High School A Softball Player's Perspective (or "why Cheerleaders Miss Real Competition")

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

No, I'm not a softball player. Softball is for girls. However, I was sitting at dinner Thursday evening with family friends at a local pizza place. The couple has two daughters. One is 12-ish and is an all star cheerleader. The other is soon-to-be 15 and a freshman softball player at the school where I coach cheer. The kid is phenomenal. She's competitive. She plays the game the right way. She plays for a travel ball team in the summer, and with the exception of the fact that she's a little on the small side for a D1 school, I firmly believe she will move on to play softball at the next level. She started on the varsity team last year as an 8th grader, and is the most natural shortstop I've seen in our region. Our softball team will compete for a regional championship at the end of the season.

Why all this talk about softball on a cheer board?

Because this young lady made a statement about a recent tournament that caught my attention. The softball team had traveled to a nearby town for a couple days to play against several teams, "round robin" style. The second day of the tournament they were to play in what would have been a championship game. Due to the fact that our team is pushing the limit of games the state will allow them to play in a season, and the fact that they had completely annihilated this team in the first round, a mutual decision was made to not play the championship game. The tournament ended amicably.

The young shortstop's take on the event? An event in which her team had run-ruled the opposition at every occurrence? An event that saw her team hit homeruns off opposing pitching in every game? "It was boring," she said.

How many cheerleaders, cheer coaches, cheer parents, etc would consider such dominance on the part of their team as boring? Zero. We would have been on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter blasting the prowess of our team to any who would listen. Some would have brought Myspace out of the social media morgue just to make sure they left no stone unturned in their drive to flaunt the accomplishments of their team, without regard for the fact that the team had not really earned anything. Anyone can beat up on a lesser opponent. In our quest to create "level playing fields," we've taken away "real competition." Even at the flagship school cheer event of the season, how many "varsity" competitive divisions do you really need? Small, medium, large, super large, small coed, medium coed, large coed, not to mention the non-tumbling and non-building divisions exist, but are they really necessary? There were only 8 teams in large coed this year. If you won 8th place, yea you were top 10; but what did you really accomplish? Don't get me started on the number of "national championships" given out in the all star industry. In how many divisions do we need to declare a world champion before people begin to devalue that award? What's next...."Champion of the Universe?"

In every instance the pattern holds true. What was once a prestigious event has become so watered down, with so many competitors, that the trophy itself holds a fraction of it's previous worth. I am not so naïve as to not realize that it's all driven by $$$, but it seems that at some level, the cheerleading world would want to hang on to some hint of legitimacy.

 

[Michael White]

I agree with everything you've said. Very valid points all around. I'm unsure that the attitude of coaches, parents, and athletes are likely to change anytime soon. It's so pervasive, that I just can't see it changing unfortunately. It's a completely different attitude from basketball, softball, any team sport really. As far as national championships, I've gotten to the point now where when I explain it to people outside of the sport, I say there are only a few "national championships" that are actually worthy of that title. Among these are Summit, World's, NCA Dallas, among a few others. Watered down they might be, but *usually* the best team win these prestigious titles.

 

[Hscoach10]

Totally agree on too many divisions. At uca nationals it is getting ridiculous. We are in a larger division with 50+ teams but I think all the game day/non tumble etc divisions are sending the wrong message. I do NOT want to turn into allstar nationals where just about everyone is a national champion at some point in their season. I really can't understand it! For UCA HS I wish they would scale back:

-Small and Large coed only
-Combine divisions for large and small schools if division is small. This would never happen in small and medium divisions because they are huge divisions, but could see it happening in super or large some years. IMO, if you are able to field a super varsity team, your small school size does not affect your program numbers.
-keep Jv small/large
- one nontumble division for varsity/ one for Jv
-one game day division varsity / one for Jv
-one non building

*could do without non-tumble. I get non-building because some schools are ground bound and I know some schools are limited on tumbling resources so it is helpful for them, but for a prestigious national championship I wouldn't say the division is necessary!


Just some thoughts I had after this years champuonship! Def not as bad as allstar but it seems like every year there are more divisions!

