All-Star Cea Chicago

[Lablover]

I don't have kids yet, so my viewpoint could change when/if that happens. But, if the situation truly warranted a change (as I mentioned in my post) then that is one thing. But for now I'm sticking to my opinion of finish your commitment to your team even if your team isn't winning/you don't like one of your teammates/you'd rather be shopping than practicing/your best friend is at a different gym/you changed your mind and would rather be at the other gym/whatever other "unwarranted" reason kids come up with for leaving a team mid-season. But if the gym or coach is being unethical or doing something illegal, then by all means please do change gyms mid season.

ETA: I used quotations around unwarranted as that is likely a subjective definition and could vary person to person.

I agree that warrented is subjective however I have trouble believing something wasn't seriously wrong if a large number of cheerleaders from same team/gym left at same time. I do feel badly for those cheerleaders left behind to figure it all out.

Wow...as I stated earlier in this thread, I will support any gym opening wherever they want as long as they do it legally with all the required permits/insurance, etc. Not sure why all of these athletes are leaving ICE and would like to hear from those parents/athletes. To me, unless we are talking EGREGIOUS circumstances, and I mean extreme/felonious, my CP would finish out her season. Suffice to say I made this requirement of my daughter last year. And yes I know this is a business. Yes, I know we ALL have choices. BUT we also are raising athletes into HUMAN BEINGS and you are teaching your kids that if you make a bad decision at the beginning of the season, continue through almost half of the season, it is okay/acceptable to just up and leave. THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD BE TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN! They will NEVER learn to accept and take responsibility for their mistakes. Mistakes are what will give them experience and teach them to think about a decision before jumping in too quickly. Remember, there is life after cheer and at the end of the day, we should be raising children with education, experience, and a decent moral character.

I completely understand what you're saying and I will preface that my children have never quit a sport mid season. Although my son was cut from his travel baseball team for the spring season (despite playing for them in fall and previous seasons and being a decent player) so maybe that colors my opinion-the situation goes both ways.
Further, I'm reluctant to believe that moving to another gym mid season teaches a child to never take responsibilities for his/her mistakes. To me that's a pattern of behavior and parenting that isn't determined with one decision over the course of 18 years. If the parent continually bails child out of unpleasant decisions never allowing for consequences then I can see that happening into adulthood. But a reasonable parent who after weighing all the factors decides to move child mid season in my mind isn't causing permanent irreparable damage. In the "real world" professionals leave jobs all the time with 2 weeks notice, don't return from maternity leave, etc. I don't think people who have moved jobs or companies are faulted or considered irresponsible even if their decision to leave impacts negatively the larger team they are working with at the time.
I don't have any vested interest in this particular situation and don't know the particulars just stating my opinion.

 

[AlwaysLearning]

@Fiercecheermom @12stepCheermom @dawgshow said it better, but I'm posting my comments as well...

My kids' happiness is extremely important to me, but NOT at the expense of them learning valuable life lessons of integrity, self respect, & commitment that will make them a stronger person as they grow into adults.

Commitment is big in our family. You don't like this activity? Fine. Finish out your commitment and CHOOSE not to sign back up. I was in a situation where CP was extremely unhappy by October. It was so bad that, for the first time ever, DH and I agreed to allow her to quit mid season, BUT we told her if she didn't quit she needed to give 100% for the rest of the season. She chose to stay. She learned more that season about personal strength, resilience, & conflict resolution than anything else and I'm extremely proud of how she handled the situation and herself.

I can see a small number of kids in situations like dawgshows and mine where leaving mid season may be healthier for the kid, but even in a large city it shouldn't be enough to form 1-2 teams. I could see them coming from the same team if they had an awful coach or the team was a train wreck, but that doesn't sound like the case here. Of course kids will want to move to a successful big name gym that comes to town. It's our job as parents to teach them how and when to make that move with respect and dignity. The cheer world is very small. Burning bridges is not a good decision.

 

[Fiercecheermom]

@Fiercecheermom @12stepCheermom @dawgshow said it better, but I'm posting my comments as well...

My kids' happiness is extremely important to me, but NOT at the expense of them learning valuable life lessons of integrity, self respect, & commitment that will make them a stronger person as they grow into adults.

Commitment is big in our family. You don't like this activity? Fine. Finish out your commitment and CHOOSE not to sign back up. I was in a situation where CP was extremely unhappy by October. It was so bad that, for the first time ever, DH and I agreed to allow her to quit mid season, BUT we told her if she didn't quit she needed to give 100% for the rest of the season. She chose to stay. She learned more that season about personal strength, resilience, & conflict resolution than anything else and I'm extremely proud of how she handled the situation and herself.

I can see a small number of kids in situations like dawgshows and mine where leaving mid season may be healthier for the kid, but even in a large city it shouldn't be enough to form 1-2 teams. I could see them coming from the same team if they had an awful coach or the team was a train wreck, but that doesn't sound like the case here. Of course kids will want to move to a successful big name gym that comes to town. It's our job as parents to teach them how and when to make that move with respect and dignity. The cheer world is very small. Burning bridges is not a good decision.

Absolutely! And again, I will say there are always extenuating circumstances. You shouldn't stay if it is causing "damage" both physically or emotionally to your child. Oh, and just to be clear (and a little bit sarcastic) being on a team that is not living up to a parent's or athlete's vision is not damaging LOL.

 

[mstealtoyou]

As someone who knows this location hasn't been in the works since Summer I take the tweets to mean we knew since the summer that things weren't good. Even if you think your kids have no idea what's happening they do overhear gym/adults talking. The CEA Chicago idea hasn't been in the works since the summer.

