High School Cheer Practice

[Official OWECheer]

Absolutely agree with this 100%. It is what it is though. Cheer is not high on the list of sports at cp's school (it actually falls under clubs but is somewhat considered a sport). We are definitely not as competitive in cheer as many other nearby school districts, and this is only part of the reason.

That's weird.... if it's not considered a sport, why aren't you allowed to have summer conditioning?

 

[Julia Cole]

Question: how do you work around not being allowed to have summer practices?

Practices are optional during the summer. But if you don't go there are consequences once the season starts and you'll most likely be benched because you don't know the material that was learned over the summer

 

[CheerBank]

That's weird.... if it's not considered a sport, why aren't you allowed to have summer conditioning?

Not really sure. My former-cp only cheered in HS her freshman year and current cp did not try out for her freshman season. I just know they have tryouts in June and then start up again in August.

 

[Twinklestars]

Our captains made a DVD and it was horrible. Several of the girls found it really difficult to learn from it.

As a parent, I had one who could learn from it and one who could not. It was so frustrating. She is highly intelligent and not used to not "getting" things.

Maybe your DVDs were different/better, but it isn't a one-size-fits-all way to get out of teaching the cheers during practice.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Our captains made a DVD and it was horrible. Several of the girls found it really difficult to learn from it.

As a parent, I had one who could learn from it and one who could not. It was so frustrating. She is highly intelligent and not used to not "getting" things.

Maybe your DVDs were different/better, but it isn't a one-size-fits-all way to get out of teaching the cheers during practice.

I don't think it should be too hard to make a decent video. Did they watch the cheer videos on YouTube? Lots of teams make their own videos, maybe they didn't watch those to get a better idea of how to make the video?

 

[Twinklestars]

It was awful. If I could figure out how to post it myself, I would.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Our captains made a DVD and it was horrible. Several of the girls found it really difficult to learn from it.

As a parent, I had one who could learn from it and one who could not. It was so frustrating. She is highly intelligent and not used to not "getting" things.

Maybe your DVDs were different/better, but it isn't a one-size-fits-all way to get out of teaching the cheers during practice.

I had another coach help me make it (along with a few outgoing seniors) so that it was not awful and really asked "If I were a new Varsity girl, would this make sense to me from this angle?"

I will say that because I gave you a DVD and a month, it's not like I expect all cheers to be GAME DAY perfect the day we get back together. The DVD doesn't have to be your only means of learning.

You're also supposed to be working with other girls and reaching out to your teammates if you have watched something 6 times and it still is not quite right. There are girls who get together over the break to help the rookies for that reason.

Doesn't need to be perfect. We're going to CLEAN it at practice. But what I don't want to see is me saying "Ok, time for Fight Song" and 12 people are deer in the headlights because they don't know it AT ALL.

If you watched the DVD and worked with other girls on it, you should not be totally clueless. That is what I'm watching for.

 

[Official OWECheer]

By the way PLEASE make sure you have your kids conditioning every practice for at least half an hour.

 

[Twinklestars]

Yeah, our coach expects the girls to condition on their own, including weight lifting. The captain isn't the best cheerleader or the best leader, but she is who the coach wanted.

Anyone want to come have a cheer clinic in NW TN?

Our coach is in the second year and knew nothing prior. She is very confident in her abilities though.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Yeah, our coach expects the girls to condition on their own, including weight lifting. The captain isn't the best cheerleader or the best leader, but she is who the coach wanted.

Anyone want to come have a cheer clinic in NW TN?

Our coach is in the second year and knew nothing prior. She is very confident in her abilities though.

That last sentence worries me.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Yeah, our coach expects the girls to condition on their own, including weight lifting. The captain isn't the best cheerleader or the best leader, but she is who the coach wanted.

Anyone want to come have a cheer clinic in NW TN?

Our coach is in the second year and knew nothing prior. She is very confident in her abilities though.

I got to weightlifting alone and I threw out my back just thinking about it. One way ticket to injury city!

 

[Official OWECheer]

I got to weightlifting alone and I threw out my back just thinking about it. One way ticket to injury city!

Definitely. Bodyweight exercises are much safer.

 

[Twinklestars]

That last sentence worries me.

It worries me too.

I sometimes worry that I am being a total Susie's mom. There are so things that are concerning.

The coach, well, sponsor has an assistant who is a local college cheerleader. She helps with stunts and dances and stuff. She is the daughter of one of the coach's friends.

 

[Official OWECheer]

It worries me too.

I sometimes worry that I am being a total Susie's mom. There are so things that are concerning.

The coach, well, sponsor has an assistant who is a local college cheerleader. She helps with stunts and dances and stuff. She is the daughter of one of the coach's friends.

You're being a rightfully worried mom, not a Susie's Mom. I wish I could help out teams like yours. I am hoping to one day start gameday/comp clinics for HS and MS teams. The lack of gameday skill I see worries me, and it's the main reason schools are now cutting or downgrading their cheer programs. I've heard that TN teams like to perform like NCA squads though (weird because you guys are closer to UCA). I'm not sure how much they would like that.

 

[Twinklestars]

Back to the DVD, it was done on the stage with poor/strange lighting. None of the girls wore shoes and didn't wear matching outfits. Only one of the girls had on school colors. One of the girls had on khaki shorts. They laughed and talked between cheers. They were loose.

It was really unprofessional and not well-thought out. It didn't have all the cheers on it and they still haven't taught some that weren't. Doesn't mean that they don't call them at games.

They had dances on there also. They hummed and sang. They all have phones. One of the dances is to a well-known song used by the largest school in the state. They could have googled and found it in seconds.