All-Star Dangers Of Cheerlebrity

[Star Status]

I didn't read this whole post just page 1 and 5 so if this has been said i am sorry
I've been in this industry for 12 years now i cheered at a "BIG-NAMED" gym when we went to worlds i couldn't even walk 12 feet with out having to take a picture with some one.. i was eating a hot dog and some one stopped my meal to take a picture with me...and this was before "cheerlebrity" deal started it was just go crazy over the people in that uniform...and the whole time i was thinking...well someone is going to get hurt over this.I see all the comments on IG when some one post a picture...and its sad that these kids know almost every aspect of other kids lives...and then i watch the movie CATFISH...What if one of these "little girls" is a crazed maniac and uses social media to find this person and goes after them? and another thought...i see "if you just answer my comment it would make my life" what if some one just so pissed off that they didn't comment back that they attack them at competition? this needs to stop and it comes down to A LOT of things...Magazines...DON'T PUT A CHILD ON THE COVER..and you put these kids FULL NAMES in the magazines...that how they get found on social media...Comps...the majors announces the FULL NAMES of these kids again...makes them easy to find when you know their full names...parents...if you ALLOW your child to be put out there then well...they are out there..and the child themselves. if you accepcet all these people on your facebook twitter IG then guess what they will stalk you and go crazy! IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THEM THEN DON'T ACCEPT THEM ...these are just my 2 cents...keep calm everyone

 

[njallday]

not to mention the other half of this... the little psychopaths sending death threats to cheerlebs' girlfriends (or whoever)

i saw 2 instances of this.. both equally as creepy. the first being matt smith and kelsey rule. there were, i'd say, over 50 tweets threatening her life. like what?! is this justin bieber and selena gomez? that scares me. and another instance of a TG boy posting a picture kissing a girl. there were psychotic comments on that picture like that should be me. ill kill her. etc. etc. did i mention this was an openly gay boy? who isn't going to date your crazy self anyway? i'd say about 85% of these girls aren't really serious. but all you need is one of them to be deranged enough to think that this boy really "loves" them and they physically want to hurt someone.

i can only imagine a high profile team at worlds not being able to perform on time because one of their high profile athletes has been injured by someone stalking them. or someone who purposely pushed them down the stairs. or something crazy. i realize this sounds extreme, but the longer this "phenomenon" continues, the closer we get to these things happening. and that legitimately scares me.

 

[King]

It shouldn't be an issue at all because cheerlebrity is the dumbest thing I have ever heard and the worst trend to ever come out of all star cheerleading.

And then these same people who glorify normal human beings for being good at what they do, wonder why no one can take cheer seriously as a sport. Perhaps it is because they spend all their free time tweeting about some 14 year-old girl's abs when they should be in the gym practicing themselves. You only see this type of stuff in cheerleading. You never see it anywhere else. Ever see a rookie basketbally player stalk Kobe Bryant because he is "oh so good?" No. He wants to get on the court and beat him because that is his job.

Stop celebritizing kids who don't deserve it anymore than the rest of the hard working people on their time and go back to the gym, work on your skills, live your own life, and be proud of what type of athlete you have become.

Part of that comes though because allstar is the pinnacle of cheer. It is big as it gets.We have no NFL or anything past this for kids to aspire to. College cheer is too broken up and disjointed. Team USA exists for two weeks out of the year. Allstar provides a very unified constant stream of info and skills to follow.

Name three cheerlebrities that compete in college cheer. Now name three allstars... that are on the same team. One is a lot more specific but a lot easier to do. Why? All other sports celebrate the college players.

 

[ang_k_]

I'll be honest, last year I went up to two girls (one from F5, another from Senior Elite) and asked for pictures. I went up at appropriate times, I asked very nicely and they kindly agreed. The girl on F5 even had her mom take a picture with her camera. Afterwords I said Thank You and told them Good Job. Another girl who was on F5 follows me on twitter, she asked to meet up with me, and when we did she said she'd been waiting to meet me for so long.

That being said,yes, I follow people on high profile teams on twitter/ instagram. I have reasons. Some people actually have nice pictures or tweets that make me laugh. No, i do not comment on all of them. A retweet here, a like there. thats about it. last season I had 3 pictures with people on high profile teams. Although I tried to make it reasonable and was very polite, this year on the Fierceboards has made me shun the thought of doing so again. These kids get bombarded with fans every competition, why should I join in? Instead I've started something else. I see someone, who isn't quite busy, but is being surrounded by fans. When they get out of the crowd I approach them. I say hello and just tell them Good Job or Good Luck, that's all. It's different. Not many people go up to someone just for that. I do the same thing to everyone. People I walk by in warmups, people leaving awards, people i walk by who just left the floor. It's just something to do to treat everyone equal and to be polite.

