All-Star Where's The Loyalty?

[tumbleyoda]

Loyalty should not be used as a whip, crutch, scapegoat or soapbox.

Parents should be loyal to their children first. No question. I am not in favor of gym hopping but there are cases where it is necessary. Not getting to be point flyer at 7 yrs of age because you want your child to fly in college so she must be in the air even if she is scared to death and the team suffers behind the entire year it is not one of them. JMO.

Business owners need to be loyal to that which helps their business succeed. Too many owners are sacrificing time away from their family, money, health...so much for so many that will walk out at the drop of a dime, change of level, new uniform colors or any hint of accountability towards skills or bills. Provide the best service and product you can without compromising your convictions or showing favoritism.

Coaches should not be forced to live broke waiting for "one day when we are doing better as a business, we will do better by you" only to see that day come and still not be compensated fairly because of the mindset of some that the best coach is a cheap coach. (I lived that hell - never again) Get it in writing, hold owners to it, renegotiate if necessary./warranted and take care of yourself, even if it means you have to relocate to do so.

 

[Beans100]

I think that gyms owe their customers loyalty, but in a different way. No, the kid who has grown up in the gym but is barely a level 4 should not be going to worlds. No, the girl who got a mental block and went from level 5 to level 2 should not be kept on the level 5 when Sparkle from junior 4 has a killer full. That's called favoritism, not loyalty.

But, gyms owe it to their customers to be honest and dedicated. In my opinion, that is loyalty. The owner and coaches need to care about the kids and support their growth as athletes and humans. They need to create a healthy environment for the athletes that the kids want to stay in.

 

[MyKidzCheer]

I've been dealing with this with my kid all season. Drop in level came along after 5 months of practice and my kiddo was disappointed but wanted to stay because he didn't want to let down his teammates. The challenge has been keeping up the internal motivation to work the advanced skills he will want for next year. At the lower level, practice time is no longer providing motivation or repetition of those higher level skills which means more time and money in the gym to maintain performance quality skills and try to add new ones.

My point is my kid was loyal to his teammates rather than the gym or coaches. In the end that's what I expect. The gym loses some money when people quit, coaches have to redo choreo but that's what they are paid to do. It's really the teammates that suffer. I have seen many people quit our program this year and they always seem to think they are sticking it to the man by quitting and it simply isn't so. It's the kids that have to overcome the challenge and make it work anyway. But at least the ones that remain really want to be there.

 

[purplecheer]

Loyalty lasts ONE season. After that, you can go anywhere you want. (Before in some circumstances) Remember, the gym doesn't own you.

 

[Cheerhastakenovermylife]

Gym consistency, dedication & knowledge are important. Some places are great at selling themselves or are great at business. Once you're on a team and sign that contract you are stuck to a degree. Not all teams/coaches are created equal.
My daughter has been on a team where the coach starts out strong, working hard. Then athletes/coach start missing practices, the routine doesn't get taught in a timely manner, stunt groups aren't working out but Coach refuses to try switching people around stating they'll get it by competition only to finally change the stunt groups a week before competition.
I will stay if the gym/Coach is successful in growing my child's skills, creating equal opportunities and producing successful/unified teams. Poor coaching hinders a child's progress. Although I wouldn't quit mid season and haven't even when I was spending too much money to go to comps that the team was nowhere ready to be competing.
I will not stay with a gym the next season that isn't delivering a quality product. Whether that equates to wins, personal growth or a family fun atmosphere. Loyalty only comes into play when you have multiple businesses offering the same quality product which typically isn't the case from gym to gym.

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[Emily]

For some weird reason loyalty is always expected from the athletes, but rarely given from the owners/coaches.

Kids are threatened to be replaced all the time in case a better athlete walks through the door mid season - just for the chance of placing better at the next competition. Why do athletes have to stay at that gym if they are given the chance to be on a team at another gym that will be more successful?

When owners/coaches start to be loyal again I'd guess that athletes and parents will do the same.

 

[SarahS]

As a coach, I do not expect one bit of loyalty out of athletes. Not even for a season. Not for any reason. This is a business. I am expected to perform to certain standards, set by myself, the gym owner, the athletes, the parents, and frankly, the industry as a whole, including other local gyms. If I don't meet these standards, I expect that I will lose cheerleaders at any time. If I exceed them, I expect that I will gain cheerleaders, also at any time. And I am okay with that.
Of course, my experience is colored by years and years of coaching on or near military bases, where it is fully expected that you will lose and gain kids throughout the season. I am perfectly comfortable rechoreographing the routine a week before a competition, for any reason. My experience is also colored by a season at an all star gym that had been headed by a very charismatic and beloved all star cheer director, who committed suicide in November, just before the first competition. Despite having to completely revamp basically everything from that point, including the whole philosophy of how the cheer program worked, and offering that athletes could leave if they were no longer comfortable with the program after the head coach's loss, we lost no athletes that season. Not because we demanded loyalty, but because we met or exceeded the expectations of the gym, the athletes and the parents.
This is a business. Run it like a business. Don't demand customer loyalty because you think you deserve it. Gain customer loyalty because you offer the best service, the best value, the best *whatever you want to be known for* so that it meets or exceeds your customers' expectations.

