All-Star The Issue With Cheer

[gofriars610]

Same with gymnasts. It's typical for the elite level girls who do not live near reputable gyms known for training Olympians to move and stay with other families to train elsewhere.

If you've got the talent, there's no sense in letting it go to waste at Podunk Gym.

 

[nicolee]

Travel for a team is a personal choice. I wouldn't do it – personally, I wouldn't be able to reconcile moving away from my family, away from my friends, to a new school, just to be on a different team. As someone who moved halfway across the world to the US (not for a cheer team), I know how difficult it is to uproot your entire life. But that doesn't mean I don't respect those that do travel.

The moving/'gym-hopping' thing is just sometimes what's best for the athlete! If an athlete isn't satisfied with the gym – coaches, other athletes, skill level, atmosphere, whatever – then no one has the right to criticize them for leaving. I say this all the time on this board, but these are children and teenagers. If they're not happy on a team then it's their right to go somewhere where they will be happy. And if this happens to be a place that is a bit of a commute, or requires moving, then if they and their family are okay with it, then fine.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

^^^Yes.

Also, I think people forget that the majority of Worlds teams (even the top 10 teams) don't have these HUGE numbers of fly-ins/kids recruited from out-of-state. The kids have come up in the program or MAYBE from another gym in the area/state, but not from another state.

I think social media (and the fact that kids are able to single out individual kids and know their lives) would have you believe that every World champ team is built on kids flying in from other places. Makes you think that everyone is doing it.

In reality, most teams (even gold winning ones) have no one flying in from somewhere else. It's a very small percentage of kids/teams.

 

[Cheer Dad]

I really don't have an issue with kids from other states fly in to join teams.

I'm from Maine, originally. To the best of my knowledge, there are no senior level 5 teams in the state. Why should Tina Tumbler with a double be stuck competing on a level 3 or 4 team? If her parents are cool with it, I really don't see an issue with her moving to another state to try to win NCA or Worlds or whatever.

This happens in other sports, too. Hockey players commonly leave home at 15 to go billet with families and play junior hockey while chasing the dream of playing in college or professional. Heck, even Ray Bourque was traded from the Bruins (where he played for 21 seasons) to the Colorado Avalanche when he was 40 so he could be on a team with an actual chance of winning the Stanley Cup before he retired. (Which he did, in 2001, and retired immediately afterwards because 41 is basically 81 in the NHL.)

If you have the means to chase a dream that isn't available where you are, why not go for it?

I am giving you a million Justin Carrier shimmy's for the Ray Bourque reference who so far is my all time favorite player. I was so happy when he was able to lift Lord Stanley's Cup and I give a tip of my hat for the Bruins and all their fans who supported him in that quest.


**Welcome to Fierce Board, where we all enjoy ADHD just a....LOOK SQUIRREL***

 

[gofriars610]

I am giving you a million Justin Carrier shimmy's for the Ray Bourque reference who so far is my all time favorite player. I was so happy when he was able to lift Lord Stanley's Cup and I give a tip of my hat for the Bruins and all their fans who supported him in that quest.


**Welcome to Fierce Board, where we all enjoy ADHD just a....LOOK SQUIRREL***

I'm touched.

but seriously. Ray Bourque did the hockey equivalent of a super senior year so he could have one last go at The Cup. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't. But at least he tried. IIRC pretty much everyone in Boston was happy for him...because they sure as heck knew that the B's weren't going to be winning it.

Like yeah, there's something to be said for loyalty to a gym/team...but sometimes a little personal selfishness is okay too.

 

[Cheer Dad]

Now that I'm two years out of my cheerleading career, it's all become a lot less significant. Instead of being in on the drama, I typically sit back and watch. After Worlds, social media blew up with teams complaining about their placements. I remember being that athlete. Bitter that my hard work didn't earn me a ring. And now that I don't cheer anymore I can see clearly that THAT is the issue with cheer.

I have always hated the idea of teams having kids come from out of state. I typically automatically dislike teams that people move to be on. I'm still not keen on the idea but now I get it and I want to point out this issue. The issue is that there are athletes on social media that make not winning seem deplorable and embarrassing. There are athletes posting pictures with second place medals CRYING, and not the good kind of tears. Then there's Vizion 20/20. Several of them had "2014 Worlds Finalist" in their bios on social media. They were thrilled they even got to finals. And that's how it should be.

These kids on well-known teams are expecting a win and complaining about placing among the top teams in the world. But how does this make people on smaller teams feel? Kids who don't have the resources or consent to go be on a team that has a chance of winning? It makes them feel ashamed of themselves and the gym they are from. I used to hate when people asked what gym I was from and people would say "Oh, never heard of it." I felt like I had to defend my gym's honor by saying we had a small coed place at Worlds once, just so they knew I didn't come from Craptastic Allstars.

These smaller gym kids feel like people don't see them as worthy if they aren't on a successful team, and success is apparently only defined by a Worlds ring. I have, many times, seen people from big successful gyms treat other athletes rudely at competitions just because of the name on their uniform. In an effort to not be treated like crap, kids (who can convince their parents) move in with host families just so they stop feeling so irrelevant and unworthy.

This problem doesn't just affect kids moving to be on other teams, but also kids quitting the sport they love simply because they didn't win Worlds or they can't make a Worlds team. Some people just can't do those skills but these same athletes are shaming them over it. This is making this sport implode and become a drama pit.

We blame these people who are picking up and moving/quitting but really we should be teaching those who are making them feel like that sort of action is necessary. There are teams that would KILL to be competing at Worlds. Would cry over making finals. But that glory is being ruined by the entitled attitudes of other athletes. I don't really know what I'm hoping to accomplish through this post but I hope that it can excite some sort of rethinking so that this issue can hopefully become a little less of a problem.

Since when is it the responsibility of athletes on XYZ to make athletes on ABC feel good? That would be the equivalent of saying the NY Yankees are responsible for making the Boston Redsox feel good.

I really don't grasp your comment about kids not feeling worthy because they arent going to win a Worlds ring. Success and motivation is different for everyone but if your gym culture is such that you cannot be successful and strive to be your best regardless of competition results I think that is a problem with the gym itself, not those you compete against. Previously CP cheered at 2 small gyms that until this year never survived prelims at Worlds and are virtually unknown in the cheer world, but despite that I can say CP felt successful at each of those gyms because of he culture they create. CP may not be at either of those gyms any longer but I can guarantee you the parting of ways was not to stop feeling unworthy or irrelevant.

Yes there are kids that would kill to be on a Worlds team and cry and be happy just to make finals but don't you think that is how these real successful worlds teams began their quest? These highly successful gyms and owners had the resources and foresight to make their programs into what they are today.