All-Star Who Is On Your As Dream Team?

[Sterling von Shimmer]

Thought exercise: who’s your AS dream team, and why? For our purposes here, I’ll say the parameters are XS AG senior 5 with the goal being to win Worlds.

1. You can pick anyone who is currently on an AS team from ANY level/gym as long as they qualify for the parameters above (so if there’s a level 4 athlete you’d like on your team, that’s fine as long as she’s old enough and a girl).
2. No college or HS, but if they do either of those in addition to AS it’s fine.
3. No retirees or coaches.
4. Provide the “why” along with the “who.”

For example: I’d for sure take Ryan/Kenley duo for flyers. Ryan is also getting tall enough to back. Both are great tumblers.

I’d take the phenomenal base from Panthers whose name escapes me now.

Little miss Amy D. for performance skills/tumbling.

And now I have to go back to work but I’d really be interested to hear your thoughts and logic.

 

[quietmom]

These are high school and middle school kids who are also doing a sport. As a parent, this makes me a bit uncomfortable. I'm not calling you a creeper at all. I'm just an overprotective parent. Also, this could create a lot of hurt feelings for the kids who are left out of this. As a coach yourself, you should be sensitive to this

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Anyone from Itty Bitty Kitties. They're amazing.

But seriously. What?

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

Anyone from Itty Bitty Kitties. They're amazing.

But seriously. Who asks this?

A few coaches and myself were talking about what strategy you’d take to win if you had access to any current AS athlete. After all, the sport is chock full of talent from literally all across the world. So I guess my question actually is: when everyone is strong, how do you choose? It was interesting to hear everyone’s logic and the assets that one preferred over another. One coach picked a team full of versatile stunters who had to be able to step in for any position (so no teeny tiny flyers too short to back, no matter how good they were otherwise). One picked a team of the best tumblers she could think of. It’s more the “why” than the “who,” and the different strategies coaches would take if they had access to any current athlete they wanted. And nobody could agree on the same four boys for a small co-ed team. So even without naming individual specific athletes so as not to alienate anyone, I think an interesting question remains: when your talent pool is seemingly unlimited, how do you pick a team of 12? Or 20? Or 36? And why?

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

A few coaches and myself were talking about what strategy you’d take to win if you had access to any current AS athlete. After all, the sport is chock full of talent from literally all across the world. So I guess my question actually is: when everyone is strong, how do you choose? It was interesting to hear everyone’s logic and the assets that one preferred over another. One coach picked a team full of versatile stunters who had to be able to step in for any position (so no teeny tiny flyers too short to back, no matter how good they were otherwise). One picked a team of the best tumblers she could think of. It’s more the “why” than the “who,” and the different strategies coaches would take if they had access to any current athlete they wanted. So even without naming individual specific athletes so as not to alienate anyone, I think an interesting question remains: when your talent pool is seemingly unlimited, how do you pick a team of 12? Or 20? Or 36? And why?

This makes more sense now.

I always came back to basing and backing being more teachable in the short term than tumbling. You can take a great tumbler with limited stunting experience and get her basing intermediate HS type stunts by August. You can't really make tumbling gains with great stunters in the same short time. (if we're looking at a tryout situation in which someone is a beast base/back/flyer with no tumbling or limited tumbling.)

Also being coachable > most everything.

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

This makes more sense now.

I always came back to basing and backing being more teachable in the short term than tumbling. You can take a great tumbler with limited stunting experience and get her basing intermediate HS type stunts by August. You can't really make tumbling gains with great stunters in the same short time. (if we're looking at a tryout situation in which someone is a beast base/back/flyer with no tumbling or limited tumbling.)

Also being coachable > most everything.

Yeah, it raised some very interesting questions and tangents. Namely: are there any “famous” bases/backs? Not tumblers who base, but bases known for being bases. (We couldn’t think of many outside Panthers girl, whose name still escapes me and which I think proves my point.)

Could you apply a “fantasy football”-type rubric to AS cheer? Should you?

And slightly off topic: what’s your ideal color combo for AS? Mine’s always been navy, white and pink because they complement each other well and they’re versatile for both boys and girls.

And speaking of which, why isn’t purple and gold a more popular color combo in AS gyms? It’s gorgeous.

 

[BlockHead]

These are high school and middle school kids who are also doing a sport. As a parent, this makes me a bit uncomfortable. I'm not calling you a creeper at all. I'm just an overprotective parent. Also, this could create a lot of hurt feelings for the kids who are left out of this. As a coach yourself, you should be sensitive to this

Correct me if I am wrong, I thought that we were not supposed to mention any names of minors on FB??

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

Correct me if I am wrong, I thought that we were not supposed to mention any names of minors on FB??

That's why I didn't use their whole names, and Amy is 18.

