New York cheerleaders urge venue change for state championship over COVID-19 vaccine requirement

A group of Long Island cheerleaders representing multiple high schools pushed for a change to the state championship's venue on Tuesday over a vaccine requirement at the current site (Courtesy: Office of Nassau County Executive)

Cheerleaders from multiple Long Island high schools gathered on Tuesday to voice their support for changing the site of next month's state championships due to a COVID-19 vaccination requirement at the current venue, the Rochester Institute of Technology. 

"We just want to be able to be inclusive. We've been working together for so long and we just wanted to be able to finish the season strong," Alyssa-Kate DiGiantamasso, one of the cheerleaders, said at a press conference Tuesday. 

"So when half of our team is vaccinated, and half of them aren't, we just decided that instead of arguing with each other, we're going to respect each other's decisions."

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman offered to host the state championships in Uniondale, New York.  (Office of Nassau County Executive)

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman joined the cheerleaders Tuesday and offered to host the cheerleading state championships at the Mitchel Field Athletic Center in Uniondale, New York, without a vaccination mandate. 

"We think [the vaccine requirement] is unfair because a lot of these kids have been competing all along without such a mandate, and now they get to the pinnacle of all of their hard work, where they have a chance to compete at the state level on a state championship, and that's being denied when it's an arbitrary rule that basically is not being applied across the board," Blakeman said Tuesday. 

PENNSYLVANIA FOOTBALL COACH SENDS ATHLETES TO SHOVEL SNOW FOR ELDERLY NEIGHBORS

"This is not about