High School High School Tryouts

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

AMEN; "mental blocks" are nonexistent in my world because I don't cater to the idea that being mentally weak is "ok" as long as "you know you could do it before." You either got it or you don't.

I told a kid one day that I was going to tell my next code blue patient that "I'm sorry, but I have a mental block starting IV's today."

They're very real in my eyes.

However, I just cannot hold a spot for you based on one, especially when I do not know exactly when or if you will tumble at any point in the season.

 

[Official OWECheer]

AMEN; "mental blocks" are nonexistent in my world because I don't cater to the idea that being mentally weak is "ok" as long as "you know you could do it before." You either got it or you don't.

I told a kid one day that I was going to tell my next code blue patient that "I'm sorry, but I have a mental block starting IV's today."

LOL. Plus you can't ask a judge to count the tuck that isn't going to be thrown.

 

[Elle B]

I've developed an opinion based on what I've seen of the cheer teams at my daughters future HS. They have what seem to me to be HUGE squads: Varsity is 22 girls and JV is 20 (no frosh team). My HS had the same number of students but we had 6-8 freshman, 8-12 JV and 12-14 varsity, depending on the year. QUESTION: Is this all due to stunting? Are squads taking more and more girls just to make up stunt groups? Girls who otherwise wouldn't make the team because their only skill is being a back spot? That's what is seems like to me based on what I've seen of them. I was wondering if any of you have seen this as well? I know there are tons of squads out there where everyone is pretty good at everything, but have you ever seen a HS team that should have just drawn a line and had fewer stunt groups? Isn't exclusivity better for the future of a program?

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I've developed an opinion based on what I've seen of the cheer teams at my daughters future HS. They have what seem to me to be HUGE squads: Varsity is 22 girls and JV is 20 (no frosh team). My HS had the same number of students but we had 6-8 freshman, 8-12 JV and 12-14 varsity, depending on the year. QUESTION: Is this all due to stunting? Are squads taking more and more girls just to make up stunt groups? Girls who otherwise wouldn't make the team because their only skill is being a back spot? That's what is seems like to me based on what I've seen of them. I was wondering if any of you have seen this as well? I know there are tons of squads out there where everyone is pretty good at everything, but have you ever seen a HS team that should have just drawn a line and had fewer stunt groups? Isn't exclusivity better for the future of a program?

Not so much.

Deeper talent pool = larger squads.

I took 27 and there were 50 at my tryout.

Most certainly didn't just take kids just to have a larger team!

It wouldn't make sense for me to take, say, 12 kids knowing that I have so many more kids who are so talented.

 

[TheDivineCheerYaYaSecret]

AMEN; "mental blocks" are nonexistent in my world because I don't cater to the idea that being mentally weak is "ok" as long as "you know you could do it before." You either got it or you don't.

I told a kid one day that I was going to tell my next code blue patient that "I'm sorry, but I have a mental block starting IV's today."

I can agree that if they have a block that they don't get the credit for a skill they won't throw but mental blocks are very, very real.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

I can agree that if they have a block that they don't get the credit for a skill they won't throw but mental blocks are very, very real.

Mental blocks are garbage.

I've coached in the role of assistant, choreographer, volunteer, and now head coach off and on for the past 17 years and I've NEVER, not one time, EVER, had a kid develop a mental block. If you coach a program with kids who have mental blocks, or are the parent of a child with a mental block, one of two things is guaranteed to be true: They've either been trained to be mentally weak, or they have come up through their skills without proper progressions and have been rushed to improve faster than they should have been.

Train your kids to be mentally tough ATHLETES, instead of cheer divas, and use proper progressions as they develop their skills, and mental blocks will be nonexistent in your world too.

 

[gymcatmomx2]

Mental blocks are garbage.

