excess of $50,000.
Cheerleading may be a niche sport but it’s also big business. It attracts about 4 million participants from elementary school through college. The activity also generates more than $2 billion in annual revenue, the New York Post reported.
The number of cheerleading-related injury lawsuits has risen during the last 10 years as parents and attorneys become more educated on the issues at play, such as medical expenses, said Kimberly Archie, founder of the California-based National Cheer Safety Foundation.
The number and severity of injuries have increased because cheerleading has become athletic — akin to gymnastics — in the aftermath of 1972 federal Title IX regulations mandating equality for female athletes. The greater athletic elements introduced riskier moves to cheerleading since the 1980s, Archie told the Concussion Litigation Reporter.
Nationally, cheerleading is dominated by Varsity Brands Inc., a Tennessee-based company that sells uniforms, hosts competitions and operates dance camps. The National Cheerleading Association and the American Cheerleader magazine are also affiliated with Varsity Brands. NCI spokeswoman Sheila Noone didn’t respond to requests for information.
Last year, a $20 million lawsuit claimed a high school cheerleader in Oregon suffered brain damage when she tumbled to the ground during a 2015 cheer team stunt. The complaint alleged that Alexis Lisle struck her head on a floor mat after she fell from the top of a base formation, the Oregonian reported. The suit claimed the school district failed to appoint a properly trained coach or adequately train team members in following safety rules.
Lisle suffered a concussion and a permanent brain injury, as well as unspecified injuries to her collarbone, head, neck and back, the lawsuit stated. There’s no update available on the status of the case.
In early 2009, a former high school cheerleader in Wisconsin who was injured during a routine lost an appeal to that state’s supreme court after justices ruled that cheerleading is a contact sport and the school district couldn’t be held liable for her injuries.
Archie said no singular trend has emerged from the spate of such lawsuits. Courts haven’t displayed consistent leanings toward plaintiffs nor defendants such as school divisions. Instead, the rulings have been mostly case-by-case, she said.
