Go, Fight, Win! Beating Doesn't Break Boy Cheerleader's Spirit
Filed under: News, In The News, Weird But True, Bullying, Health & Safety: Tweens, Behavior: Tweens, New In Pop Culture
Back off bullies, is the message an 11-year-old boy cheerleader is sending bad guys on playgrounds nationwide.
Despite a fight that left his arm broken and lots of name-calling, Tyler Wilson says no bully is going to stop him from being a cheerleader.
"I'm going to keep going. I'm going to make a lifestyle out of it," the Findlay, Ohio, tween tells ABC News.
Meanwhile, Kristy Wilson, the sixth grader's mom, is putting up her dukes, saying she is furious with educators at Glenwood Middle School and its independent cheerleading squad for not stepping in to prevent the bullying.
She tells ABC News she knew her son would take some flak from classmates for joining the Flag City Youth Cheerleading Squad, but she never imagined he would be beaten up so badly.
"The first thing I wanted to make sure of, when he said he was going to join cheerleading, that he understood the possibility was there that he would get teased and made fun of and he was OK dealing with it," Kristy Wilson tells ABC News.
She says Tyler, who is the lone guy on the cheerleading team, loves gymnastics and tumbling and wanted to join the squad despite her warnings that the boys at school might tease him. The trouble started when some of his middle school classmates spotted him cheering the day before school started and the teasing began.
"I knew that some of the kids where teasing him, and we talked about ways to deal with that," Kristy Wilson tells ABC.
Things went from bad to worse recently when Tyler was walking home from school and two of his alleged tormentors approached him and punched him. The incident allegedly included one of the boys picking up Tyler and slamming him on the ground, breaking his arm.
Kristy Wilson filed a police report, but tells ABC News she was shocked at what she heard when she met with Glenwood Middle School officials to discuss the incident.
"I didn't find out until we went to the school that things were starting to get aggressive before this fight occurred," she tells the network. "When I went to the school, about two days after it happened to discuss Tyler's story, the principal said there was an incident Monday and the Friday before that the boy who started the fight had jumped on Tyler's back and tried to start a fight."
Kristy Wilson says if she had known Tyler was being physically targeted she would have stepped in to stop the situation, and would have gone as far as removing him from the school.
"I really wish the school would have let me know a lot sooner, so I could have dealt with it sooner," she says.
Lt. Charles Wilson, of the Findlay Police Department, tells ABC News the other boys involved in the fight have been charged in youth court, one with felonious assault, and the other with a simple assault.
"He is still nervous about everything and what happened and his spirits are down because he can't fully participate in cheerleading, still," Kristy Wilson says. "He's fighting his way through it. Everybody he's talked to, he says he is not giving up."
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 9)
9-29-2010 @ 2:44PM
buzzard1 said...I think we can all agree that Truth has some issues with his own closeted sexuality. Just come out of the closet, Truth.
Reply
9-29-2010 @ 4:02PM
Jane said...So right, buzzard, so right you are!
I remember a jerk when I was in school who called all the meek, quiet guys queers and made fun of them. Ten years later, the punk was living with his BOYfriend. No lie.
You come on out of that closet, Truth neonazi slug.
I'm German and you are a disgrace to us.
9-29-2010 @ 9:41PM
Debi said...Truth is going to find out he's jewish too - just like those skinheads in another article.
9-29-2010 @ 2:46PM
LaLa said...My dad was in Tumbling and gymnastics when he was little, and went on to cheer in high school and college. Now at 60 years old he can still do a backflip. The kids who used to tease me about it were the jockish 'he-man' types that are now obese slobs who have never progressed in life. Tyler should keep on doing what he loves, it'll get him a lot farther than those idiots who were allowed to grow up narrow minded.
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9-29-2010 @ 2:47PM
Harry Hurt said...This bullying incident can't possibly be the first time Tyler was mistreated. There has to have been a string of name-calling before it became this. Where were the teachers when this was going on? Teachers have a bad habit of saying "not my job" and looking the other way when students adopt a mean streak. Where was the principal? Did he order the teachers to send the offenders to his office for punishment? WERE any students punished and made an example of? Did anybody reassure Tyler that he could count on their support? Those who neglected to protect Tyler should be fired, and offending students expelled. As for Tyler's parents, they are obligated to sue the parents of the offenders. I hope they do.
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9-30-2010 @ 12:13AM
gidgetgirl32 said...I work in a school for almost 16 years( In the hood) I see first hand how hard it can be for a teacher to stop a bully. I am a teacher's assistant and I try to keep my ears and eyes open to any type of bullying and STOP IT right away! A student may call another fat or ugly ...that may seem like a little problem but to a child it is a BIG problem we have to remember that. No child should have to put up with any type of bullying but parents know their child I know some watch their child fight their brothers and sisters.Parents when your child seems to get into a lot of fights or you see or hear your child bossing family or friends around please don't sit and smile and brag that your kid is no punk or pushover maybe he or she isn't maybe your kid is a big BULLY !!!! Think about it could your kid be a bully?
