catlady
Cheer Parent
- Jun 6, 2012
- 2,797
- 6,208
It depends on the agreement that the business sets up with the individual athlete. If they sponsor them and send $100 maybe they don't want anything. If they sponsor them and send $1,000 maybe they ask the parents to put a sticker on their car or take a picture of them wining a trophy and post it to instagram and mention then company. It usually doesn't affect the gym if they sponsor an athlete. If a business sponsors a gym, like for a competition they host or maybe helping pay for travel expenses for a team to go to worlds, they will put their logo some place like on the back of their worlds/event shirts.
Regarding your "good old hard work" comment - there are many areas and families where that is not an option. Either they can't sell things for some reason or can't offer services for some reason and need to access other avenues to pay for cheer. This literally happens all the time in youth sports - youth soccer, baseball/softball, hockey, football, lots of places. Why shouldn't cheer be able to use this method of geting funds?
I don't disagree that sponsorships are a legitimate way for kids to cheer. With that said, I believe there is a difference between posting a sheet of paper on a Facebook (where the poster said she found it), and kids physically picking up a phone, talking face to face, or emailing owners and neighbors. Again, if posting it works for them, great! But, I do prefer seeing a kid that is willing to work, whether by knocking on doors, making a call, or physically doing something in return for that money. Maybe it is just something that happens in our area but, I see more parents trying to sell their kids stuff, than kids trying to sell their stuff.