All-Star Cheer Athletics (questions/rumors)

[Ren]

It is extremely rare for us to simply turn someone away who tries out. If anyone does get "cut", it usually only college-aged and above athletes where we only have Worlds-level teams and the competition for spots in insanely competitive. I can't remember the last time we just didn't have a team for someone 18 or younger.

We do everything we can to find a fit for athletes that want to join mid-season. We can usually make it work, but the options are sometimes more limited than if they had gone through the actual tryout or done a private tryout prior to team announcements. At that point, it is mostly about finding a place where they will help one of the teams that has already been formed. Their placement depends on where we have a need.

The "if you don't put my athlete where she wants, then we will leave and go somewhere else" threat doesn't typically work on us. I understand the athlete/parent perspective on that, but if we simply let people hand-pick their own teams or roles in a stunt group, then the whole system basically falls apart. We will try to sit down with the parent and/or athlete and try to explain why we placed them on a particular team, but it is incredibly rare that that conversation leads to the roster change that parent wants.

Out of curiosity, roughly how many Open-aged athletes do you not have a spot for each year? And of those how many do classes etc. even if they didn't make a team?

 

[BlueCat]

Out of curiosity, roughly how many Open-aged athletes do you not have a spot for each year? And of those how many do classes etc. even if they didn't make a team?

We now have 4 "international" division teams. (That name frustrates me - but that is another topic) So, roughly 100 spots for 19+. Probably 1/3 of those spots are filled by athletes that are still senior age eligible. (17-18 yo on L6, 14-18 on L5). College-aged athletes taking classes is pretty rare, but not unheard of. Mostly they come to open gyms or perhaps take privates.

 

[Ren]

We now have 4 "international" division teams. (That name frustrates me - but that is another topic) So, roughly 100 spots for 19+. Probably 1/3 of those spots are filled by athletes that are still senior age eligible. (17-18 yo on L6, 14-18 on L5). College-aged athletes taking classes is pretty rare, but not unheard of. Mostly they come to open gyms or perhaps take privates.

Thank you!

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

The "if you don't put my athlete where she wants, then we will leave and go somewhere else" threat doesn't typically work on us. I understand the athlete/parent perspective on that, but if we simply let people hand-pick their own teams or roles in a stunt group, then the whole system basically falls apart. We will try to sit down with the parent and/or athlete and try to explain why we placed them on a particular team, but it is incredibly rare that that conversation leads to the roster change that parent wants.

You just described my attitude on most things cheer-related.

I'm not in the business of giving parents what they want. I'm in the business of putting together the best possible team and looking out for the kids.

Sometimes, parents wants and team needs do not mesh and team/program needs will always win out.

 

[njallday]

We now have 4 "international" division teams. (That name frustrates me - but that is another topic) So, roughly 100 spots for 19+. Probably 1/3 of those spots are filled by athletes that are still senior age eligible. (17-18 yo on L6, 14-18 on L5). College-aged athletes taking classes is pretty rare, but not unheard of. Mostly they come to open gyms or perhaps take privates.

if you clearly have enough interest and talent to fill the international teams with only 19+ year olds, what makes you decide to move a still-senior-eligible aged athlete onto one of those teams? like when a great flyer is "bigger" than the newcomers (and i don't actually mean big, just larger than the 80 pound 12 year old) do they get moved up to have the older/stronger bases? or if someone is a great flyer or base but only have the basic level 5 tumbling skills because of the lesser scoresheet emphasis on tumbling? or is that just how the cookie crumbles? lol

i am not against this practice at all, just most gyms don't have that many possible teams to place a level 5 athlete, so you guys always interest me with who goes where and how that process works.

 

[BlueCat]

if you clearly have enough interest and talent to fill the international teams with only 19+ year olds, what makes you decide to move a still-senior-eligible aged athlete onto one of those teams? like when a great flyer is "bigger" than the newcomers (and i don't actually mean big, just larger than the 80 pound 12 year old) do they get moved up to have the older/stronger bases? or if someone is a great flyer or base but only have the basic level 5 tumbling skills because of the lesser scoresheet emphasis on tumbling? or is that just how the cookie crumbles? lol

i am not against this practice at all, just most gyms don't have that many possible teams to place a level 5 athlete, so you guys always interest me with who goes where and how that process works.

