- Dec 16, 2010
- 670
- 1,550
Dear fellow HS cheer coaches,
Ive had it.
I've sat at pep rallies for over 3 years and cringed when watching cheerleaders perform the choreographed spread eagle contagion and moves that my grandmother performed in the 50's.
Finally, the old cheer coach finally resigned and the job was given to me to coach the varsity team.
I come from over 16 years of cheering, coaching and judging All star cheer.
The first thing I wanted to tar and feather was the fight song that had not be changed in 50 years. The girls are embarrassed when performing it , but nobody had the guts to change it because the small town community is known for throwing fits about changing traditions.
Last year the cheerleaders did a pyramid during the school song, instead of standing and waving their fingers in the air.... and the crowd BOOED them from the stands and a group went to the superintendent telling him this was blasphemy! There is no rule about keeping the same routines to the fight song/school song, but the girls were basically shamed into changing it back.
This year I have changed the fight song routines.
How did I do this without being burned at the steak by former cheerleaders?
I changed it.
The motions are nearly the same, I just cleaned them up to sharp motions instead of swingy/janky 50s moves. I removed the dreaded spread eagles and exchanged them for sharp levels. I took out them standing in a liberty for 1.5 eight counts. I would call it "remodeling" the fight song. Same basic structure, just nicer looking.
The next step was letting the entire community know NOW that we changed stuff. I didn't want them to show up to the first game of the year and be surprised. I had a parent meeting and had the girls show them the new fight song. When the saw how much more confident their children were doing something new and fresh that they are not embarrassed to perform, they immediately approved.
I invited the superintendent, principals and ANYONE who wanted to see the changes to a short practice/show off and around 50 people from our community showed up.
I explained to them my reasoning for changing things up.
They watched it and not a negative thing was said.
Now,
Will I still get backlash about this at the first home game? Yes.
Do I care? No.
Will I change it back? Never.
The point of this post is to inform other HS coaches about modernizing cheerleading for the athletes sake. I love traditions, don't get me wrong, but your cheerleaders should NEVER feel ashamed to perform something. I KNOW there is a lot of coaches out there that cringe when watching your high school cheerleaders perform certain routines, but will not change it because they fear changing "tradition".
But please,
Do it or the athletes.
Change is good if done in the proper manner.
Sincerely,
Coaches against choreography from the 50's, 60's, 70's & 80's.
The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android
Ive had it.
I've sat at pep rallies for over 3 years and cringed when watching cheerleaders perform the choreographed spread eagle contagion and moves that my grandmother performed in the 50's.
Finally, the old cheer coach finally resigned and the job was given to me to coach the varsity team.
I come from over 16 years of cheering, coaching and judging All star cheer.
The first thing I wanted to tar and feather was the fight song that had not be changed in 50 years. The girls are embarrassed when performing it , but nobody had the guts to change it because the small town community is known for throwing fits about changing traditions.
Last year the cheerleaders did a pyramid during the school song, instead of standing and waving their fingers in the air.... and the crowd BOOED them from the stands and a group went to the superintendent telling him this was blasphemy! There is no rule about keeping the same routines to the fight song/school song, but the girls were basically shamed into changing it back.
This year I have changed the fight song routines.
How did I do this without being burned at the steak by former cheerleaders?
I changed it.
The motions are nearly the same, I just cleaned them up to sharp motions instead of swingy/janky 50s moves. I removed the dreaded spread eagles and exchanged them for sharp levels. I took out them standing in a liberty for 1.5 eight counts. I would call it "remodeling" the fight song. Same basic structure, just nicer looking.
The next step was letting the entire community know NOW that we changed stuff. I didn't want them to show up to the first game of the year and be surprised. I had a parent meeting and had the girls show them the new fight song. When the saw how much more confident their children were doing something new and fresh that they are not embarrassed to perform, they immediately approved.
I invited the superintendent, principals and ANYONE who wanted to see the changes to a short practice/show off and around 50 people from our community showed up.
I explained to them my reasoning for changing things up.
They watched it and not a negative thing was said.
Now,
Will I still get backlash about this at the first home game? Yes.
Do I care? No.
Will I change it back? Never.
The point of this post is to inform other HS coaches about modernizing cheerleading for the athletes sake. I love traditions, don't get me wrong, but your cheerleaders should NEVER feel ashamed to perform something. I KNOW there is a lot of coaches out there that cringe when watching your high school cheerleaders perform certain routines, but will not change it because they fear changing "tradition".
But please,
Do it or the athletes.
Change is good if done in the proper manner.
Sincerely,
Coaches against choreography from the 50's, 60's, 70's & 80's.
The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android
