High School Attitudes On The Squad! Help?

[JennaBean]

On My School Team We Have A Bunch Of Attitudes. We Tell Them All The Time You Need To Leave Your Attitude At the Door. WE Get Threatened Because Of Our Attitudes Buy Our Coach That We Will Condition Things Like That. No One On Our Team Can Seem To Take Criticism Well, Nor Can They Give Out Constructive Criticism.
What Are Some Ways You Deal With Your Attitudes On Your Team?
How Do You Get People To Get Rid Of The Attitudes?

Help Please

 

[soFIERCE08]

instead of having your coach scold you guys, talk to the team captain (or just do this yourself) and have her talk to the girls. stress the importance of acting as a team and that attitudes are not welcome on this squad. if you guys want to succeed, you need to act as a unit instead of having a bunch of girls on different pages. also, get the girls together and do a lot of bonding. do scavenger hunts and split the girls into groups with others that they don't know very well. or have pool parties, beach days, or practices solely dedicated for bonding where you guys just talk. usually, if the girls feel like a team, then the attitudes will disappear.

i hope it all works out!

 

[Beeis4Becca]

We just run...respect is expected and if anyone goes at all out of line we run and run and run some more (for the smallest things) ...it has def worked!

 

[alexismariex]

you all need to have a team talk. is it a competition squad? honestly, if i was a coach and i got constant attitude, i wouldn't put up with it. maybe you should let the coach know that the conditioning as punishment isn't working and that she should try something else.

 

[LoveOnTop]

RUN. Or make them sit out a game.
Have a demerit system!
3 strikes, you're out.

 

[Mom Jeans]

You said you get threatened with conditioning, but does your coach follow through with the threats? It sounds like there's no control. If the coach can't/won't take control then I agree you guys should have a meeting and talk about why you all are on the team and what your goals are. You can have it with or without your coach, but let her/him know beforehand. If the coach doesn't want to go then a few of you can speak for the team after the meeting and let him/her know what you talked about. People like when you come to them with solutions, not just problems. At the meeting, set some guidelines on how you address a concern and how you should respond. For example, it's not a gripe fest , if you have something to say, then you should have suggestions on how to make it better. If you can't contribute to the solution, then you should keep your mouth shut. (I don't mean "you" as in you personally, I mean "you" the team).

Team bonding is a very good idea, when you become closer it's harder to let your team down. Number one, the rules have to be enforsed, if they're aren't nothing will change.

 

[XoxLibertyallstarsxox]

At allstars if we arent tight we have to run the stairs. Or for hs I guess it would be to run the bleachers

 

[Abby]

Seriously-attitudes were THE worst this year. I'm talking one week before competition people were sitting out doing homework. I was captain (the only captain who wasn't doing homework anyhow...) and it took me 20 minutes to get them off their butts. It was so stupid- we've gotten first at almost every competition we went to so they thought we didn't "need to work". And it was like this every practice. You know what finally got them moving? Losing.

Other than that, I'd love to know the magic remedy to getting our girls to move. Conditioning only made it worse. But we did look better in our uniforms!

 

[Triple B]

Have a cheer contract that all cheerleaders AND parents must sign before tryouts.....many things should be included, but attitude and behavior should definitely be included (ours included respecting the coach, following directions, NOT using cell phones at practice, etc.). Punishments were at the discretion of the coach, as stated on the contract. Punishment may include conditioning, but also went on to sitting out at games and possibly not being in a competition. It also extends to not making the team the next season. There are several cheerleaders who will not be allowed back on the team due to violations of the cheer contract.

The simple way to get rid of the attitudes....get rid of the people who have them. This dropped our ability level considerably at first....but the attitude of the overall team changed immensely and people actually ENJOYED being at practice. We are slowly but surely building the abilities back up with the new and better attitudes. It may be tough to do, but it is the best for the team.

