High School High School Tryouts

[Official OWECheer]

Yep, but sometimes I defer to my assistant who started the program and has been with it for 35 years. Not often, as you might have guessed, but sometimes...

Wow. Long time. The stability helps A LOT. Nothing holds a program back like getting a new coach every 1-2 years.

I almost though you might be coaching at Greenup but they're a little older LOL.

About another comment in the thread: I think that we (in cheer) often forget that there are crazy parents in every sport that will challenge the coach's every decision, especially with regard to tryouts and team placements. Maybe I'm imagining it, but other sports' coaches don't seem to be as afraid of parent arguments.

 

[amy1k]

Wow. Long time. The stability helps A LOT. Nothing holds a program back like getting a new coach every 1-2 years.

I almost though you might be coaching at Greenup but they're a little older LOL.

About another comment in the thread: I think that we (in cheer) often forget that there are crazy parents in every sport that will challenge the coach's every decision, especially with regard to tryouts and team placements. Maybe I'm imagining it, but other sports' coaches don't seem to be as afraid of parent arguments.

EXACTLY what I'm saying. My kid could get cut from baseball this week. He's a senior. He'd be MUCH more bothered by my having a parent/coach conference than by being cut. He knows that being cut means he needs to WORK HARDER. Because it's senior year (and, believe me, seniors get cut all the time!), he's working much harder already.

 

[Official OWECheer]

EXACTLY what I'm saying. My kid could get cut from baseball this week. He's a senior. He'd be MUCH more bothered by my having a parent/coach conference than by being cut. He knows that being cut means he needs to WORK HARDER. Because it's senior year (and, believe me, seniors get cut all the time!), he's working much harder already.

Not only that, but the only people that seem to really benefit from all of this crap (using outside judges without being involved themselves, requiring teacher recs, interviews, attendance records, etc.) are the shady, political cheer coaches that want to be able to say, "see? I put your kid through this long, rigorous selection process and she didn't make it. If you're mad, don't talk to me; ask her teachers/the office secretary/former coaches/tryout judges. I bear no responsibility!" Even though Shady Coach knows good and doggone well that he/she had everything fixed a certain way to benefit certain kids, regardless of their skill level and coachability.

 

[amy1k]

Yes. So there's basically no point. There are good coaches and there are shady coaches. Just like real life. And there are coaches who are basically decent and still make decisions based on what they know before tryouts even happen. I'll say that my daughter knew that she was going to make varsity well before she submitted her tryout packet. Not because the coach was shady, but because she talked to other cheerleaders...she had a good idea of who was trying out...and she knew my daughter's skill level. (To be clear, my daughter is no superstar or anything. [emoji23] She just had above average stunting/tumbling for our school. Her game day skills proved somewhat lacking in practice [emoji6]. Also, the coach at the time of tryouts moved away and a new coach was hired by the time the school year started)

 

[AScheer]

Wow. Long time. The stability helps A LOT. Nothing holds a program back like getting a new coach every 1-2 years.

I almost though you might be coaching at Greenup but they're a little older LOL.

About another comment in the thread: I think that we (in cheer) often forget that there are crazy parents in every sport that will challenge the coach's every decision, especially with regard to tryouts and team placements. Maybe I'm imagining it, but other sports' coaches don't seem to be as afraid of parent arguments.

I'm not exactly sure why this is. From my own experience it was due to lack of respect and support by administration. My first year I took over a parent ran program (you couldn't pay me enough to relive that season!) That year I developed anxiety every time a cheer parent called or emailed bc it was always some huge issue. My stomach would churn and it took years to get over! We had lots of issues, but late in that season there was a major one where the administrators weren't backing me. I was being ganged up on by a group of parents and the admins seemed to see this as acceptable. When I got to the point of walking out and being done with it, they decided to back me and have been supportive of my program ever since. Having their backing for those crazy parents makes the world of difference. I don't see other "real" sports having the issue where the parents are always right and the coaches have to give in. I put real in quotations because I think the main issue for a lot of this is that so many people still don't see cheer as a real sport. Too many still think it's an activity.

Just a few decades ago cheerleaders were chosen as a popularity contest by the student body vote. My mom has told me stories about how the school had an assembly and every girl tried out individually in front of the student body. We've come a long way, but the current tryout process that many schools still use just show that in some ways we still have a long way to go!

 

[RileyElizabeth99]

They should. They're putting themselves and their athletes through unnecessary stress, and clearly the teacher recs aren't effective in preventing troublemakers and attitudinal people from getting into the program.

I absolutely hate the whole process. It was less strenuous to get into the School's Co-op program and Student Ambassador program which is a pretty prestigious group at my school. I think I would mind it less if it meant something. Lets just say that our social media contract isnt always upheld among other things (;

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I also think cheer has been treated differently (in terms of parent and administrative involvement) in the past due to being (primarily) a GIRL'S ACTIVITY under the supervision of primarily MALE athletic directors.

There is a level of entitlement there in terms of meddling and entertaining parental concerns that just isn't there when you talk about say, football.

Male activity and male coaches. A male athletic director wouldn't dare insist that a football coach entertain the complaint of a cut kid's parent.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

See also, the revenue generated by a program dictates how well the coach is respected.

Football and basketball are big money.

Cheer is not.

For the record, our current AD is amazing and supportive, but others have not been!