I've coached in the role of assistant, choreographer, volunteer, and now head coach off and on for the past 17 years and I've NEVER, not one time, EVER, had a kid develop a mental block. If you coach a program with kids who have mental blocks, or are the parent of a child with a mental block, one of two things is guaranteed to be true: They've either been trained to be mentally weak, or they have come up through their skills without proper progressions and have been rushed to improve faster than they should have been.

Train your kids to be mentally tough ATHLETES, instead of cheer divas, and use proper progressions as they develop their skills, and mental blocks will be nonexistent in your world too.

I've known at least 5 cheerleaders with mental blocks from our gym...which has been around for over 15 years. None of them have completely recovered from them and they were all level 4 and/or 5 cheerleaders. I know a gymnast who was on my youngest CP's gymnastics team who has a mental block on backward tumbling that started when she was 8. She's been to sports psychologists, had hypnotherapy, changed gyms, paid for privates, etc. She is now 15 and is a level 9 gymnast and only does front tumbling. It's a very real thing.

 

[gymcatmomx2]

I've developed an opinion based on what I've seen of the cheer teams at my daughters future HS. They have what seem to me to be HUGE squads: Varsity is 22 girls and JV is 20 (no frosh team). My HS had the same number of students but we had 6-8 freshman, 8-12 JV and 12-14 varsity, depending on the year. QUESTION: Is this all due to stunting? Are squads taking more and more girls just to make up stunt groups? Girls who otherwise wouldn't make the team because their only skill is being a back spot? That's what is seems like to me based on what I've seen of them. I was wondering if any of you have seen this as well? I know there are tons of squads out there where everyone is pretty good at everything, but have you ever seen a HS team that should have just drawn a line and had fewer stunt groups? Isn't exclusivity better for the future of a program?

Our high school doesn't even have stunting as part of the tryouts. They have to learn 3 - 5 chants, a cheer, a dance, perform tumbling (if they have it) and they have to do 3 jumps, one of them has to be a toe touch. Once the teams are decided, then they form the stunt groups. There is no set number of cheerleaders per squad (Freshman, JV and Varsity); they take the natural break. If that natural break has 12 or 22 cheerleaders, that's the number that make the squad.

 

[luv2cheer92]

As someone with a sports psychology degree, mental blocks are very much a real thing and can appear, in different forms, in many different sports. Yes, there are a multitude of causes of them, many of which can be prevented, you can't deny that they exist.

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[TheDivineCheerYaYaSecret]

Mental blocks are garbage.

I've coached in the role of assistant, choreographer, volunteer, and now head coach off and on for the past 17 years and I've NEVER, not one time, EVER, had a kid develop a mental block. If you coach a program with kids who have mental blocks, or are the parent of a child with a mental block, one of two things is guaranteed to be true: They've either been trained to be mentally weak, or they have come up through their skills without proper progressions and have been rushed to improve faster than they should have been.

Train your kids to be mentally tough ATHLETES, instead of cheer divas, and use proper progressions as they develop their skills, and mental blocks will be nonexistent in your world too.

Seriously? Wow you must be the be all and end all coaching. Kudos to you!

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

Seriously? Wow you must be the be all and end all coaching. Kudos to you!

Thanks!!

 

[crazzyeyesassypants]

What's all this douchery about mental blocks being garbage?!

Hard to take the post seriously when the poster is calling athletes "cheer divas" [emoji849]


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[dawgshow]

I'll be sure to let my daughter's psychologist know that her professional opinion is garbage.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

What's all this douchery about mental blocks being garbage?!

Hard to take the post seriously when the poster is calling athletes "cheer divas" [emoji849]


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I said treat them like athletes, not "cheer divas." As in, I think that phrase is just as ridiculous as this idea that these kids need a psychologist to do a back handspring.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

Here's another one that should ruffle some feathers. Every kid I've seen with a "mental block" in the local all star gym, has been the direct result of overbearing parents putting pressure on their kid to "just do it."

"The Matheny Manifesto" should be required reading for every parent before their child is crowning.