All-Star No Tolerance For Underage Drinking At Worlds?!

[AliciaM]

I was actually more disturbed by the dance party...I noticed some people drunk but I didn't see anyone past the point of intoxication...but that's my own observations...

The team you are talking about I knew was drinking most if all that I knew were of age to drink..not that it's acceptable to be drunk at a party where there are younger children...I wanted to drink but no one of age on my team did because we knew better. Also a lotttt of french people don't know much engish and this is a fact that the team that you are talking about that is from Quebec do not know much english..the canadian anthem is known to all canadians in french and english we are taught both in elementary school...so it may have seemed very rude that they said they didn't understand..but the person or group of people you have have talked for the most part I bet didn't understand as Quebecois don't learn french in school unless it's learned in the home or on their own...
The drinking age in quebec is 18
drinking age in ontario and most other provinces is 19
it isn't "legal" for people to drink with their parents although many "cultured" parents do not mind ...I'm Italian and I was allowed to have a few drinks at family events and holidays when my parents were there.

I am not condoning what these group of people did...it was probably rude...but I in my opinion some of the blame should be put on the coaches that should be with teams or telling their teams that drinking is not tolerated by any means . Also everyone coming in was checked for bags etc...So obviously people should be searched more extensively before being let into the park.

 

[Mclovin]

I have heard about the nonsense that goes on at the block party for years now. I remember when Cheer2Win (ACEDAD's wife for those of you who weren't around then) told us story after story of the stuff that goes on there. So this year, since they canceled the DJ and it was supposed to be just extended hours at the park, we decided to take the whole family to the block party. I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I was in what I saw. Girls dressed like hookers, people carrying sports bottles with God knows what in them. I saw very few adults, period. Some moms and dads like us were there, but for the most part it was a free for all for every teen there. I sat on a concrete bench for over an hour while Emileigh rode one of the rides and I just watched and listened. All I could think about was how disappointed I would be if that was MY kid looking and behaving like these other kids were. So after that one ride, we all decided to leave. On the way out Emileigh had to use the restroom. She went in and I followed her just to make sure she was safe in there, lol. There was this group of girls that were MAYBE 15 or 16 tops. One girl could barely walk or stand up and she had a group of friends around her trying to help her. This other girl walks in, rips off her credentials and throws them in the trash and says to her, "you're fine! Come on!!" The girl walks with assistance out of the restroom starting to cry. I was in complete and utter disbelief. I got the credentials out of the trash just to check and make sure there wasn't some drugs or something in there. It scared the living heck out of me and I'm a middle-aged woman! Needless to say, my kids will NEVER go to the block party again. Not with me or without me, not even when they're "older".

 

[chachacheer]

Maybe if the block party was on Thursday night, a lot of these problems would be avoided.
Sunday night marks the end of Worlds and competing, which equals a lot of disappointed athletes drinking their problems away. There's many kids who didn't get a ring, or even make it to day 2 for that matter, who are probably very stressed and upset and turn to drinking to "let loose" on their final night in Disney. If the block party were to be on Thursday, kids would know that they have practices and competition ahead in the next 2 days and that would hopefully influence their choices. Many teams are in Disney by Thursday night, and even if they aren't, fewer numbers at the party would eliminate the chaos as well.

Just an idea.

 

[Ashley]

Legal Drinking age doesn't mean you can be drunk and unruley in public, Disneyland has such strict policies on this, why are there less rules because it's a private event, Disney police should've stepped in. I wouldn't let my young teenager attend alone, but some do thinking their kid will be safe, especially if it's their 1st time attending, I saw many drunk people as I waited to pick up my daughter, it was pretty disgusting. I also feel the gates should close at a certain time. I bet the rules are much different on Grad Night.

Those of us who were of age didn't and wouldn't show up wasted to Disney, we thought we could have a few drinks there just to blow of some steam the last night in FL (which we couldn't - the park was dry because of all the high schoolers). I think it was mostly the high school kids walking into the park with their Disney cups full of alcohol (like we all didn't know, please) that were wasted.

 

[Ashley]

international teams cannot make the excuse of the drinking age is different, the drinking age in my country is 18 but I knew i was too young to drink in america. As everyone has said who in their right mind would get wasted the night before finals... REALLY! But don't disney search peoples bags as they enter the park?? how are they getting drink in... and if they are buying it inside the park then for the bloc party/ park open later make it an alcohol free zone! if adults want to drink go to a bar !

