All-Star Dream Deferred???

[Pebbles49]

Since we are talking about so many athletes, who worked hard and dreamed of the elusive dream of making a prize team... What about the athletes, who burnout before making that elusive dream team... For example, in the documentary about the Twinkles, so many talk about these fierce Y5 athletes will be the future 'Shooting Stars'-- These Twinkles' have gone so long hearing - "When I grow up, I will be a Shooting Star" -- What about the countless number of Twinkles that this statement does not hold true and did not make it?... What happened to their dreams? Have their dream been deferred? Is there a exit strategy for L5 athletes' who reached the glass ceiling, so young? Just wondering, since we always hear about the success stories, but not the stories of the ones who came up short...What's next?

 

[Official OWECheer]

WCSS is not the only level 5 team at World Cup, perhaps the kids are better off on Suns or Odyssey? Or maybe they drop down a level. The pressure of Youth 5 is not the same as that of Senior 5.

Edit: There's also Omni, and Cosmic Rays, and Lazers.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I find that for kids to think that way, on some level, the expectation of Shooting Stardom has been pushed heavily by the parents as well.

It is important to have open expectations for your kids and not tunnel vision on any one particular team.

Those kids with open and realistic expectations handle not being selected for their dream teams much better than those who are locked in on one thing.

A kid who has internalized "You're going to be a WCSS!" is going to view anything NOT Stars as "failure." She's going to be very "Can't believe I made Odyssey! I QUIT."

In contrast, a kid who has been told that WCSS is not for everyone and that she should keep an open mind is going to be happy on Suns, Cosmic Rays, etc.

So all of that to say that presenting WCSS as the only possible team destination for Twinkles may be at the heart of the issue.

Sometimes we have to change our dreams.

 

[stuntjumptumble]

WCSS is not the only level 5 team at World Cup, perhaps the kids are better off on Suns or Odyssey? Or maybe they drop down a level. The pressure of Youth 5 is not the same as that of Senior 5.

Edit: There's also Omni, and Cosmic Rays, and Lazers.

Haha yess this response is awesome. There's a number of scenarios Ive seen:
The kid does the twinkles/lites/stars route.
The kid prefers to not be on stars but still continues with a worlds team.
The kid doesn't move past a restricted 5 level.
The kid will go from y5 to j4 (this is extremely common) and stay on level 4.
The kid may lose skills and continue to cheer at a lower level.
The kid burns out and quits at the youth age or sometime before a senior team.
It really does depend on the specific athlete and their skill set, love for the sport, etc


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[Official OWECheer]

Haha yess this response is awesome. There's a number of scenarios Ive seen:
The kid does the twinkles/lites/stars route.
The kid prefers to not be on stars but still continues with a worlds team.
The kid doesn't move past a restricted 5 level.
The kid will go from y5 to j4 (this is extremely common) and stay on level 4.
The kid may lose skills and continue to cheer at a lower level.
The kid burns out and quits at the youth age or sometime before a senior team.
It really does depend on the specific athlete and their skill set, love for the sport, etc


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I feel like coaching youth 5 is a precarious thing; you want the kids to take it seriously, but not too seriously.

 

[cheerKT]

I thought this was going to be a discussion on the on the Langston Hughes poem.

 

[notimeforthat]

Since we are talking about so many athletes, who worked hard and dreamed of the elusive dream of making a prize team... What about the athletes, who burnout before making that elusive dream team... For example, in the documentary about the Twinkles, so many talk about these fierce Y5 athletes will be the future 'Shooting Stars'-- These Twinkles' have gone so long hearing - "When I grow up, I will be a Shooting Star" -- What about the countless number of Twinkles that this statement does not hold true and did not make it?... What happened to their dreams? Have their dream been deferred? Is there a exit strategy for L5 athletes' who reached the glass ceiling, so young? Just wondering, since we always hear about the success stories, but not the stories of the ones who came up short...What's next?

