All-Star 2015-2016 Teams

[UCFKnights07]

Obviously, I'm not a coach. But I do have a daughter at CEA Kville who received one of the 'Senior 5' envelopes at tryouts. I may have a bit of insight, at least from the parent perspective.

My CP was a YE veteran. Around tryout time, CSP pulled us parents to the side and told us that they were overwhelmed with the talent that they had going into next season. I don't remember the exact number, but I want to say it was 18 girls moving up and 15 had doubles (or something like that, not 100% sure because I can't tell the difference visually in a full and a double... I'm that cheer ignorant). Anyway, she was asking for parents to give her ideas for managing it because there simply wasn't enough room to put them all on SE and Coed. LE is a great team, but sometimes it was unfortunately seen as the 'JV team'. Although my CP would have personally been thrilled to be put on that team, many would not have felt the same way. CSP and Sarah wanted to come up with a way to overcome that feeling and move forward instilling confidence in all of them that they were talented and worthy, there just wasn't enough room for them. She ran several ideas by us (one of which was a large group of senior 5 kids) and the general consensus was that we trusted her judgement. Personally, I feel that they have done a great job with making all 66 girls feel important and special. Instead of there being disappointment over opening the 'JV Team' envelope, the girls now feel like they're on a 'mini senior elite' team and it's made their confidence soar. I don't think it was ever meant to detract from the prestige of SE or take away anything from them. I think it was meant as a confidence builder to a very young team girls who all have dreams of being on SE. It's been so much fun to watch them learn from their idols, and get to practice the same stunts right beside them. It reminded them that, yes... they are SE but they can do these things too.

My CP is on the Medium/LoT team and she couldn't be happier with it. They are showing great potential and talent already. I'm sure they will need some time to mature a bit and get worlds ready, but overall it's a talented team and we're excited. It's going to be a great year.

((again... just a parental perspective))

I've always been a fan of Cheer extreme but I'm concerned at the fact that they don't strive in a way to make lady elite be a premier team that a lot of kids want to be on. It's just odd to me, I know there's been a few members of LE who have moved onto SE. In my head it's one thing to create a second medium team to keep all the talent, but now it's LE is considered the jv team and then was moved to another gym, in order to make room for what is now called the premier medium senior team. I don't know just thinking out loud here.

 

[topxofxmyxgame]

Unfortunately everything is about perception. Many people in All Star cheerleading often associate success or popularity with a particular team name. It gives the athletes and often times their parents the sense that they are special or apart of something prestigious aka the cool crowd. We shouldn't fault CEA for attempting to remove a stigma associated with being on a team other than the flagship team of the gym. The impression I get from previous posts regarding this topic is that all is well with the new team specifically because of how they now view themselves. This isn't a new division for CEA, in fact it's not much different other than the team not being called Lady Elite and having a new roster which every team has each season. While cheer fans may not understand the logic behind the name change I think it's safe to say that this change has opened the minds of those who would have frowned upon being on the team otherwise. It's just the way things work.

In my experience once a gym has an established team that everyone in the country knows that particular gym for it's even harder to build the next premier team because no matter what win or loss, the kids want to be on THAT team. There are a handful of gyms who have noticeably been able to avoid this issue but only because they've had multiple teams for almost a decade that have had somewhat equal success. This isn't just a CEA issue because the vast majority of large gyms go through the exact same thing. It's part of the reason that many people quit right after tryouts and switch gyms. It seems that most never take into consideration that when you cheer at a gym that has hundreds of athletes year to year the likelihood that your child is going to be one of the chosen 36 is very slim. Even if they are super talented there simply isn't enough room to accommodate every single hopeful. Having large numbers in your program year to year is great problem to have and I'm sure none of the gym owners are complaining about that. However having large numbers isn't just as simple as "Oh let's make another team" the way that some on this board tend to suggest that gyms do. What we are witnessing is the difference between chasing a team and a dream versus loyalty to a brand. Everyone wants to cheer for the "IT" team but not everyone wants to cheer for the brand. Huge difference!

 

[UCFKnights07]

Unfortunately everything is about perception. Many people in All Star cheerleading often associate success or popularity with a particular team name. It gives the athletes and often times their parents the sense that they are special or apart of something prestigious aka the cool crowd. We shouldn't fault CEA for attempting to remove a stigma associated with being on a team other than the flagship team of the gym. The impression I get from previous posts regarding this topic is that all is well with the new team specifically because of how they now view themselves. This isn't a new division for CEA, in fact it's not much different other than the team not being called Lady Elite and having a new roster which every team has each season. While cheer fans may not understand the logic behind the name change I think it's safe to say that this change has opened the minds of those who would have frowned upon being on the team otherwise. It's just the way things work.