 

[The bow lady]

with some cheerleaders, they put up a wall due to insecurities. Due to being criticized about a skill or lack of. some coaches,teammates think it is attitude. Have a coach or captain talk to the cheerleader(discreetly) to see if this is the case. Hopefully this helps

 

[F!erceBiddie013]

My high school team was exactly the same. Everyone had a chip on their shoulders and it got us nowhere. If your team isn't close knit, they won't make it far. We might have been the best team in our district, but our attitudes kept us from working together, and we didn't even make it to regionals. Before i joined all stars, they're were only two girls on our team who were on all stars, and the the senior all star girl would try her best to correct us since she'd been on a level 5 team for 5 years, and everyone on my team took it the absolute wrong way which resulted with her almost quitting the team. Don't let a good team crash and burn because of people attitudes. Set them straight now, or your doomed to a bad season. Team bonding days help alot to, if ya'll have time, pick one day out of the week and just have a team bonding practice with games and stories, DO NOT ACTUALLY PRACTICE. Alot of the time, it really does bring your team closer.

 

[Giselle]

my high school team had TONS of drama this year. what we decided to do was have a huge team chat. we all went around the circle and said anything that was on our minds and we couldnt get in trouble for it. it was kinda like the scene in mean girls when they caught each other. it really helped because girls are catty and when we hold things in it just gets worse, so when everyone said how they felt no we werent all BFF's but we all respected each other for having the courage to say how we felt. it really helped our team!

 

[SparkleSpankies]

I saw this and I wanted to add. As a coach, I have seen kids that people claim to be "great kids" and good cheerleaders act total opposite at practice.

Post tryout this year, there was a girl who really wanted to be on varsity but besides some good motions and a cute face, she was going into 10th grade and not a varsity level cheerleader. We were thinking of asking her to cheer Varsity games and asked her to be a Varsity competition alternate, however, we wanted to see her "attitude" all summer. When we placed her, we didn't know her very well, and she was on the cusp of varsity, however, not very flexible so her jumps were clean, but not great, she doesn't tumble AT ALL, she also was a flyer but obviously had hit a growth spurt and only if I put the strongest ladies under her, it was the ONLY way she was going to fly. She has no basing experience.

Once the teams were announced, rumor was she was quitting b/c she didn't make varsity, but she showed up and rolled her eyes. Then other rumors were that she told one of the varsity girls to quit so she could be on Varsity etc. She always came in rolling her eyes at everything, etc post-tryouts. We were able to get her flying on a very very strong group and that made her happy. Once school was over, despite her telling me she had no vacation plans, has not come to "optional" conditioning or any fundraisers. Recently, based on hard work and good attitude, I made a few small moves...along w/ a late addition due to a late tryout, of course her mother was the 1st one to call and complain about "optional" conditioning (did the US olympic athletes make their team b/c they skipped optional practices?). Well, last night she sent me the "I Quit" email, which I am not suprised about and wished it came sooner (shame on me). Now, myself and my assistants really didn't have an opinion besides, thank god, no more eye rolls.... I let our Parent group know we had the roster change and I got she is a good kid, the girls will be sad, and she is such an asset.

If she is a good kid or not, in the gym, and in the little communication we had, she didn't seem like that at all after the "list" was posted. With that being said, I needed to just let it out and ask, has anyone out there had this experience where you supposedly have these good kids that are nothing but headache if they don't get what they want??

 

[ScottyB]

bad attitudes spread like a disease on a team, espec a cheer team. You and the squads leaders have to lead and show positive attitudes ALL THE TIME, not some of the time, all of it!

 

[SmileyRyleigh]

There's a senior on our team that always has an attitude. She's one of the captains (all of the seniors are.) And she's a major hypocondriac. If her thumb isn't broken, its her wrist, or her ankle, or her back, or her other ankle. It's always something. She won't do conditioning but she will stunt jump and tumble. But she can't run a mile with a broken thumb... And if you ask her why she isn't doing it she says "I'm a senior, I can do what I want. Don't worry about it." And yesterday she wasn't running because she said she broke her wrist in 3 places (no cast, or brace, not swollen and she still tumbled and stunted...) And I reminded her when I had a cast for 2 months from my shoulder to my wrist. And I still ran every day. Of course she rolled her eyes and.threw me the senior excuse again... Thank god she's a senior and I don't have to put up with her next season. She is the only one with an attitude.