I completely agree with you and your stance on this issue. As a former drill team member from a predominant high school in a small Texas town, I too have suffered from such embarassing, disrespectful issues. I was a member for three years, and not only did I suffer from harassment by my fellow teammates, but my coaches as well. After my second year I decided to try out for captain, or as we call it "officer". Unfortunately, my coach was known for not wanting "blacks on her officer line" Now although I was on a team of 60 each year, I was very good. My scores from the judges were so high it was unbelievable, but my coach took it upon herself to lower her director's score so that I would not make it. This harassment was due to the fact that just a year earlier, two african american teammates of mine tried out as well, one of whom had been dancing since she was two years old. However, neither of the two were chosen, sending an outrage among the African American community in my city. All of our team's "black" mothers banded together to make a change and talk to the school board to address the issue and my coach's problem with racism. My mother just happened to be one of the bunch. My coach was so outraged that she took her anger and frustration for my mother out on me daily. I was in a car accident with friends on the way to after school practice, and she refused to call an ambulance, I was yelled at repeatedly for no reason by my peers, and when I reported the abuse, she locked me in the office with those girls and left us alone only for them to yell at me more. So you can understand my broken heart when on try-out day the end result had nothing to do with my incredible talent, but my skin color. However, she did place a black on the officer line that year because that young lady "sucked up to her" daily and had she not been chosen over I, she would have lost her job. To make matters worse, the following year my coach left and we were given a new director, as well as a "black" assistant director brought on by the work of the black mothers. This coach was 10 times worse! The black assistant had told her about my mother and I, and the abuse my senior year began. Having already been on drill team for two years, I wanted my last year to be my best, although I was not an officer. Yet I had to deal with many different things. My mother was verbally assaulted my the assistant director (who was a few months pregnant at the time), and on Monday went and lied to the new head principal that my mother had assualted her! The new principal, having not bothered to call my mother and get her side of the story, hands my mom a letter banning her from all of my football games! Those were my performances! Luckily that got turned over by the superintendent, but the abuse didn't stop there. After being on probation for no good reason, a fellow teammate of mine who looks up to me is placed on probation and asks me a question concerning practice. I give her the CORRECT answer and somehow it gets back to my director that I lied and she gets in my face and attacks and threatens me! When I ask to call my mother, she tells me NO! So after I call my mother, I get placed back on probation for insubordination!!!! FOR CALLING MY OWN MOTHER AFTER I WAS THREATENED! So please, whatever you do, get the word out about the corruption going on behind closed doors not just with the girls, but the directors and coaches as well. Let them know that the abuse their daughters are having to go through after the hard earned money is given and spent, is not so glamorous as it should be! Please!