All-Star High School Coach Has Problems With Allstar

[Deleted member 11300]

I need advice. Our HS got a new coach this year. She first appeared at our tryouts. The girls tried out under old rules. She is changing everything. Anyway, we have several allstar girls. She has informed the girls if they miss 3 practices, games or combo, they will be off team. We cheer both football and basketball so it is likely that there are going to be some girls dismissed. This has never been an issue in the past with coaches. Has anyone experienced this and if so, how was it handled? Thanks

 

[Callmeboots]

We had a problem like that this year, where both practices were scheduled at exactly the same times...unfortunately, we had to have her make a decision. The girl had to choose which was more important to her, but we didn't make her feel bad about the decision she chose. It happens with a lot of sports, and it just ultimately comes down to what the girl wants more. But you could try talking to both coaches to see if maybe they could make an adjustment somewhere? Especially if there are several girls involved.

 

[Funfunfun]

The policy at our school is that you can not cheer both allstar & high school. It is a shame. My CP won't give up allstar so o high school cheer for us.

 

[CoachMandiCF]

I coach all star and HS and it is hard. Sure we make accomodations if HS kids have games but if it is excessive we tell them to choose. On the other hand, Virginia's HS comp season is so short that I have a one absence policy. Good thing is most HS coaches around me coach al star so we all understand the HS time constraints.

 

[INeverStopCheering]

I would have parents send the coach an email about this. If this policy was not stated when you tried out then it's not fair of her to simply declare. When I handle school stuff (musicals, cheer, showchoir) I know I can't be held accountable for anything I didn't sign off on, and on the other hand I don't hold others responsible for rules they didn't sign off on. I go by the "I do whatever I get first" policy. This year my show choir teacher has dragged along about getting her schedule so she's lost priority to cheering

 

[CheerBank]

The policy at our school is that you can not cheer both allstar & high school. It is a shame. My CP won't give up allstar so o high school cheer for us.

It's almost easier sometimes when the choice is made for you (one or the other, not both). Your cp is able to choose which one she really wants to do and is not being pulled in all directions.

 

[WORKxB4xUxREIGN]

We experience similar issues in our area! Fortunately we have tried to keep a good working relationship between the area schools and our program. The kids are not pushed to decide one or the other but are encouraged to try both and see what works best for each individual. Every now and then we come across a HS coach who feels threatened by AS cheer for various reasons. Sometimes its greedy coach syndrome and some times they don't like the fact that some of the kids may be more educated on the sport then themselves !!

 

[BuegeSmalls]

At my high school you were allowed to do both, but when it came to competitions high school came first.

 

[cheerKT]

I coached HS previously and we had a few girls who did AS as well. Our policy was during HS season, HS practices take priority since it's a shorter season (we end in late November) and allstar is barely kicking up by that time. NO missing weeks of competitions, which is basically every weekend for HS once you hit September. If you had an issue over the summer with something like choreography where you needed to be with AS, we normally didn't have an issue with that. We were lucky and had a great relationship with the local allstar programs and trained at one of the facilities. Plus the other coach and I were both allstars in the past so we were pretty understanding.

 

[GreatWhite92]

Do none of your high schools compete? My coach wouldn't dare give up the allstar girls because we were the only good tumblers. She knew I would pick all star over high school any day so she was very lenient on missing practices and letting me switch games with people.

 

[NCCheerMama]

We experience similar issues in our area! Fortunately we have tried to keep a good working relationship between the area schools and our program. The kids are not pushed to decide one or the other but are encouraged to try both and see what works best for each individual. Every now and then we come across a HS coach who feels threatened by AS cheer for various reasons. Sometimes its greedy coach syndrome and some times they don't like the fact that some of the kids may be more educated on the sport then themselves !!

I so agree! Of the HS in our county, the ones that have been coaching for several years are a little more tolerant of AS, those that have been in the game one or two years-not so much. But because so many kids around here do AS, if they say no AS on HS, then they are losing out on a large amount of talent! As team parent for both HS and AS I just keep lines of communication open between the two and make sure everyone has schedules as far in advance as possible. Since our HS teams just go to comps in the county we don't have issues on that front. It becomes more a problem during basketball season when games could be any day of week, and that time of year is when we travel to Nationals a lot more so, we just have to be flexible. One way we helped this problem is the Senior Teams practice on Sunday and Monday. Most cheer squads in HS around here don't practice on Mondays so that helps.

 

[MissBee]

My problem isn't with the practice times conflicting with our practice/game times. It's when both teams have a competition the same weekend, in different places.

 

[12stepCheermom]

Our AS gym sets junior and senior practices to avoid Thursday (jv) and Friday (varsity) and they usually don't practice until 7pm. I think that works well for most because we have a lot that do both. The HS where I work won't allow any AS cheerleaders on the team. You have to choose HS cheer only when you try out. I think we're the only one with a coach with that policy but it's been like that for years. They ended up competing at one of UCAs game day divisions when our Lv 5 was there and we went down to support them and they came to support us.

 

[ladyknight]

If you didn't sign off on the agreement - there is not way you are held responsible for it. Get your parents to talk to the coach.

for example, my friend was doing outside theatre that tried getting him to do extra shows (one which ran during a once-per-semester required school acting performance) and because it wasn't in his contract, he didn't do them.

I hope you can get it all sorted out!

 

[TheUltimateFan]

We had a HS coach announce a no-Allstar policy halfway through the football season and it back-fired. Half of her squad quit, which included most of the talent.

Nobody won in that situation. I agree, get the parents together and sit down with the coach and try to work out a mutually agreeable compromise.