It is mostly 19+ y.o. guys that end up without a team. Every male that is still senior-eligible is placed on a senior team. NOTE: This still is a exceedingly small number of athletes. We are in the business of putting athletes on teams. We try not to turn anyone away.

 

[GiaBellaMom]

CoralCats - J2
CrystalCats - Jr 5
DiamondCats - S Co 5R
Emeraldcats - J1
JewelCats - J3
OnyxCats - S Co 5
PearlCats - S4.2
RubyCats - Sr Co 4
SapphireCats - Y3

I believe that Frisco will be a celestial theme (StarCats, SunCats, GalaxyCats, etc.)

You forgot PlatinumCats

Ruby is actually our J4 team and Platinum is our S4...I know Ruby currently has 2 boys on it and you put Sr co 4 for Ruby and if you meant Platinum that would mean they are coed as well.....I posted the full teams above your post yesterday....we have 10

 

[BlueCat]

You forgot PlatinumCats

Ruby is actually our J4 team and Platinum is our S4...I know Ruby currently has 2 boys on it and you put Sr co 4 for Ruby and if you meant Platinum that would mean they are coed as well.....I posted the full teams above your post yesterday....we have 10

Yes. I messed it all up when I tried to put them in alphabetical order. Oops.

 

[nateairnj]

This is still subject to change and not official at this point. (Truthfully, I have been focused on Charlotte and haven't been involved in in Plano, Austin, or Frisco for the last half of the evaluation/selection process.) No, we do not know whether Panthers will be medium or large at this point. This is one more team for Plano that last season.

CA Athletes: if your coach told you something different than this, they are right and this is wrong.

Bearkatz (JR 1)
Bengals (Sm Jr 4)
Bobcats (Mini 1)
Cheetahs (L Co 5)
Claw 6 (IOC 6)
Cougars (Sm Y 2)
Cubs (Mini 2)
Felines (Sr R5)
Fiercekatz (IO 5)
Firecats (Sm Sr 3)
Itty Bitty Kitties (T1)
Icecats (Sm Jr 3)
Jags (Sm Jr 5)
Junglecats (M Co 5)
Katz (Jr 2)
KittyKatz (Y1)
LadyKatz (IO 6)
Ligers (Sr Co 3)
Lions (Y3)
Lynx (Lg Jr 3)
Panthers (MSr/LSr)
Prowlers (Sr Co 4)
Pumas (Sr Co R5)
Sabres (Sr 2)
Sassycats (LG SR 4)
ShowKittens (Show Team)
Thundercats (Lg Jr 4)
Tigers (Sm Sr 4)
Wildcats (IOC 5)
SuperKatz (Special Needs) but has not yet been selected

@BlueCat No Swooshcats this year?? Couldn't you re-brand a team with that name so that we can get that fierce SWOOSH music again this year!?!

 

[BlueCat]

@BlueCat No Swooshcats this year?? Couldn't you re-brand a team with that name so that we can get that fierce SWOOSH music again this year!?!

No Swooshcats at this point.

 

[lilmsthang75]

No Swooshcats at this point.

@BlueCat I love how you say at this point. Is there a possibility that 30 girls will walk into the gym with level 5 skills before the season starts? Or would you pull from other teams such as junior 5 and senior restricted 5s to form a team like this? How often do you create teams after the intial creation of teams for the season because of influx? Just curious.

 

[BlueCat]

@BlueCat I love how you say at this point. Is there a possibility that 30 girls will walk into the gym with level 5 skills before the season starts? Or would you pull from other teams such as junior 5 and senior restricted 5s to form a team like this? How often do you create teams after the intial creation of teams for the season because of influx? Just curious.

It is unusual to start a new team after tryouts, but we have done it before. I think it is very unlikely that Plano would start another new L5 team at this point, but anything is possible.

 

[mamabear]

Swooshcats were the team that caught my attention watching Worlds this year. Their Sunday performance,you could sense that they were so hungry and like they wanted it so much! Loved watching them! Lots of talent

 

[Jennie]

I'm just sad we won't be seeing Swooshcats uniform this season! One of my all time favourites!


Edit - although come to think of it apart from the "swoosh" logo on that back does it actually say Swooshcats anywhere? Someone else can use it!


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[Flexiii_Lexiii]

Maybe we can always hope for swooshcats at a different location?


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