New York cheerleaders protesting COVID-19 vaccine requirement at HS championships

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Cheerleaders from Sachem North and Sachem East high schools are joining fellow cheerleaders in New York protesting a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for the 2022 New York State Cheerleading Championships at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

Emma Silberman, a varsity cheerleader at Sachem East, wrote to Patch about their concerns about the championships scheduled for March 5.

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Cheerleader shaking blue and white pom poms

"I have been cheering my whole life and have wished to compete at both nationals and states my whole life," she wrote. "My team is able to go to nationals this year and I am very thankful, although we got the news we were not allowed to attend states since we all must be vaccinated. I am a senior this year, meaning it is my last year. I’ve never competed at states and I really would love that experience."

The cheerleaders explained that no other state championships at the high school level have a vaccine mandate, and they are demanding that it take place at another venue. An online petition has circulated and there were over 15,000 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

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"Because all NYS male and female athletes must be treated equally, regardless of the sport in which they participate, New York State must change the venue where the 2022 New York State Cheerleading Championships is being held to ensure that no one is excluded. It is simply not acceptable that in order to compete for a state championship, athletes in one sport are being held to a different standard than athletes in other sports," the petition states.

Sachem North junior Madison Bulzoni added her thoughts about the rule, saying that it hasn’t been applied fairly across sports.

"As a cheerleader, this was a very disappointing thing to hear and just overall very unfair to my team and every other team that wanted to have this amazing opportunity. Cheerleading is the only sport that has not made a change of anything at all and the only sport requiring this mandate in order to compete. My team does not believe this is fair at all and something needs to change," Bulzoni said.

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The NYSPHSAA told a local news station in Buffalo that "it warned athletes, coaches, and families in September that there may be COVID protocols at venues for state championship events, and athletes would have to comply to participate."

"Our member schools were fully aware of how we were going to progress what we anticipated, and it's coming true, a very challenging school year when it comes to hosting state championship events," Robert Zayas, the NYSPHSAA executive director, said.