In my experience once a gym has an established team that everyone in the country knows that particular gym for it's even harder to build the next premier team because no matter what win or loss, the kids want to be on THAT team. There are a handful of gyms who have noticeably been able to avoid this issue but only because they've had multiple teams for almost a decade that have had somewhat equal success. This isn't just a CEA issue because the vast majority of large gyms go through the exact same thing. It's part of the reason that many people quit right after tryouts and switch gyms. It seems that most never take into consideration that when you cheer at a gym that has hundreds of athletes year to year the likelihood that your child is going to be one of the chosen 36 is very slim. Even if they are super talented there simply isn't enough room to accommodate every single hopeful. Having large numbers in your program year to year is great problem to have and I'm sure none of the gym owners are complaining about that. However having large numbers isn't just as simple as "Oh let's make another team" the way that some on this board tend to suggest that gyms do. What we are witnessing is the difference between chasing a team and a dream versus loyalty to a brand. Everyone wants to cheer for the "IT" team but not everyone wants to cheer for the brand. Huge difference!

im almost positive they are keeping lady elite (which i thought for sure was moved out of the k-ville location and to another one) and having two medium all girl teams. or am i reading this all wrong and they got rid of lady elite.....

 

[topxofxmyxgame]

im almost positive they are keeping lady elite (which i thought for sure was moved out of the k-ville location and to another one) and having two medium all girl teams. or am i reading this all wrong and they got rid of lady elite.....

Technically they kept the name "Lady Elite" but from my knowledge the athletes/team itself didn't move along with name to Charlotte. In a sense the team that would have been LE is now called "Ladies of Teal" now. That's pretty much what I understood it to be after reading the post from 336Teal. Am I wrong?

 

[mstealtoyou]

Senior Elite is SE.

Medium SE will be called The Ladies of Teal.

The name Lady Elite moved to Charlotte and that team is comprised of athletes from that location.

Here's what happened. SE had 26 returning veterans. An unprecedented number of returners. With Ashley and Taylor back, Aly from SSX and an athlete who was on the roster last year but got hurt and is now back, that literally left 6 spots open on the team.

Youth Elite aged out 20 kids. A great problem to have but we just didn't have enough spots available on the large team to accommodate that level of talent and skill. (A few did go to Coed but I'm not definite what that number is). So.....2 Senior Elites was born.

Many of these kids have been together since their Mini Elite days. They have as much seniority in their age groups as many of the SE kids have in their respective age groups. It's our hope that those kids see themselves as the future world champions they are. Not to mention, the number of those 20 who were also on the undefeated Junior Coed Crush team, it would be crazy not to keep them together and build on the success of Crush in a different division, medium all girl.

Too much talent and skill for one team, isn't that an awesome problem to have?

 

[336Teal]

Correct. The name has moved to Charlotte, not th athletes. I think it will be a great move overall. The parents and kids of LoT all realize that that they are basically Lady Elite. But the coaches have done a superb job of boosting the confidence level of the athletes to the point where it's a non issue. It's been a brilliant idea.

 

[TealShades]

Senior Elite is SE.

Medium SE will be called The Ladies of Teal.

The name Lady Elite moved to Charlotte and that team is comprised of athletes from that location.

Here's what happened. SE had 26 returning veterans. An unprecedented number of returners. With Ashley and Taylor back, Aly from SSX and an athlete who was on the roster last year but got hurt and is now back, that literally left 6 spots open on the team.

Youth Elite aged out 20 kids. A great problem to have but we just didn't have enough spots available on the large team to accommodate that level of talent and skill. (A few did go to Coed but I'm not definite what that number is). So.....2 Senior Elites was born.

Many of these kids have been together since their Mini Elite days. They have as much seniority in their age groups as many of the SE kids have in their respective age groups. It's our hope that those kids see themselves as the future world champions they are. Not to mention, the number of those 20 who were also on the undefeated Junior Coed Crush team, it would be crazy not to keep them together and build on the success of Crush in a different division, medium all girl.

Too much talent and skill for one team, isn't that an awesome problem to have?

Thanks for the info. That's an awesome "problem" to have-too much talent. I can't wait to see what SE and ladies of teal bring this year

 

[astaley22]

It seems like they already knew who would be on the medium team, why not just divide them at the beginning? Just curious.

 

[mstealtoyou]

It seems like they already knew who would be on the medium team, why not just divide them at the beginning? Just curious.