 

[CLynn]

I agree with you but especially the end:

I am not so naïve as to not realize that it's all driven by $$$, but it seems that at some level, the cheerleading world would want to hang on to some hint of legitimacy.

So many levels, so many "national champions". Perhaps they can scale back what events are even allowed to be considered "national championship" worthy, or have a minimum in each division to qualify?

 

[Mom2Cheergirls]

How many cheerleaders, cheer coaches, cheer parents, etc would consider such dominance on the part of their team as boring? Zero.

This year my girls switched to a top gym in the country. They have competed against other top teams. They have lost even when they have done their best and had zero deductions great routine. They have also gone to some small competitions where they blew away the smaller gyms present. They were not proud of that dominance. Parents, athletes, and coaches shared with the owner not that we were too good for this competition but it was not the right fit. Being later in the season it wasn't a comp to work out the kinks before one of the true national comps... we spend a lot of money and time on cheer and in this case it didn't help our girls grow as athletes.

I would say that now that we are at a big gym this why the small comp was not a good fit but the reality is my kids have been at small gyms where a win when there is no competition or little competition just isn't a real win. We are not the only family that felt that way. It was also a reason we moved to the larger gym to really have the chance to compete.

So I would respectfully disagree with you that the mentality of cheer is we don't want real competition.

 

[MissCongeniality]

I think the difference is that in cheer.... your performance (say how you tumble) does not directly impact how team b tumbles. You can't directly make them blow that pass or stunt. In a sport like softball... how you play does impact the team you play against. In cheer when you hit the mat you are often just competing against yourself... to do the best you as a team can do. Maybe we need to let the other teams throw things to up the ante Actually at one HS game some streakers ran across during the tumbling portion of half time... I was so proud of how the team kept their cool and did what they needed to.

That said--- I totally agree that unfortunately in this sport the win at all costs attitude (whether it be for marketing the program, bragging on facebook whatever) is such that most don't get bored proclaiming a "win" even if against no other team. I think the athletes actually might be the ones to suggest "boredom" but the adults in their lives ..doubtful... "Home of 500 National Champion Titles" is just too big of a draw and a money maker splashed across a home page.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

How many cheerleaders, cheer coaches, cheer parents, etc would consider such dominance on the part of their team as boring? Zero.

This year my girls switched to a top gym in the country. They have competed against other top teams. They have lost even when they have done their best and had zero deductions great routine. They have also gone to some small competitions where they blew away the smaller gyms present. They were not proud of that dominance. Parents, athletes, and coaches shared with the owner not that we were too good for this competition but it was not the right fit. Being later in the season it wasn't a comp to work out the kinks before one of the true national comps... we spend a lot of money and time on cheer and in this case it didn't help our girls grow as athletes.

I would say that now that we are at a big gym this why the small comp was not a good fit but the reality is my kids have been at small gyms where a win when there is no competition or little competition just isn't a real win. We are not the only family that felt that way. It was also a reason we moved to the larger gym to really have the chance to compete.

So I would respectfully disagree with you that the mentality of cheer is we don't want real competition.

I think the difference is that in cheer.... your performance (say how you tumble) does not directly impact how team b tumbles. You can't directly make them blow that pass or stunt. In a sport like softball... how you play does impact the team you play against. In cheer when you hit the mat you are often just competing against yourself... to do the best you as a team can do. Maybe we need to let the other teams throw things to up the ante Actually at one HS game some streakers ran across during the tumbling portion of half time... I was so proud of how the team kept their cool and did what they needed to.

That said--- I totally agree that unfortunately in this sport the win at all costs attitude (whether it be for marketing the program, bragging on facebook whatever) is such that most don't get bored proclaiming a "win" even if against no other team. I think the athletes actually might be the ones to suggest "boredom" but the adults in their lives ..doubtful... "Home of 500 National Champion Titles" is just too big of a draw and a money maker splashed across a home page.

