The Boys and Girls Club of Rome and Floyd County, as well as the Rome Floyd County Recreation Authority is under fire for creating two different standards for young boys and girls.
Parents of cheerleaders expressed their discontent Tuesday night and have been waving the Title IX flag after standards between football players and cheerleaders have explicitly obvious.
While football teams are allowed to wear their “teams” colors and uniforms, all cheerleaders were given the same black shorts and black t-shirts with UFC labeled on them.
However, several cheerleading teams decided to reach out to their school’s community and had donations for team color appropriate uniforms. Parents argued that the girls should feel as much team pride as the boys. They went on to say that the Boys and Girls Club has set a double standard and by doing so are making young girls feel less important than boys.
It is also noted in the league’s most updated rule book that cheerleading teams are allowed to purchase their own uniforms under a set amount. See here: https://35c796fc-9076-40cf-b59e-48dec4d6fcd5.filesusr.com/ugd/367faf_c27fffb3b8c54f2b9bcdc1871d60988c.pdf
An email sent out to cheer coaches from Kelly Barker with the Boys and Girls Club is quoted to say that the rule of uniforms “were set by the Unified Football and Cheerleading Committee and Floyd County Commission”. However, sources told CVN that commissioners were unaware of any set rule. Barker also threatned that any coach that allows their team to wear a different uniform would be removed and banned from coaching.
Floyd County Commissioner Scotty Hancock told CVN, “The board of commissioners never issued a rule on cheerleading. The board merely set the fees used for the program. The decision for the type of uniforms cheerleaders wear is strictly made by the Boys and Girls Club. “
On Wednesday night, an employee of the Rome Parks and Recreation Authority, Tyler Stinson, Sports Coordinator, again showed a double standard. Stinson refused to allow an 8 and under cheerleading team to perform their halftime show because they chose to wear donated uniforms. Stinson told the team that no team would be performing that did not have on the proper attire. However, minutes later, Stinson would allow another team to perform, that team, also in donated uniforms, had a child of a RFPRA authority employee.
According to JR Davis, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club, “it seems as if there is a lot of miscommunication between the Boys and Girls Club and the Rome Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority”.
He added that the two will meet on Friday to discuss the issues at hand.