It was alcohol free. My teammates and I were all of age and actually asked a Disney employee if there was anywhere we could buy a beer and he said no, it was dry because of the kids. And when I got to the park, I didn't really see any bags checked. Or at least no one questioned what was in the Disney cups, which si the most obvious place for alcohol if you ask me.

 

[Ashley]

Side note: I wonder if limiting the at-large bids might help this out too. Less kids on 'vacation' and the more serious, driven ones there to compete might take things down a wee bit. Or not. You wanna compete with the best? Think like the best. I DOUBT a large senior finalist was even looking at a bottle of anything besides water/juice/gatorade.

I was on a shuttle Sunday night to the block party with a number of athletes from some teams that won a globe and I'm fairly certain they were all drunk or drinking.

 

[notimeforthat]

are some of you for real with your posts? I don't care what country you live in, what customs you follow, what place you came in or what your drinking or smoking IT IS NOT OK TO BE INTOXICATED AT ANY POINT OF WORLDS.
If i was a coach and found out any of this you would be gone and not welcomed back period. How selfish are you? How many people are you letting down by partying at the most important cheer weekend of the year? Even if you are done competing how ridiculous you look to the world.
It is not the responsibility of the parks of the USASF.... It is the coaches. If it were me there would be a bed check at a certain time and a sniff test lol.... (I run a tight ship at my house....)
Have a party when you get home! Have some respect for your gym and your fellow atheletes.
For the adult atheletes over 21 they are on thier own.... I would hope they would know better.

 

[Mamarazzi]

If it were me there would be a bed check at a certain time and a sniff test lol.... (I run a tight ship at my house....)

Yeah, I like how these kids still think we want to give them a "goodnight kiss" when they come in at all hours...Oh, dang, did I let our secret out?

I'm curious to know how many coaches were out celebrating as well. Some of the coaches are not much older than the athletes and they may have been athletes at Worlds once, too. Therefore, if the coaches did the same thing when they were athletes, I don't see them stopping their athletes from drinking and getting wild.

Nothing in me wants to agree with @bburke1 , but the fact is, teens (especially) engage in risky behavior. It's a reality of psychological development. It's not OK to drink underage, so rather than beating that dead horse with a spirit stick, let's do something like enlist the help of the PAC (@ACEDAD ?) for next year. Along with materials to help get a family Worlds-ready, let's add some educational material about how to appropriately handle situations like these that are bound to come up.

 

[CharlotteASMom]

The PAC has been discussing and trying to create plans to deal with this since inception. Even before we created the PAC some of our most passionate parents have been discussing it on these boards.

The issue is that the USASF can't/won't regulate it to the point that would make us all comfortable. Furthermore parents often don't travel with their athletes therefore their control is limited. So who does that leave?

THE GYM STAFF AND COACHES.

This is my broken record that I have been playing for 6 years. Parents, you MUST insist that your gym have a plan in place for supervision of your kids while they travel. Secondly, make sure your gym has a zero tolerance policy for this kind of behavior. If they don't have these policies or they don't enforce them then leave. Believe me....it works!

 

[Mclovin]

I saw ZERO coaches/gym owners OR parents at the block party. Everyone there with the exception of us parents of younger children were all teenagers or in their early 20's. Gotta wonder why this is. Is it because they don't care, don't feel it's their responsibility to supervise, what?? I can't figure it out.

 

[CharlotteASMom]

Since I am still on my rant....I wanted to add.

Usually the posts or threads die out when one of us parents suggest holding your gyms accoutable for enforcing policy. I discuss this with my friends regularly and the only reason we can come up with is that parents are too scared that they will jeopardize their prescious son or daughters spot on a team by actually insisting the gyms act responsibly.

I know a gym that has a "as long as I don't see it" policy regarding drugs and alcohol in their program. This is enforced from the fact that the coaches and staff themselves are known to drink excessively and do drugs. Parents know it but they don't want to rock the boat and risk their children not being on a top tier team.

On the flip side, there are kids out there that drink regularly, do drugs, and have even stolen from their coaches but the gym still keeps them on the team because they want the talent. How sad is all of this? We actually allow these things to happen all because we want our kids to be stars or the gym doesn't want to give up talent. It's really sickens me.

