High School Big / Little Sister Ideas

[Coachswifeturnedcoach]

I was going to assign the varsity cheerleaders to a JV for camp this year. I think this would be a good idea to help the new girls to the school/squad to get adapted better and form better relationships between the squads. The only issue is that they have never done this before at the school and I have never been apart of it myself so I don't know what it would in tail/ be good ideas.

I was hoping some of you would have some ideas on what to do for camp week or during the school year.

 

[RileyElizabeth99]

The last few years we have had Littles/bigs and this year we are actually trying something new. Often times the big/little relationship can be a bit awkward if you are forcing two people together and dont know if there are prior issues (ex. Susie's sister dated Sally's boyfriend and Susie ends up with Sally and this causes drama). So in my program, we decided to have little pods instead. Each senior gets a pod and the underclassmen are divided up evenly among the seniors. These pods stretch together at practice and at the end of practice we have time to talk about a topic the coaches pick (Anything from social media etiquette to just get to know you stuff.) Each group has a group message and the seniors send an inspirational text once a week and the groups are asked to try and have a 'bonding' experience once during the summer. I personally like the pods much more than the little/big because we get to know more people and there is less of a chance for awkward encounters!

 

[AScheer]

We do big and little sisters. I run it similar to how my sorority did. The first season it was a bigger deal than it is now. After all these years, I could care less about it, but the girls think it's important so we continue to do it. We start the season with buddies. I take the girls that are the "bigs"and assign them a little buddy. They get a new buddy every week until everyone has been with every possible match. The buddy period gives them time to know each other a little better. Once they've been paired with everyone we do big and little reveal. They get to make requests, but it isn't guaranteed. I have everyone write down their top 5 picks for their big or little. I then match them up. Everyone almost always gets someone on their list. If for some reason it isn't working out, I go with the little sisters request. We usually do reveal the week before camp. Their big/lil is their camp room mate.

@RileyElizabeth99 That's cute, I actually really like the pod idea! Will the pods stay together year after year and just add new members to existing pods, or will they switch up completely?

 

[SparkleSpankies]

Im riding the struggle bus with this b/c my team wants them again, but after camp its like they never had them to start with. Also, some are just tough to "match".

I think the pods are great! I may do pods of 3-4.. that may actually solve some of my big little concerns!!

 

[RileyElizabeth99]

We do big and little sisters. I run it similar to how my sorority did. The first season it was a bigger deal than it is now. After all these years, I could care less about it, but the girls think it's important so we continue to do it. We start the season with buddies. I take the girls that are the "bigs"and assign them a little buddy. They get a new buddy every week until everyone has been with every possible match. The buddy period gives them time to know each other a little better. Once they've been paired with everyone we do big and little reveal. They get to make requests, but it isn't guaranteed. I have everyone write down their top 5 picks for their big or little. I then match them up. Everyone almost always gets someone on their list. If for some reason it isn't working out, I go with the little sisters request. We usually do reveal the week before camp. Their big/lil is their camp room mate.

@RileyElizabeth99 That's cute, I actually really like the pod idea! Will the pods stay together year after year and just add new members to existing pods, or will they switch up completely?

This is out first year doing pods so I have no clue! I think that they might start fresh next year because our junior class is a lot larger than the current senior class and there wont be the awkwardness of being a new freshman and being thrown into a pod where all of the members are BFF's and hang out every weekend.

I was the one who came up with the idea at one of our senior meetings that we had with our coach. The bigs and littles never have worked in our program and as someone who isnt close to most of the girls on the team, I wanted less clique action and more of a united team.

 

[jessicastuart]

The last few years we have had Littles/bigs and this year we are actually trying something new. Often times the big/little relationship can be a bit awkward if you are forcing two people together and dont know if there are prior issues (ex. Susie's sister dated Sally's boyfriend and Susie ends up with Sally and this causes drama). So in my program, we decided to have little pods instead. Each senior gets a pod and the underclassmen are divided up evenly among the seniors. These pods stretch together at practice and at the end of practice we have time to talk about a topic the coaches pick (Anything from social media etiquette to just get to know you stuff.) Each group has a group message and the seniors send an inspirational text once a week and the groups are asked to try and have a 'bonding' experience once during the summer. I personally like the pods much more than the little/big because we get to know more people and there is less of a chance for awkward encounters!

This is awesome. Thank you for sharing! I've tried for so many years to push big/littles.. But they've fizzled out fast.