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

These are high school and middle school kids who are also doing a sport. As a parent, this makes me a bit uncomfortable. I'm not calling you a creeper at all. I'm just an overprotective parent. Also, this could create a lot of hurt feelings for the kids who are left out of this. As a coach yourself, you should be sensitive to this

Thanks for not calling me a creeper.

If you're fluent in social media at all, I'd suggest you hop on any platform to learn how extensive a reach these girls have. It extends from Youtube series, docs, memes, and very public and prolific Insta/Twitter accounts, a lot of which I keep an eye on to monitor trends in choreo, industry developments, and so I can know what the H my kids are talking about before practice. There's the "Cheerleaders" series. The "Twinkles" and "Nfinity Generation" docs. The Flocheer "Making the Team" films. The "Cheerleader Nation" TV show, if you want to go way back. Not to mention the gyms that proudly promote the skills of their athletes on their pages. ALL of these sources feature teenage cheerleaders in a positive, respectful way, and a lot of the "cheer-lebrities" (actual term) featured on these shows have admirers on my team. Because of this, I'll often pull examples of their skills from social media to illustrate a stunt/pass if someone is having trouble grasping it, and after seeing it executed by a cheerleader that inspires them, it clicks. So being well-versed in the cheer industry doesn't make you a creeper. It makes you a knowledgable coach.

 

[nicolee]

We try not to mention athletes by name on FB, especially minors.
Even despite the publicity these kids get on social media. We just don't discuss individual athletes.

 

[quietmom]

Thanks for not calling me a creeper.

If you're fluent in social media at all, I'd suggest you hop on any platform to learn how extensive a reach these girls have. It extends from Youtube series, docs, memes, and very public and prolific Insta/Twitter accounts, a lot of which I keep an eye on to monitor trends in choreo, industry developments, and so I can know what the H my kids are talking about before practice. There's the "Cheerleaders" series. The "Twinkles" and "Nfinity Generation" docs. The Flocheer "Making the Team" films. The "Cheerleader Nation" TV show, if you want to go way back. Not to mention the gyms that proudly promote the skills of their athletes on their pages. ALL of these sources feature teenage cheerleaders in a positive, respectful way, and a lot of the "cheer-lebrities" (actual term) featured on these shows have admirers on my team. Because of this, I'll often pull examples of their skills from social media to illustrate a stunt/pass if someone is having trouble grasping it, and after seeing it executed by a cheerleader that inspires them, it clicks. So being well-versed in the cheer industry doesn't make you a creeper. It makes you a knowledgable coach.

What makes a discussion borderline creepy as a parent is having adults talk about what 13 to 18 year old girls they would like to have on a dream team. I'm sorry if that offends you, but as a parent, it is our job to protect our kids first. Naming a girl by her first name and their gym is identifying enough and still makes most parents uncomfortable.

We are going to have to agree to disagree. What you view as a pool of athletes or a commodity, I view as kids. Yeah sorry, I view teens as kids who are vulnerable and can get taken advantage of easily. It doesn't matter if the kids have public social media accounts. They're still kids. And if that makes me old, overprotective, or whatever, I'm ok with that.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I generally wouldn't/don't share cheer videos unless it's a TEAM/routine vid from YouTube. Or at least doesn't focus on one kid. For the above reason.

 

[Cheerfun2]

I think it’s hard, unless you actually are a parent, to view things through a “parent filter.”
The OP’s explanation for her “thought exercise” is logical and makes sense...but I imagine those of us who are parents just get that weird, protective feeling when we hear minors who are someone’s child discussed in much the same way professional athletes are for fantasy sports. It’s just we are viewing it from a different perspective.
Although, my son and husband discuss recruiting classes for college football...the high school aged players are ranked and their commitments are followed by college football fans nationwide. Hmmm...I need to figure out if that is a double standard or not.

 

[quietmom]

I think it’s hard, unless you actually are a parent, to view things through a “parent filter.”
The OP’s explanation for her “thought exercise” is logical and makes sense...but I imagine those of us who are parents just get that weird, protective feeling when we hear minors who are someone’s child discussed in much the same way professional athletes are for fantasy sports. It’s just we are viewing it from a different perspective.
Although, my son and husband discuss recruiting classes for college football...the high school aged players are ranked and their commitments are followed by college football fans nationwide. Hmmm...I need to figure out if that is a double standard or not.

Most of the time that happens is usually with high school seniors who are age 17 or 18 when it comes to ranking and signing bids for football.

World's athletes in cheer are ages 13 to 18.

There's a big difference. And to be fair, I'd find it creepy if someone was doing this with 13 year old football players because they are just kids at that age.

And the high school football players and their families have consented to being followed by the college recruiters.

 

[quietmom]

I generally wouldn't/don't share cheer videos unless it's a TEAM/routine vid from YouTube. Or at least doesn't focus on one kid. For the above reason.

Maybe it's me, but I'd rather have the coaching staff teach my kid and their team how to personally improve and improve as a team. I'd find it strange if a coach said "look at this video of ______ from ________ at ________ and be more like that".