LI Cheerleaders Petition COVID Vaccine Mandate At Championships

LONG ISLAND, NY—Members of the cheerleading teams at Sachem North and Sachem East high schools are joining other cheerleaders across New York protesting a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for the New York State 2022 New York State Cheerleading Championships at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester.

The championships are scheduled for March 5.

The cheerleaders say that no other high school sports' state championships have a vaccine mandate and are asking for the venue to be moved. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) contracted with RIT, which requires full vaccinations for all competitors and spectators.

Emma Silberman is a varsity cheerleader at Sachem East High School. She wrote to Patch:

"I have been cheering my whole life and have wished to compete at both nationals and states my whole life. 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."

An online petition asking for a change of venue has garnered 15, 134 signatures as of Monday.

"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.

Madison Bulzoni, a junior at Sachem North High School, also believes that the rule isn't being 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," she said.

The NYSPHSAA told a Buffalo, New York ABC news station 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," the NYSPHSAA Executive Director Robert Zayas said.

What do you think about this mandate? Should the venue be moved? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.