 

[Official OWECheer]

I'm not exactly sure why this is. From my own experience it was due to lack of respect and support by administration. My first year I took over a parent ran program (you couldn't pay me enough to relive that season!) That year I developed anxiety every time a cheer parent called or emailed bc it was always some huge issue. My stomach would churn and it took years to get over! We had lots of issues, but late in that season there was a major one where the administrators weren't backing me. I was being ganged up on by a group of parents and the admins seemed to see this as acceptable. When I got to the point of walking out and being done with it, they decided to back me and have been supportive of my program ever since. Having their backing for those crazy parents makes the world of difference. I don't see other "real" sports having the issue where the parents are always right and the coaches have to give in. I put real in quotations because I think the main issue for a lot of this is that so many people still don't see cheer as a real sport. Too many still think it's an activity.

Just a few decades ago cheerleaders were chosen as a popularity contest by the student body vote. My mom has told me stories about how the school had an assembly and every girl tried out individually in front of the student body. We've come a long way, but the current tryout process that many schools still use just show that in some ways we still have a long way to go!

This is so true and sad.

 

[cheer coach k]

I understand that cheerleading culture can be different than other sports....but if a kid gets cut from basketball, it's basically too bad, so sad. I guess I have a hard time wrapping my brain around why cheerleading is treated so differently. Kids really do get cut from other sports for reasons like coaches not liking them. I can't even imagine approaching a coach, as a parent, looking for an explanation. Especially by high school kids need to learn how to deal with not being chosen. Maybe it's all the trophies and medals cheerleading hands out?

Edited to say I have four kids aged 15 to 23. They've made teams, they've been cut from teams, they've started regularly, and they've spent seasons warming the bench. I know the disappointment when a kid doesn't get the experience they're hoping for...but that's life.

I couldn't agree with you more! My tryout process is a direct result of things I have had to deal with in the past regarding kids who were cut from the team.

It really doesn't make any sense at all!

 

[gymcatmomx2]

I've never seen that. Did Becky get kicked off the team the previous year or something.


I agree, it should be like other sports where the coaches decide. People against that, what is your reasoning when other sports do this? Would you tell the basketball coach to have outside people decide?

Unfortunately, I have witnessed this personally with my oldest CP. Her sophomore year there was a girl that had been on the Freshman squad the year before and didn't make the JV squad (the only squad sophomores can make). She compared her scores with one of the cheerleaders who was a junior that hadn't made the Varsity squad but made the JV squad (the junior was on the JV squad the year before). Needless to say, the scores of the sophomore who didn't make it were higher than the scores of the junior who did. Since that "discrepancy", the coaches can be present during the tryouts, which are judged by an outside organization with no input from the coaches, but they have no involvement with tabulating of scores nor are they able to see the roster before it's official. Of notable fact, the head coach did not like the girl who originally didn't make the squad, but she loved the girl who "did". What makes it worse, the junior who hadn't actually made a high enough score to be on the JV squad, was able to remain and was given the position of Captain over my CP who made co-captain and who had been captain of the Freshman squad the year before. That girl had never been captain before.

There is entirely too much politics in high school cheer to allow the cheer coach to decide who should/should not be on the squad. The following year, when my CP was one of 5 juniors to make Varsity (with 15 seniors), there were approximately 10 girls who had been on a squad the previous year, that didn't make any squad. Their parents got together and hired an attorney to file a grievance stating that the "natural break" wasn't big enough. The natural break was 1.7, which was a bigger natural break than in previous years. Unfortunately, these girls were put on the Varsity squad due to a technicality, so there were 30 cheerleaders on Varsity (the most there has ever been previously was 22). The technicality was that the coach accidentally distributed a sheet of paper that had the scoring rubric and how the scores were calculated. Unfortunately, it was incorrect so when they used both calculations the next natural break made the squad grow to 30. High school cheer is an ugly business, especially here in Texas. And this is coming from a mom whose oldest cheered all 4 years and was Varsity captain and the youngest will be trying out for Varsity this year and was JV captain last year. It's not for the feint of heart.

 

[cheer25mom]

As a coach, I can see the appeal of choosing your own team, but as a parent I can see the appeal of outside judges. CP was on the elementary school dance team. It was judged by the sponsor and her teen daughters who teach the dances. Close to 60 girls tried out for 16 spots. They ended up taking 20. They all had parents who were teachers at the school, PTA volunteers, or were somehow connected with the school/ sponsor or the studio her daughters danced with. I work for the school system. I felt badly about how it was handled, and some girls who really should have made the team didn't. Outside judges would have changed the outcome.


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[Doctorcheer]

Which leads me to the question, why don't we take the politics out of it and just let the coach decide? Does football or basketball ever have judges? nope. Do the coaches favor some individuals, sure. Do people get all up in arms, no cause that's the coaches job.

 

[Doctorcheer]

And if a coach is that petty then that person should be fired. I would only not let a girl make it if it's due to a major issue (I.e. caught with drugs multiple times)

 

[gymcatmomx2]

I think a lot of the decision on who should judge tryouts depends on how competitive the cheer squad is. If the squad competes at Nationals and has a winning reputation to uphold, then that behooves the coach to select the highest skilled girls for the squad, regardless of her personal feelings. Same goes for football, basketball, soccer, etc. I am sure there are tons of football players that are highly skilled that the head football coach doesn't necessarily like personally, but they are a 4-star receiver so it doesn't matter. If the cheer squad does only sideline cheer, then then that is where having outside judges may come in handy. That takes away the cheer coaches bias which could be as petty as not liking the girl's aunt who stole her boyfriend in high school so she's going to punish her niece.