I've made it such a promise to be polite that last competition at awards, I told my team to stand and cheer for 1st place in our division. We did it again last night, after being awarded last place. By the end of awards, everyone stood to cheer for Grand Champs of Level 3.

 

[BlueCat]

And then these same people who glorify normal human beings for being good at what they do, wonder why no one can take cheer seriously as a sport. Perhaps it is because they spend all their free time tweeting about some 14 year-old girl's abs when they should be in the gym practicing themselves. You only see this type of stuff in cheerleading. You never see it anywhere else.

Yes, thank goodness one ever asks athletes in "real sports" for their autograph or talks about them on social media.

 

[sharonljc]

A good majority of this probelm could be fixed if the parents/adults taught their kids/athletes about healthy and normal boundaries and respect! My children know that if I ever see them posting nonsense such as "you are my idol" or "I'm obsessed with you" or "OMG 'so and so' just tweeted/followed me" - their social media accounts will be no more! I have all passwords, am a "follower" and "friend" on all their accounts - if they unfriend me, block me or change their password without letting me know - their account is taken down - by me! They are the child that needs direction and teaching - I am the ADULT and it is MY responsiblity to teach them the proper respect and boundaries! And this also goes for my 22 year old in college - if she doesn't like it - she can start paying her cell phone bill, car payment, insurance, college tuition, etc.! Even at 22, they need guidance and direction! Their future is hinged on what they post on social media! I work in corporate America and qualified candidates are turned away ALL DAY because of an inappropriate post on social media! It's time for the adults in authority over these children to step up to the plate - period!

 

[King]

Yes, thank goodness one ever asks athletes in "real sports" for their autograph or talks about them on social media.

Although to his point I think he left out the age demographic. I think gymnastics is one of the other few sports where the teenage group has the stars and not the older people.

 

[King]

No, that's the kid expressing themselves.

I'm sorry, but I see a LOT of victim-blaming on here from a fair amount of people. As a person involved with another heavily victim-blaming culture, it's truly disheartening. It's SO easy to make the decision that everything someone does is 'asking for it', that they 'wanted the attention', 'they brought it upon themselves.' It's easy to look at this with a critical eye and say you would or wouldn't do something, but once you or your child is in that situation, having gone through the steps, who's to say you won't end up in the exact same spot? You're cheerleader of the month, Varsity says 'Hey you're pretty, come model for us!' People start noticing you at competitions, people start following you on twitter, people start hounding your facebook...it can EASILY escalate.

There are layers of problems:
1) We're dealing with teenagers who are growing up in VASTLY different circumstances than we have. So, adults, before you rant about walking to competitions five miles, in the snow, uphill, consider the lifestyle 'requirements' that are now en vogue . I know that YOU might not jump off a cliff if everyone was doing it, but consider teenage mentality and that some of what can be a problem is stuff they use OUTSIDE of cheer as well (instagram, facebook, twitter). Should we socially lock ourselves down because other people can't control themselves? No, but while certain things can curtail it, very little can cure it.
2) We have a national culture of celebrity. Kids currently rank being famous as more important than fitting in, which is a disturbing trend. I think fostering a healthy outlook of self-worth and self-acceptance both in the gym and out is a good way to keep such a mentality from turning into such obsession.
3) We need a united front of Coaches, Gym Owners, EPs, the PAC, etc to make certain unified decisions. EPs putting out notices about when/where it could be ok to approach an athlete. Coaches monitoring athletes and athlete-fan behavior. Imagine if coaches said that you could only approach an 'cheerlebrity' in warmups with a coach/gym owner present. Imagine how quick THAT behavior would change lol Having the PAC put out something for parents would help those parents who don't see anything wrong with this out-of-control behavior: they may not realize their child is the 24th that day to approach an athlete for an autograph. Gym owners going over 'standards of behavior at competitions,' which can include such behavior and what is acceptable.

I don't think of it as victim bashing. I guess I think society (so in our case cheerleading and the EPs, coaches, parents, and athletes) should desire to create an environment that does not promote any undesirable behavior.

However

You are responsible for your own personal situation, good luck or bad.

