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Cheat-Leaders: CSULB Cheer Forfeits National Title, Fires Coach
The Long Beach State Cheer Team has taken a metaphoric tumble from the top of a pretty big national pyramid. The team has forfeited their title as National Cheerleaders Association Small Coed Division I and fired their coach after it was discovered a non-student competed with the team, according to the Daily 49er.
The student in question is a male who graduated in December. Associated Students Inc. communications coordinator Christina Esparza explained that a campus admin responsible for supervising the team recognized the former student's face while watching the video of the championship competition.
A former cheer team member, Scott Eberstein, speculates that the fired coach, Eric Anderson, knew that the student was ineligible to compete; he believes it's possible the other cheer team members knew the same, though he cannot confirm as much. Esparza shares Eberstein's view.
"Anderson was cheer coach at Century High School in Santa Ana before joining CSULB in 2001," reports CBS2, adding that the now-ousted coach "also worked with cheer teams at the University of Michigan and University of Nevada and has won more than 30 national championships."
Eberstein describes Anderson as a "good choreographer" who "frequently showed up late to practices and games, sometimes not coming to at all," and who "would get so mad at the team that sometimes he would just get up and leave."
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