All-Star Cheer Parents, I Beg Of You...

[KRECCheer]

Please follow instructions given to you when at a cheer event. If the person in charge of crowds on the floor is asking you to please make your way up the stairs from the VIP section so we can get the next team on the floor and get your kid to the video replay room on time, please, just do it. Dont glare at them for asking. Dont yell at them. Dont tell them they suck and give them a shove.

I promise, your child will be returned to you as soon as they watch the video, take their team picture, and go over what just went on out on the floor with their coaches. I understand you want to give your superstar a hug and tell them they did awesome, but that time before and after that performance should be for the team and coaches. You will have the rest of the day for hugs.

I just dont understand why some cheer parents have to be so crazy. The event staff arent hired to yell at you and tell you that you and your child cant have a moment. They are hired to make your experience at a national event (or smaller) and enjoyable experience. Just do as they ask and it will all go well. Youll enjoy your time and you wont make that poor girl, who is just trying to get your child to the water station, cry.

 

[Fameous MOM]

I think if you have a young child coming off the mat it is extremely frustrating to have to walk all the way to the top of the bleachers and around. This past weekend my 9 year ols was missing for 25 minutes because I could not get to her fast enough because I had to climb bleachers and fight the crowd to get to her. Just a thought- make the parents exit on the same side the kids come off the mat and let them enter the other way!

 

[My3KidsMom]

I think if you have a young child coming off the mat it is extremely frustrating to have to walk all the way to the top of the bleachers and around. This past weekend my 9 year ols was missing for 25 minutes because I could not get to her fast enough because I had to climb bleachers and fight the crowd to get to her. Just a thought- make the parents exit on the same side the kids come off the mat and let them enter the other way!

While I understand what your saying honestly that seems to be a coaching issue and not an event issue. Your child should not have been released until you picked them up. I know it's frustrating but not every venue is able to accommodate what you feel is the "best" way to release kids. No one likes to have to go out of their way to pick up kids but it's how it has to be sometimes.

 

[fabulousity]

While I understand what your saying honestly that seems to be a coaching issue and not an event issue. Your child should not have been released until you picked them up. I know it's frustrating but not every venue is able to accommodate what you feel is the "best" way to release kids. No one likes to have to go out of their way to pick up kids but it's how it has to be sometimes.

BUDDY SYSTEM!

 

[notimeforthat]

For younger children a plan should be set before they compete. If everyone is aware of what the procedures are and who is responsible for them it would be a lot less stressful. As a parent it is scarry not to know where your 9 year old is in a very crowded place. As an event producer you are trying to manage a schedule and safety hazards. Imo a game plan set prior to leaving would help!

 

[TwistersPride]

it seems to me that there just needs to be better planning on everyone's part. my teams stay with the coaches to watch video, talk about what happened on the floor, talk about when to meet for awards, etc. The younger teams are then walked back to the parents in the stands. We make sure that they are with a parent or they have to stay with us until we find a parent. If the coaches need to get moving to warm up for another team, we have our senior girls help with this. The parents know that this is the plan, so they watch the routine and then go back to the stands and wait for the girls. it works out well and the only time that we have had missing kids is after they have been returned to the parents, and the parents have let them run.

 

[NorthINCheermama]

GLCC in Detroit this weekend was an excellent example of parents being rediculous. Simply trying to get into the VIP area was horrendous. There was a gym that stood in everyone's way for FOUR routines. We had to push and fight to get through them to just watch our own kids. And then they were rude on top of it! Goodness gracious, people, chill out! And don't ruin the experience for other parents!

 

[KRECCheer]

Always have a meeting place or simply walk the team back to the bleachers. Our parents know that they can have their children back when we are done speaking with them. We walk back together as a team, youngest teams and oldest teams.
Our parents also know never to yell at a staffer. If there is an issue, it needs to come to us and we will handle it from there.

 

[KRECCheer]

I think if you have a young child coming off the mat it is extremely frustrating to have to walk all the way to the top of the bleachers and around. This past weekend my 9 year ols was missing for 25 minutes because I could not get to her fast enough because I had to climb bleachers and fight the crowd to get to her. Just a thought- make the parents exit on the same side the kids come off the mat and let them enter the other way!

If your child is going right back to you after the performance, then exiting on the same side of the mat is a good idea. When they are not going right back to you (team photo, video replay) then this is a horrible jumbled mess. Staff has to keep parents moving while also trying to push the team through.

 

[cheergirlbrey]

We get text with a place (hallway, section ect) to pick them up and drop them off at a time for awards. This works well!

 

[hopskipandjump]

We get text with a place (hallway, section ect) to pick them up and drop them off at a time for awards. This works well!

I LOVE this! Especially if you are a coach that has never been to the venue before!

 

[hopskipandjump]

Please follow instructions given to you when at a cheer event. If the person in charge of crowds on the floor is asking you to please make your way up the stairs from the VIP section so we can get the next team on the floor and get your kid to the video replay room on time, please, just do it. Dont glare at them for asking. Dont yell at them. Dont tell them they suck and give them a shove.

I promise, your child will be returned to you as soon as they watch the video, take their team picture, and go over what just went on out on the floor with their coaches. I understand you want to give your superstar a hug and tell them they did awesome, but that time before and after that performance should be for the team and coaches. You will have the rest of the day for hugs.

I just dont understand why some cheer parents have to be so crazy. The event staff arent hired to yell at you and tell you that you and your child cant have a moment. They are hired to make your experience at a national event (or smaller) and enjoyable experience. Just do as they ask and it will all go well. Youll enjoy your time and you wont make that poor girl, who is just trying to get your child to the water station, cry.

And please don't yell at the staff either if the jacket doesn't fit. It will be handled correctly if you just let your coach handle it!

 

[aggie1983]

Sort of related - I have NEVER seen anything like this before. A level 3 senior squad (should know better) ignored the workers trying to get them to exit the side and went off the front of the stage directly to their parents. They then all stood there congratulating themselves and some were still in front and in the aisle when the next squad was on stage ready to go. What was worse - whoever was controlling the music started it and you still had dozens of people standing up right in front of the stage. That team and the parents were bad, but the UCA people should have been controlling the area.

 

[newcheerdad]

With my daughter's mini team, we get instructions from the coaches before every competition about where to meet our kids after they perform. Other than at one competition (which had its own issues) that's worked out pretty well.

 

[Mamarazzi]

Always have a meeting place or simply walk the team back to the bleachers.

Unfortunately, at this past weekend's comp, there were literally hundreds of people packed into the stands, and standing on the floor on the opposite side of the VIP exit. The afore-mentioned 9-year-olds Mom still would've had to wade through all those people clogging the stands, then make her back down through the stands on the opposite side and through the masses of fans gathered for another team at the entrance to the VIP area in order to get to her child who would've been long-since released after watching the video and getting the post-performance pep talk.
Though I definitely agree that a meeting place is nice, at very least, mini and youth-age teams should only be released to parents or known representatives of parents at events that large. There's no way in the world 2-3 coaches could have corralled 36 small children through that throng to even GET TO a meeting place. And the sponsoring company should understand the safety of the KIDS comes first. Let the parents get to their children!