The things I've heard is the owners and coach were at odds over some broken promises. ICE fired this girl 3 weeks ago. She was a free agent. I've heard how fiercely loyal her kids were to her. I've heard how successful her teams have been. ICE itself is a big and successful program (so this isn't kids leaving Podunk Allstars for the big name new gym in town).




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[mstealtoyou]

As someone who knows this location hasn't been in the works since Summer I take the tweets to mean we knew since the summer that things weren't good. Even if you think your kids have no idea what's happening they do overhear gym/adults talking. The CEA Chicago idea hasn't been in the works since the summer.

The things I've heard is the owners and coach were at odds over some broken promises. ICE fired this girl 3 weeks ago. She was a free agent. I've heard how fiercely loyal her kids were to her. I've heard how successful her teams have been. ICE itself is a big and successful program (so this isn't kids leaving Podunk Allstars for the big name new gym in town).




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[crazzyeyesassypants]

@12stepCheermom your post made me tear up, thanks for sharing! I'm also still very emotional from watching Fruitvale Station [emoji45] Cp and I watched it last night, thank you to whoever posted about it on the sad movie thread.


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[AlwaysLearning]

As someone who knows this location hasn't been in the works since Summer I take the tweets to mean we knew since the summer that things weren't good. Even if you think your kids have no idea what's happening they do overhear gym/adults talking. The CEA Chicago idea hasn't been in the works since the summer.

The things I've heard is the owners and coach were at odds over some broken promises. ICE fired this girl 3 weeks ago. She was a free agent. I've heard how fiercely loyal her kids were to her. I've heard how successful her teams have been. ICE itself is a big and successful program (so this isn't kids leaving Podunk Allstars for the big name new gym in town).




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You mean we can't believe everything that we read on Twitter??? [emoji23] I do find it hard to believe if teens knew about this since summer that they were able to keep it quiet until now.

The beauty of America is anyone can open a business (almost) anywhere they want. If you're providing a quality product your customers will most likely stay. The saying in our office is "If we don't take care of our customers someone else will".

I said this to you when I met you, I firmly believe a gym choice is a personal decision. What fits one person will not necessarily fit the next.

For me personally, I don't care how much CP loved her coach. Of course kids will want to support a beloved coach and follow them, but unless there were extenuating circumstances that affected CP personally, she would be fulfilling her commitment to the program we signed the contract with. We didn't sign the contract with the coach. After that she could follow her beloved coach if she chose. If the coach could not appreciate or accept CP's willingness to honor a previous commitment then that's not a coach I want influencing my child (purely hypothetical - I am NOT saying this coach is like that at all).

I don't know anyone in this personally. I know ICE and CEA are both big successful programs. I wish them both well.

 

[CALIGIRLzz]

I came on here expecting it to be talked about already but since it's not...this just happened.

A few things to clarify amid so much speculation: being deeply affected by this situation I feel that everyone who is judging should get the story from a parent in the middle.

Kaley is a 5 time NCA and 5 time summit Champion coach who has endeared herself to a generation of athletes since their mini 1 days.

She has never coached anywhere but at ICE for the last 7 years.

On Tuesday she was fired for no reason except she seemingly had too strong of a following.

Faced with the devastation of not getting to coach the teams she has prepared for months with athletes she has coached for years she begged to keep her job to no avail.

CEA stepped in to facilitate finding a facility and giving her a name, insurance, uniforms etc...through which to continue to coach the numerous athletes who weren't going to cheer at all without their coach.

The vast majority of her athletes chose to follow her, believe it or not Pa55ion has only 3 kids who will not be following her.

Is it really walking out on your team or is it walking with your team and sticking by your coach?

No one thinks this situation is ideal and everyone involved would have preferred to stay together as planned. We are all still scratching our heads wondering why ICE would terminate their most beloved coach but greatly appreciate Courtney coming in and picking up the pieces.

While we don't support what was done to Kaley, we will always support our friends at ICE.

 

[fullinitup]

I am excited to see how the teams perform in such a short time. I can only imagine plenty of people will be watching also in hopes to make the jump next season. Can't wait to see how the growth from now till may and what teams they will offer full year next season

 

[icequeen]

They fired a successful coach because her following was too strong?

 

[Cheermom1969]

This brings up a question for me. If it was the situation of a team of girls following their coach, then why have tryouts and evals and call backs?

 

[336Teal]

They fired a successful coach because her following was too strong?

I don't think that @mstealtoyou said that. For reasons that are unknown, the coach was let go. The athletes followed her.

Obviously, there is much more to the story than what is being shared publicly. Unless there are parents or athletes here that are directly involved and they choose to share their side, most of what we say and discuss here will be speculation.

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

They fired a successful coach because her following was too strong?

Yeah, that is total BS. There's obviously more to the story. I don't care how close you are to the source, no one fires a successful coach mid season without a real reason.

And if I were CEA, I would have looked at that and said "something seems fishy. Do I really want to attach my business name to that?"

 

[luv2cheer92]

I don't think that @mstealtoyou said that. For reasons that are unknown, the coach was let go. The athletes followed her.

Obviously, there is much more to the story than what is being shared publicly. Unless there are parents or athletes here that are directly involved and they choose to share their side, most of what we say and discuss here will be speculation.

The person about 5 posts up said that from someone who says they are directly involved, not MsTeal.

 

[336Teal]

The person about 5 posts up said that from someone who says they are directly involved, not MsTeal.

Sorry, I must have missed that. My apologies.