 

[RSbrittany]

I don't think that it is so much about loyalty as it is parents throwing a temper tantrum when their Susie gets moved in a formation or taking out of a tumbling pass. Threating to take their kid to another program or quit mid season. I am sorry if this offends any parent but as gym owners and coaches our loyalty is to the TEAM and PROGRAM as a whole not to any one particular athlete. We strive to put the best possible routines out on the floor and each athlete goes where we as coaches feel is best for the TEAM. This is hard to do when every single time you make a move a parent is calling a meeting to make an attempt at calling the shots or their child will walk. We should not be held hostage by parents and athletes threating to quit when making decisions that are best for the TEAM.

ETA: Even if we place Sally who has better body lines but has only been with the program for 1 year over Suzie who has been with us for 5 years we are still maintaining loyalty to our customers as a whole, because they joined our program with a promise that we will put what is best for the team out on the floor.

 

[SarahS]

I don't think that it is so much about loyalty as it is parents throwing a temper tantrum when their Susie gets moved in a formation or taking out of a tumbling pass. Threating to take their kid to another program or quit mid season. I am sorry if this offends any parent but as gym owners and coaches our loyalty is to the TEAM and PROGRAM as a whole not to any one particular athlete. We strive to put the best possible routines out on the floor and each athlete goes where we as coaches feel is best for the TEAM. This is hard to do when every single time you make a move a parent is calling a meeting to make an attempt at calling the shots or their child will walk. We should not be held hostage by parents and athletes threating to quit when making decisions that are best for the TEAM.

ETA: Even if we place Sally who has better body lines but has only been with the program for 1 year over Suzie who has been with us for 5 years we are still maintaining loyalty to our customers as a whole, because they joined our program with a promise that we will put what is best for the team out on the floor.

No one is holding you hostage. Susie's mom calls a meeting, says she will remove her daughter unless she is point flyer. You take the opportunity to explain that you love Susie and value her contributions to the team, and go on to explain the reason for the change. You tell Susie's mom that you appreciate her input and absolutely understand that she has to keep the best interests of her child in mind. You are doing the same, from a slightly different perspective - to you, Susie's best interests lie in the team as a whole being able to succeed. You then go on to say that, while Susie is a valued and loved member of the team, Susie's mom has every right as a consumer to go find a product that meets her needs elsewhere. You then wish her well on her journey, and mention that she is welcome back next year, should she decide that she would like to come back. And then you move on. You rechoreograph, you love your kids fiercely, you do the best you can with what you have, you continue to implement the programs you have in place to increase retention and revenue, you coach. There is no holding anyone hostage anywhere in that. (This is with the understanding that your gym has alternative revenue streams in place to ensure that the loss of athletes from the all star program will not cause catastrophe. If it doesn't, it should. This is ALSO with the understanding that you are fully able to accept new athletes throughout the season - if you can't, you should figure out how to make that happen, too.)

 

[RSbrittany]

No one is holding you hostage. Susie's mom calls a meeting, says she will remove her daughter unless she is point flyer. You take the opportunity to explain that you love Susie and value her contributions to the team, and go on to explain the reason for the change. You tell Susie's mom that you appreciate her input and absolutely understand that she has to keep the best interests of her child in mind. You are doing the same, from a slightly different perspective - to you, Susie's best interests lie in the team as a whole being able to succeed. You then go on to say that, while Susie is a valued and loved member of the team, Susie's mom has every right as a consumer to go find a product that meets her needs elsewhere. You then wish her well on her journey, and mention that she is welcome back next year, should she decide that she would like to come back. And then you move on. You rechoreograph, you love your kids fiercely, you do the best you can with what you have, you continue to implement the programs you have in place to increase retention and revenue, you coach. There is no holding anyone hostage anywhere in that. (This is with the understanding that your gym has alternative revenue streams in place to ensure that the loss of athletes from the all star program will not cause catastrophe. If it doesn't, it should. This is ALSO with the understanding that you are fully able to accept new athletes throughout the season - if you can't, you should figure out how to make that happen, too.)

Maybe I used the wrong word in my post. What I am trying to get at is that we should not have to be called into a meeting every time we make a move to better serve the team because someone is mad that their child got moved. It is distracting us from focusing on our team. I understand that it is a part of the job but it has become over excessive.

 

[GreatWhite92]

It rubs me the wrong way when people say cheerleading is a business.

Your gym might be a business and competition companies are a business but cheerleading is a sport. Much more it is a TEAM sport.

I cant think of any other team sport that kids are allowed to just jump around in the middle of the season because Susie's baseball league is going to win the tournament so I'm just going to play for them instead.

I really look down on people who jump ship mid season. You committed to that season. Once it's over, move anywhere you want but the other kids on that team paid a lot of money too and it's not fair for you to just say "see ya" in the middle of it.

If you have to quit because of moving, injury, or a bad or dangerous situation then I understand but I think you should have to wait till the seasons over before committing to a new team.