There was a fine line the staff had to walk in this situation. Not only did she have to consider who would be the best fit for the 6 open spots, she also had to make sure she wasn't tampering too much with the things that made the aged out group so successful in their own right. The best way to do that was stunt together and figure out where each kid has the best chance of being successful. A lot of thought and planning went into every aspect of this situation. I appreciate the fact she took her time to ensure that both teams could (and will be, I think) be a threat in their respective divisions!

 

[UCFKnights07]

There was a fine line the staff had to walk in this situation. Not only did she have to consider who would be the best fit for the 6 open spots, she also had to make sure she wasn't tampering too much with the things that made the aged out group so successful in their own right. The best way to do that was stunt together and figure out where each kid has the best chance of being successful. A lot of thought and planning went into every aspect of this situation. I appreciate the fact she took her time to ensure that both teams could (and will be, I think) be a threat in their respective divisions!

Wait so only 6 spots were open during tryouts for SE. Are girls who made SE the season before just automatically in a sense put back on SE.... Curious as to how all that works.

 

[mstealtoyou]

Wait so only 6 spots were open during tryouts for SE. Are girls who made SE the season before just automatically in a sense put back on SE.... Curious as to how all that works.

Yes, 6 spots open. In this case, yes, all returners made the team!

26 veterans
27. Ashley
28. Taylor
29. Aly
30. Girl from last years team who got hurt.

That left 6 spots.

 

[Jennie]

Yes, 6 spots open. In this case, yes, all returners made the team!

26 veterans
27. Ashley
28. Taylor
29. Aly
30. Girl from last years team who got hurt.

That left 6 spots.

Without wishing to degrade an athlete since I assume she is very talented, why/how did Aly have a solid spot on SE?
Surely she should have been in the same pool of 'possible SE athletes' as the kids who aged up/new to the gym.

 

[kaylalalaxo]

I have nothing negative to say about the new teams (shocker right? ) lol I can't wait to see what's in store this year! SOO much talent, I'm sure CSP and the other coaches are stoked!

 

[Fiercecheermom]

Obviously, I'm not a coach. But I do have a daughter at CEA Kville who received one of the 'Senior 5' envelopes at tryouts. I may have a bit of insight, at least from the parent perspective.

My CP was a YE veteran. Around tryout time, CSP pulled us parents to the side and told us that they were overwhelmed with the talent that they had going into next season. I don't remember the exact number, but I want to say it was 18 girls moving up and 15 had doubles (or something like that, not 100% sure because I can't tell the difference visually in a full and a double... I'm that cheer ignorant). Anyway, she was asking for parents to give her ideas for managing it because there simply wasn't enough room to put them all on SE and Coed. LE is a great team, but sometimes it was unfortunately seen as the 'JV team'. Although my CP would have personally been thrilled to be put on that team, many would not have felt the same way. CSP and Sarah wanted to come up with a way to overcome that feeling and move forward instilling confidence in all of them that they were talented and worthy, there just wasn't enough room for them. She ran several ideas by us (one of which was a large group of senior 5 kids) and the general consensus was that we trusted her judgement. Personally, I feel that they have done a great job with making all 66 girls feel important and special. Instead of there being disappointment over opening the 'JV Team' envelope, the girls now feel like they're on a 'mini senior elite' team and it's made their confidence soar. I don't think it was ever meant to detract from the prestige of SE or take away anything from them. I think it was meant as a confidence builder to a very young team girls who all have dreams of being on SE. It's been so much fun to watch them learn from their idols, and get to practice the same stunts right beside them. It reminded them that, yes... they are SE but they can do these things too.

My CP is on the Medium/LoT team and she couldn't be happier with it. They are showing great potential and talent already. I'm sure they will need some time to mature a bit and get worlds ready, but overall it's a talented team and we're excited. It's going to be a great year.

((again... just a parental perspective))

I LOVE that CSP and the other coaches are trying to change the public/athlete mindset for other teams in the gym. We see this kind of thing in a LOT of gyms with multiple worlds teams. If athletes believe the new team can be just as good as the "perceived" top teams THEY WILL BE AS GOOD (OR BETTER). Perception is most people's reality and I am so happy to see this at CEA...and I think we will see a few more doing the same thing.

 

[f5forever]

So the 20 that aged off of YE automatically go for SE, LoT, or CE?!? What happened to JE?!? Why the HUGE jump from youth to senior? I would think that those that aged off of YE would be placed on JE, and JE alums would move up to a senior team...


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