 

[cheermeup]

Yay, now into the psychology of it. A far more fascinating discussion. I think flyers, points of jumps, center of dance, and last passes are the most likely candidates because it gives people a focus point. Big Red was a cheerlebrity because she was tall, had red hair, and stood out. Being attractive AND good at what you do also makes a difference. The average attractiveness of most cheerlebrities is far above the average cheer athlete. Something is compelling about that person.

I don't think any cheerlebritiy is more worthy to fame than another, as much as some are in a better position to be a cheerlebrity than others. I do think it is a cycle that escalates quite quickly. If some one has a little celebrity and is picked up by a few I think it can escalate insanely fast, intentionally or not. And in cheer we are creating a culture that celebrates being famous. And that culture is one of the biggest problems.

I think some people just have something in their personality that makes them stand out. While I was watching the Majors, I noticed some athletes more than others. It's not tangible and hard to describe. I'll be watching a smaller gym and one of their flyers will catch my eye, she'll be in the air selling the show and doing her thing and she's the one I watch, because she draws me in. I think this is why flyers and point jumpers and last passes are more prone to this, In 2.5 minutes of high energy movement, there aren't a lot of static focal points.

I think the cheerlebrity thing gets disgusting. Walking through the hall in Indy, the CA athletes walked by. The girl walking behind me touched one of them (huge boundary issue BTW). The girl was telling her friend, OMG, I touched her, I felt her fierceness go through my body like life. I wanted to turn around and say seriously? Are you kidding me?

I witnessed the Cheetahs trying to leave Indy Saturday afternoon. They were coming up the escalator in tshirts, wheeling their suitcases, and this swarm of girls was all over them, you couldn't get up or down the stairs or escalator. The kids just looked straight ahead and kept walking, but I felt so sorry for them.

 

[King]

Responsible meaning it is your responsibility to handly your life and situation.

NOT

You are the cause of the situation (cause sometimes you are and sometimes you are not).

 

[fierceeflyeer]

One of my good friends is on a very high profiled team and some might even call her a "cheerlebrity". I can't tell you the number of times I have been with her at comps and "fans" literally bombard her with pictures, autographs, asking for her bow etc. She is a very down to earth person and is so kind hearted that I feel so bad for her because I know she's too nice to say anything when I know it's bothering her. What bothers me the most is when I see her and her team literally get tackled when they come off the floor at competitions by fans...something needs to be done. Someone is going to get hurt...this whole thing has completely gotten out of hand. People literally add me on facebook, message me on twitter, instagram etc. and ask if I can help them meet my friend...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! This whole obsession with "cheerlebrities" has completely gotten out of hand and although some bring it upon themselves, I do feel really bad for these kids. After all, they are just kids.

 

[ssccxnce]

Last year at Battle at the Beach we went down to watch Senior Elite. I was in shock at what happened after they left the stage. They were bombarded, bum rushed and drooled after. These fans were screaming & crying. As they are trying to watch the video of their performance people are pushing their way towards them, getting within inches of them. I would love to say this was a bunch of kids, but in most cases it was the parents pushing their kids to get closer. We were trying to get out and got caught up going against the crowd. My little CP was getting pushed all over the place as I tried to lead her away from the madness. I was ready to go to blows with some of these crazy parents! At that moment I thought, I NEVER want that for my child. It seriously beat all I'd ever seen.

serious question though what exactly was this supposed to say/mean....

 

[cheermeup]

A good majority of this probelm could be fixed if the parents/adults taught their kids/athletes about healthy and normal boundaries and respect! My children know that if I ever see them posting nonsense such as "you are my idol" or "I'm obsessed with you" or "OMG 'so and so' just tweeted/followed me" - their social media accounts will be no more! I have all passwords, am a "follower" and "friend" on all their accounts - if they unfriend me, block me or change their password without letting me know - their account is taken down - by me! They are the child that needs direction and teaching - I am the ADULT and it is MY responsiblity to teach them the proper respect and boundaries! And this also goes for my 22 year old in college - if she doesn't like it - she can start paying her cell phone bill, car payment, insurance, college tuition, etc.! Even at 22, they need guidance and direction! Their future is hinged on what they post on social media! I work in corporate America and qualified candidates are turned away ALL DAY because of an inappropriate post on social media! It's time for the adults in authority over these children to step up to the plate - period!

This applies to so much in life. You are doing your job as a parent, I do my job as a parent, but there are many parents who have no idea of the shenanigans of their children.

 

[David]

Yes, thank goodness one ever asks athletes in "real sports" for their autograph or talks about them on social media.

You missed the entire point.

 

[ufomom]

Definition of BUM-RUSH

: to attack or seize with an overpowering rush <bum–rushthe stage>