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[CookieMomster]

A previous poster nailed it on the head. Loyalty goes both ways. As a parent, we have multiple choices as to what activities our kids can do. What type of resources it will take our family to commit to that activity, and what types of sacrifices we are willing to make. With the type of financial commitment that cheer takes, parents are heavily invested in this sport. We invest with our time, our money, our weekends away to travel, take precious vacation days that could be spent on vacation so we can attend 2 day competitions and drive long distances to do so. We spend time diving back and forth, pay for tumbling classes, practice wear and all of the stuff they peddle at competitions, carpooling other kids, nurse the tears of sadness and frustration when our child is struggling or unhappy and try to help them make sense of it all. We're not flitering away our money and time on a whim. We do it because we love our kids, and want them to be happy and grow.

We are in this with both feet planted and committed. We pay thousands of dollars, at the expense of other things like family time, vacations, work, social life, etc. People often forget that it's not just the cheerleader who's committed. It's the family too. It takes a village to commit to All Star cheer.

So when a gym has poor communication, treats parents like 2nd class citizens, and everything in between...you betcha we're going to make the decision to move or go someplace else. Want to know how to build loyalty? Keep parents in the loop! We're the ones who navigate the conversations in the car and at home. Our attitudes affect our kids. They feed off of our behaviour and attitude. If we start to get negative, guess who else will become negative?

I'm not saying there needs to be catering to parents and a need to treat us like precious snowflakes, but I think 90% of the issues that are faced are due to extremely poor communication and can be prevented!

I have the upmost respect for coaches. What happens in the gym stays in the gym. The decisions that are made should be in the best interest of the team.

However...

Very few coaches will actually take the few moments of time to be proactive and let parents know that the routine isn't hitting, it's not strong enough and we need to make some changes to get it to where it needs to be. (Guess what?!? As parents we want the team to be there best too!) Saying things like "we value your kids and want this to be a great season". "They may not like the new role they now play now, but help support us in the hard decisions that we make. We want what's best too and some times it may look like we're playing around trying to figure out the best chemistry between stunt groups or Susie flyer is now fronting the pyramid because it's not hitting and here's some stretches she can do at home to work on her flexibility because we see she has great potential."

Being proactive instead of reactive will always prevail! The few moments it takes to fill parents in before a change happens could mean the difference between a disgruntled CP and a misinformed parent who has no answers but see's their child frustrated and doesn't know why. We tend to take the word of our kids until we have all the facts. It's just a parental instinct.

We're blessed with fantastic coaches and owners who are approachable and keep us in the loop when they have to rip apart the routine to get it to where it needs to be. They hold annual info/feedback session in a town hall style meeting to vision cast and hear from the parents. As parents we feel valued and supported. They care about our kids and it shows. Guess what...we're loyal! We can drop CP off and know she's in good hands and safe. Sadly, from what I'm seeing that isn't the case in many gyms.

I get that tough calls have to be made. Kids won't always like the tough choices you guys make, but if you let us know why we can support you and fill in the missing info to our CP so they can get back on board with the changes.

The gyms that have open communication with the families will find more success. They will be able to chart the winds of change better, and have better buy-in for when things change.

ETA: If gyms do their best and offer their best - parents will buy into that. Just don't take us for granted and expect us to be loyal when we're getting subpar service or being taken advantage of.

 

[Lablover]

I cant think of any other team sport that kids are allowed to just jump around in the middle of the season because Susie's baseball league is going to win the tournament so I'm just going to play for them instead.

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Actually most travel baseball tournaments do allow guest players. And many teams use this provision and if that guest player is better than a permanent team member that permanent team mate is sitting. Also the rules for guest players is simply they can't be on a roster of another team playing in that same tournament. So the guest player can be committed to another team and as long as that team isn't playing in the same tournament the player is free to play with another team. So it would be like a CEA cheerleader filling in on CA for NCA since most CEA teams aren't at NCA. And then going back to CEA the following weekend.
In my experience travel baseball does have quite a bit bit of fluidity with kids changing teams mid season or even during the season. There isn't the oversight that travel/classical level soccer has so there isn't anything stopping them from moving to another team when the opportunity presents itself.

 

[Cheerhastakenovermylife]

It's important to keep parents informed when you lose an athlete on a team & need to add someone and/or rework a routine. But if my child gets moved from the front to the back that is between my child & the coach. I am there to pay the bills, play chauffeur and give them words of encouragement/support. Coaching a team does not look easy with all the varying aspects. I also don't want my child's Coach wasting practice time reassuring parents.

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[CookieMomster]

It's important to keep parents informed when you lose an athlete on a team & need to add someone and/or rework a routine. But if my child gets moved from the front to the back that is between my child & the coach. I am there to pay the bills, play chauffeur and give them words of encouragement/support. Coaching a team does not look easy with all the varying aspects. I also don't want my child's Coach wasting practice time reassuring parents.

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Taking time to individually reassure every parent = No. Taking 5 min at the beginning of a practice to hold a quick, informal parent meeting to lay down what's going on and get everybody on the same page = Yes. Eventually, parents will understand and it won't have to be done as often. It's a simple thing but will work every time.