Cheerleading may not be a fun sports activity as it appears.

For beginners it can take painful proportions, as was found out by Ally Wakefield, an incoming freshman at East High School in Denver, Colorado, who was forced into an extended split position by other cheerleaders and the cheer coach.

Police launched an investigation Wednesday after videos of the incident surfaced after being obtained by 9News, an NBC-affiliate, reports said.

The videos from the first week of cheer camp in June show eight cheerleaders being repeatedly pushed down into forced splits, while their arms are held up by fellow teammates, pinning them down in their painful position.

All the while, coach Ozell Williams is shown holding down each girl’s shoulders, and pushing them down further.

One of them is Wakefield, who is seen crying incessantly as her teammates and coach try to push her down, pleading them to stop but in vain. The whole episode was recorded by two cheerleaders on the team, who then sent the videos anonymously to 9News this month.

The school administrators had access to one of the two videos since June, reports said.

Several parents, whose daughters were on the cheerleading squad, complained against the school administrators and the coach.

“I don’t understand why that’s allowed,” said Cheri Nickolay, whose daughter, Anna, used to be in the cheerleading team but has quit.

Anna, who does not feature in any of the videos, however, claimed she was forced into splits too.

“If I was to be personally present and witness to an approach to get a young girl to do the splits in that fashion, I would have stopped it,” said Cameron MacDonald, an associate professor of physical therapy at Regis University. “I know from myself as a physical therapist that is not the approach I would take.”

Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg issued a statement Wednesday, reiterating their focus on students' safety and offered all cooperation to Denver Police in the investigation.

After the videos surfaced, the cheer coach, assistant cheer coach, high school principal, assistant principal and Denver Public Schools deputy general counsel were placed on leave, 9News reported.

Cheerleading can be a dangerous activity, often leading to serious injuries. In 2007, Patty Phommanyvong, a cheerleader for Marshall High School in Los Angeles, suffered serious injuries after she was thrust in the air while performing a stunt at a football game; following her fall she was also not able to breathe.

To add to Phommanyvong's voes, the school's defibrillator also failed, leaving her without oxygen for 45 minutes, her parents claimed. This resulted in a brain injury that caused permanent paralysis to Phommanyvong, ABC News reported.

According to a 2015 study, cheerleading injury rates were lower than for many other high school sports, Reuters reported. But the study also said the accidents that happen in cheerleading may be more severe than in other sports, and could result in concussions.

“Although injury rates are low, when injuries do occur in cheerleading they tend to be more severe than when injuries occur in other sports (i.e. they tend to be concussions, fractures, etc.),” said lead study author Dustin Currie, a public health researcher at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

“That may be because cheerleaders, due to the nature of the sport, are more likely to have falls from elevation – for example, flyers during stunts – or to land awkwardly or be struck by another athlete landing awkwardly – for example, bases during stunts.”

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