Cheerleading coach fired for forcing students into splits. Also fired from previous job for exact same activity.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A Colorado cheerleading coach seen in a viral video forcing a girl into an extended split as she screamed in agony was fired from a previous job for the same thing. 

The 13-year-old cheerleader was shown crying and begging her coach, Ozell Williams, to stop as he pushed her to the ground during an exercise at a camp in June, reported KUSA-TV. 

The teen, Ally Wakefield, told the TV station she tore a ligament in the exercise, known as “breaking,” and her parents sent video of the incident to school administrators shortly after the cheerleading camp began. 

Williams, who oversaw the camp, was suspended Wednesday by East High School in Denver, Colorado. 

KUSA also reported that Williams had been fired from his paid consulting job last year after parents at Boulder High School complained about the forced splits.

There is a video of this but I refuse to post it here because it is too disturbing.  (If you want to see it just click the Raw Story link.)

I spent twenty years training in martial arts, and was also a gymnast as well as a coach, but only once did I ever see this barbaric training method.

It was in a dojo in Anchorage, and the sensei literally stood on my legs, which were in the split position, while giving instruction to the other students.

Fortunately for me I could already do the splits to there was no injury, just some mild foot shaped bruising on my thighs.  (That guy really hated me.)

As a coach myself I NEVER engaged in this type of forced stretching because I knew it to be harmful, which is something that is actually touched upon during your training to be a coach.

Sports are fun, and they should be taught with the idea of keeping them fun.

(Yes I know I have diverged from the usual topics covered here on IM, but damn this thing really bothered me. Don't worry back to politics after this. )

Former cheerleader, and Sarah Palin supporter, convicted of raping fifteen year old.

Courtesy of ESPN: 

Former Baltimore Ravens cheerleader Molly Shattuck was sentenced Friday to two years of probation, with every other weekend in custody, after pleading guilty to raping a 15-year-old boy at a vacation rental home in Delaware. 

Shattuck, often gasping for breath and sometimes weeping uncontrollably during the hearing, collapsed to her knees in the courtroom after she was sentenced. 

Judge E. Scott Bradley sentenced the mother of three to the maximum 15-year prison term for fourth-degree rape but suspended the prison time for probation. Shattuck, 48, must report every other weekend, for a total of 48 weekends, to a secure probation center, where offenders live in communal barracks and are assigned to various chores and community service projects. 

She must register as a sex offender, continue therapy and undergo sex disorder counseling. She also must bear the costs of the victim's therapy and pay $10,650 restitution to his parents, who urged Bradley to put Shattuck behind bars.

Apparently this woman actually used her own fifteen year old son to lure the teen having him tell the boy, "Call my mom. She thinks you're hot."

But here's where this thing gets really weird:  

Not only is the case odd, given the gender of victim and perp, but also shocking given that Molly Shattuck only a short time ago was lending advice on how to live a fulfilled life in a book called “Vibrant Living.” Shattuck even appeared on Sarah Palin’s show The Palin Update to give the former Alaska Governor kudos. “Big cheers and high kicks for Sarah Palin,” said Shattuck. 

This is from the actual interview: 

Shattuck admires former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s regimen of running and yoga and her overall physically active lifestyle. Gov. Palin has run private marathons, one of which she wrote about in Going Rogue. “I really admire her because she’s dedicated herself to her family … and to helping fellow Americans and to do whatever she can to be a role model and to lead by example….big cheers and high kicks for Sarah Palin.”

Which brings up two interesting questions.

First did Molly Shattuck get the idea of "Vibrant Living" from Palin who is always using the term "living vibrantly" or was it the other way around? (Shattuck's book came out in 2013.)

And secondly, adding Shattuck's name to a list including Ted Nugent, Josh Duggar, and Phil Robertson, does Sarah Palin have ANY fans or associates who are NOT pedophiles?