I quoted both of these posts because I believe that they serve as an example of how often our actions and our words are contradictory. @Mom2Cheergirls states that parents, coaches and cheerleaders at "big" gyms say they want competition. I hear the same thing from parents, coaches, and cheerleaders at the local small gym. I believe most cheerleaders would say that. However, I question how many of the parents, coaches, and cheerleaders at either big gyms or small gyms would tend to behave more like those referenced in the second paragraph of @MissCongeniality 's post. While I have no doubt that they say they want competition and, in fact, do; do they not then turn around and go on "social media blast" no matter what type of competition awards the "national championship" trophy/jacket? If even one cheerleader or coach (especially coach) is on social media talking about their team "winning nationals" (or for that matter placing 3rd in a division that has 2 good teams and 7 mediocre teams) then their actions contradict their words.

So, while I don't disagree with either of you, I think that there is a disconnect between what we say we want, and what we demonstrate we want.

 

[MissCongeniality]

I quoted both of these posts because I believe that they serve as an example of how often our actions and our words are contradictory. @Mom2Cheergirls states that parents, coaches and cheerleaders at "big" gyms say they want competition. I hear the same thing from parents, coaches, and cheerleaders at the local small gym. I believe most cheerleaders would say that. However, I question how many of the parents, coaches, and cheerleaders at either big gyms or small gyms would tend to behave more like those referenced in the second paragraph of @MissCongeniality 's post. While I have no doubt that they say they want competition and, in fact, do; do they not then turn around and go on "social media blast" no matter what type of competition awards the "national championship" trophy/jacket? If even one cheerleader or coach (especially coach) is on social media talking about their team "winning nationals" (or for that matter placing 3rd in a division that has 2 good teams and 7 mediocre teams) then their actions contradict their words.

So, while I don't disagree with either of you, I think that there is a disconnect between what we say we want, and what we demonstrate we want.

Absolutely! There is a disconnect in many things allstar cheer related. Like how we love the "lessons" it teaches our children but then when we talk about some of the stuff that goes on... ummmm lessons? Sometimes that disconnect is hard to understand until the kool-aid dripping IV has been ripped out for a couple of years.

ETA: That I DO understand why gyms brag the way they do... it is business and they are in "sales" as much as everything else. If they don't "sell" they don't get $ and they are no longer in business.

As far as parents... After adding up the cost... often getting blasted by other parents and family about how stupid we are to pay so much (knowing it ourselves as well) well... it's nice to know that you are "winning" for all that $. LOL... first year at Worlds was a total failure and someone said "what did that cost per minute"... My response... "can we please do the math by second instead"

 

[Mom2Cheergirls]

I quoted both of these posts because I believe that they serve as an example of how often our actions and our words are contradictory. @Mom2Cheergirls states that parents, coaches and cheerleaders at "big" gyms say they want competition. I hear the same thing from parents, coaches, and cheerleaders at the local small gym. I believe most cheerleaders would say that. However, I question how many of the parents, coaches, and cheerleaders at either big gyms or small gyms would tend to behave more like those referenced in the second paragraph of @MissCongeniality 's post. While I have no doubt that they say they want competition and, in fact, do; do they not then turn around and go on "social media blast" no matter what type of competition awards the "national championship" trophy/jacket? If even one cheerleader or coach (especially coach) is on social media talking about their team "winning nationals" (or for that matter placing 3rd in a division that has 2 good teams and 7 mediocre teams) then their actions contradict their words.

So, while I don't disagree with either of you, I think that there is a disconnect between what we say we want, and what we demonstrate we want.

I still disagree because I don't think wanting A (good strong competition) means you can't be B (posting about your kid). By the way have posted many a well the team came in 4th but they did better at x, y, or z. Have also posted tough comp kids got second but it was well earned. Have also not posted jacket wins that weren't that big of deal. But I don't think posting how a gym does is an instant equate to wanting a win that was tough.I think posting is just sharing how the weekend went regardless and I know our gym has posted the good the bad and the ugly. When our girls won highest score at a small comp they were happy to beat the older team from our gym and it was basically like beating their big sisters (and we were pleasantly surprised and excited about that) but they and all of us still felt that it was not the right competition for us. I think demonstrating what we want as parents is when an owner asks (which we have been blessed to have owners to ask our opinion) that parents say we want competition we want events where our kids have to work to win and I have been fortunate to hear that from our owner. Plus I think if a top gym posted they got 3rd out of 7 but only 2 teams were good that would be considered poor sportsmanship and talking dirty. I just don't see social media as being the measure of desiring to compete against strong teams.