I would say there are 10 or less former twinkles on the wcss this season...
All the other former twinkles I know of personally are happy where they are and still have time to be asked to stars. Teams are puzzle pieces... sometimes you may be a perfect fit for a team but they cant fit you in the spots that are open... You may have to wait a year or two before they need you. All of the level 5 teams at WC are amazing and being on any of them is an accomplishment. Stars, Suns, Omni and Ody all top 10 at worlds last year... nothing to be anything but super proud.

 

[NJ Coach]

I can't help but think of the Twinkles VO "When I grow up, I wanna be a Shooting Star". I never liked that VO. I felt it was setting kids up for disappointment.

 

[quitthedrama]

I can't help but think of the Twinkles VO "When I grow up, I wanna be a Shooting Star". I never liked that VO. I felt it was setting kids up for disappointment.

I'm not a part of the gym so I don't know the culture, but I thought that VO was adorable. My kids still say it often. Stars was the original level 5 team. I am not even sure Suns existed when that voice over was made, so I don't see that it set the kids up for disappointment at the time. And it made more sense for a "twinkle" to grow up to be a star than an Odyssey.
Any gym that has more than one Worlds team has a premier team - in fact each gym whether they have a level 5 team or not has a "premier" team. You can't avoid it - high schools have Varsity and JV teams. I don't think it is wrong to encourage the athletes to strive to make the premier team, but I think there needs to be a culture where it isn't a failure not to make it either.

 

[12stepCheermom]

I thought this was going to be a discussion on the on the Langston Hughes poem.

Funny you mention literature. I watched a movie long ago (finding forrester with Sean Connery... FABULOUS film...must see teacher movie if you're in education) but it changed my life in terms of how I view questions. He basically says the purpose in asking a question is to determine information that is useful "to you." It was dubbed a "soup question" because the kid in the film asked him about why connery's soup thickened up when his moms didn't. Then asked him later "man don't you ever go outside?" (Connery was a hermit type guy in this). Hence when Connery jumped him for basically asking a question that's only intent was to be nosy because whether or not he went outside was completely irrelevant to the kid...unlike the soup question.

Since then, it's my measuring stick. Is the information from this question's answer actually relevant to me. If the answer is no....I don't ask it.

Interestingly enough (because I live my life through movie lines) when I read this thread which is much like the last one I had a line go through my head...

"Not exactly a soup question, is it?"

Kids dreams change. Perspective changes. I'm not sure why it's such a big deal if youth age kids decide to go play tennis, or soccer, or whatever else. If it doesn't have to do with your own child, it doesn't seem like it's relevant to know why other kids made those choices.

 

[NJ Coach]

I'm not a part of the gym so I don't know the culture, but I thought that VO was adorable. My kids still say it often. Stars was the original level 5 team. I am not even sure Suns existed when that voice over was made, so I don't see that it set the kids up for disappointment at the time. And it made more sense for a "twinkle" to grow up to be a star than an Odyssey.
Any gym that has more than one Worlds team has a premier team - in fact each gym whether they have a level 5 team or not has a "premier" team. You can't avoid it - high schools have Varsity and JV teams. I don't think it is wrong to encourage the athletes to strive to make the premier team, but I think there needs to be a culture where it isn't a failure not to make it either.

Agreed. I don't know that every former Twinkle (or even current) will see it as a failure to not make Stars. But, for the ones who do (or will) see it as a failure, those are the ones I hated it for...if that makes sense.

 

[Official OWECheer]

I thought this was going to be a discussion on the on the Langston Hughes poem.

I knew the title sounded familiar...

 

[Cheer Dad]

Just an observation about burnout and kids and maybe njallday or qtcupie can confirm. The kids who tend to burnout and look for other sports/activities usually have obsessed, over bearing parents that are always thinking of the next level and pushing the kids to reach the parents dream, sap the fun out of it. I have seen kids bounce to different sports hoping the parents would stay out


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[SmileCat]

Doesn't World Cup have a rule about first year worlds eligible athletes being on Stars? Don't they usually do Suns, Ody or Omni when they're 12 then move to Stars the following year?

 

[gofriars610]

Just out of curiosity, who is on WCSS that was in the Twinkles documentary?