 

[Mom Jeans]

Those of us who were of age didn't and wouldn't show up wasted to Disney, we thought we could have a few drinks there just to blow of some steam the last night in FL (which we couldn't - the park was dry because of all the high schoolers). I think it was mostly the high school kids walking into the park with their Disney cups full of alcohol (like we all didn't know, please) that were wasted.

I dont have a problem with legal age drinking, I was referring to posters who are saying if you are of age, there's nothing wrong with it. I've been of age to drink for over 20 years and yet I still manage to go to Disney and not drink. What I saw was both. Legal age and not legal age, the problem is the lack of security at Disney and I'm still in disbelief, normally we think Disney Police and know they don't put up with anything. If I had to guess I would guess that it was mostly underage kids drinking. Ooh..... imagine the stories they could tell the next day.

 

[Mom Jeans]

I saw ZERO coaches/gym owners OR parents at the block party. Everyone there with the exception of us parents of younger children were all teenagers or in their early 20's. Gotta wonder why this is. Is it because they don't care, don't feel it's their responsibility to supervise, what?? I can't figure it out.

I wondered the same thing, we had a parent who was "in charge" of the younger kids. I was surprised their own parents didn't attend, I think they felt safe letting their kids go, one because it's Disney and like I said before, at Disneyland there's no tolertaion for any bad behavior and two they looked at it as an extension of the cheer weekend, not even thinking it's not mandatory. While our older kids were angry and annoyed at the whole situation, even calling us to pick them up early, the younger ones sadly were enjoying the show. In the future my first piece of advice to the parents is Dont let your kids go to the Block Party. They will be pretty PO'd if they saw what really happens.

 

[cheermomof4xxs]

If something were to happen to your child while on a school trip the school would be held accountable so the same should apply here. You are representing your gym as you would be your school. So in order to avoid "being held accountable" if an issue were to happen I would think the coaches & owners, of these gyms, would make sure to cover their butts...(sigh wavers, talk to them before & let them know the consequences, be more present, enforce the consequences if broken, ect...) Not just for Worlds but for all comps. home or away. I know there are those teams/gyms that DO follow the rules and it just stinks that the few that don't can ruin such a great experience for the rest.

My girls are not on a worlds team, yet, so I haven't experienced this but I would love to take them as spectators one year but would hate for situations like this to ruin it for them & me. Of course, maybe seeing these obnoxious kids may show my girls how much of a fool you look & act like drunk. **wishful thinking**

On another note- if I were the parent of a flyer that fell & got hurt because of a "hung-over" base...oh...lord help them.

 

[bburke1]

I agree much of the responsibility falls on the coaches...after all these kids are THEIR athletes and represent THEIR gym. But like it's been pointed out, many coaches engage in the same behavior. You have coaches who post pictures of themselves drinking... I'm not talking about a simple wine glass in the hand or sitting on the table, but holding bottles bottoms up with the thumbs up sign, taking shots out of their shot glass necklaces.... no names mentioned because I do like those coaches. But it doesn't exactly set the best example. Even though it's legal for them, the fact is that kids underage look up to them.

I think my "defensive" standpoint earlier comes from the fact that I was raised under VERY strict rules. I had the parents who never drank themselves, so it was ESPECIALLY unacceptable for me to ever think of doing so. They weren't the "oh crap we have a teenager it's going to happen, let's be prepared and talk some sense into her.." type parents. They were the "drink once and you're throwing your entire life away with this unthinkable sin" type parents. I always envied my friends with the "we don't want you to drink, but it's high school and we know you probably will at some point... please use your head and mostly do NOT drive. we're even willing to come pick you up. we'd be disappointed but want your safety" type parents. I was in high school. I thought I ruled the world. I was going to do what I wanted to do, despite the rules. Since my rules were stricter now I just decided to sneak around and do it instead. My point is I certainly don't believe turning a blind eye is the answer but no matter how strict the rules or how hard you come down on the issue, it will still be there and sometimes make it even worse. Am I saying to not even bother enforcing rules? Absolutely not! I'm saying don't be naive enough to think they won't still be broken by some. I'll say it like I've been saying in my posts about the Bangkok issue... look to the authority. Look to those responsible for the athletes. It's up to them to enforce the rules.