Don't be in denial! Be a good parent and admit it and stop it before your child's bullying leads to another childs suidcide.
9-29-2010 @ 2:47PM
Jeff Trenkle said...Tyler? A sissy? Please, he is a genius! By the time adolesence rolls around, he is going to have solid relationships with all the girls that are in shape on the cheerleading squad. I tell you, if I had it to do over again, I would be a sissy like my man Tyler.
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9-29-2010 @ 3:30PM
Great said...Actually your way off lol. he can cheer if he wants but he will catch hell from it. the cheer leader girls will think of him as one of the girls. cheerleaders don't go for cheerleaders well not usually they want the athelete and popular guy as most cheerleader girls are very shallow and superficial and like to be the most popular and date guys with the same popularity or school fan fare not tyler the cheer leadre who can do a kart wheel or tumble real nice..just facts..tyler might take advantage though as the guy he will get a lot of up skirt looks and hands placed places other guys can't lol
9-29-2010 @ 2:53PM
joe said...The femminization of this country and the punishment against the NATURAL reaction against it by NORMAL boys is what is leading us down the slippery road to Gommorah. We will not fall though despite the Marxist will to betray this country from within by its policies of miscegination and femminization.. but I'm afraid words will no longer do... the infection is too deeply rooted .. something more significant will be needed to restore the nation of the dignified creators such as Washington Calhoun and their like .. that I assure you would not be caught dead as cheerleaders!
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10-13-2010 @ 10:53AM
Ears said...Joe, put your rattlesnakes away and stop dancing long enough to look at what you just wrote and then if the serpentines are back in their cages, get down on your knees and thank this Country in which you live, for allowing you to spew like a rabid raccoon, the fundamentalist hatred that causes educated people to wonder if these ancient tribes found in the depths of the rain forests, might actually exist closer to home!!!!
9-29-2010 @ 6:22PM
SkyBlue said...joe, you and TRUTH are two of a kind.
9-29-2010 @ 8:46PM
Sara said...Thanks for the laugh. I needed that.
9-29-2010 @ 9:45PM
Debi said...Skyblue, I think Joe and Truth are not just two of a kind, I think Joe and Truth are the same person.
9-29-2010 @ 10:44PM
rockland555 said...You need to learn some history. John C. Calhoun was not one of the Founders of our nation. I'm sorry you were physically abused as a kid. Get help and study American history.
9-29-2010 @ 2:49PM
jcc1 said...waaaaah....man up sissy's....I grew up dark skinned in chicago & texas suburbs in the 1970's ...I had to stand up for myself & got bloodied & fought like heck till the bullies realized I was 'alright'.....I learned from that & became a strong man in every aspect of life... you can't coddle your kids, they will grow up to be interdependent ...of course, this is what progressive liberals want, a society dependent on higher powers (government employees/law, corporations) ..sounds to me like the cheerleader did just fine against those 2 boys...mom should've stayed out of it (& /or got into sooner & prevented his boy from being a cheerleader in the 1st place...lol)
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9-29-2010 @ 3:23PM
Da said...Fighting now days is not like it was when we were younger. Kids these days carry knives and guns. They are to cowardly to use their fists if necessary. Personally, I prefer the walk away or reasoning approach but that does not always work either.
9-29-2010 @ 3:44PM
jcc1 said...were there any knives/guns in this fight? ...nope, as with most fights amongst kids, just fists, just like back in my days & my parents days etc.etc. ...you've been watching too much network TV & hollyweird movies...violence is an alltime low in america, but the media would have some people believe theres a darky behind bush waiting to GATT them & steal their car...lmao... you know the first place I heard the term GATT (gangster slang for gun) ? no, it wasn't Boys n the Hood or COLORS....it was the 3 stooges ...lmao...
9-29-2010 @ 3:48PM
jcc1 said...Da, did I mention violent crime in chicago back in the 1970s' when I grew up, was ALOT HIGHER as compared to today? (including the use of knives & guns, even though guns were BANNED) ... so sorry Da, you are incorrect
9-29-2010 @ 8:47PM
Sara said...You may be strong, and your struggles may have even made you wise. But I would bet dollars to doughnuts that you don't realize how smug and self aggrandizing you sounded in your post.
9-29-2010 @ 2:57PM
septemberroze said...This is sad . The US was founded by people that were" different" and wanted to practice their belief's. We as a society tell people to be themselves, be an individual. Yet, we are the most intolerant country to live in.
I say, high-5 to you kiddo and to your mother for encouraging you to follow your dreams.
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