This is exactly how it was in my high school. The cheerleading coach was a tyrant and expected that, if you were a cheerleader, you wouldn't be in any other extracurricular activities or demanding electives like band or show choir. You couldn't join Student Council or National Honor Society. (Our pom-pon squad, which was a different thing, encouraged well-rounded participants and had to turn away auditioning girls every year.)

She disregarded safety protocols and wouldn't let a friend of mine call her parents when she hit her head. We thought it was retaliation because the girl had auditioned for a school play. Did I mention the woman's brother was a longtime school board member?

In a school of around 1,000 kids, the only senior cheerleaders left by my graduating class were her niece and a greatly disliked girl who always thought being a cheerleader would elevate her social status. It didn't.

Things have changed in the intervening years, but cheerleading was not a popular extracurricular choice at my school 20 years ago.