All-Star Is It A Failure To Not Progress?

[Mamarazzi]

@Mamarazzi , I understand cheerleading is expensive and time consuming but how is it any different then a parent paying for their child to be on a traveling baseball team even though the child may be benched. I agree with you but I think we all need to realize that those thousands of dollars spent arent only for skills. Unless a parent is planning on cheerleading to give their child a scholarship to college, then what good will that full do for them when they are adults. On the contrary, the friends they made, and the ability to work with a team will carry on to later stages of their lives. Long story short, if the child loves what they are doing, regardless whether they are on a level 1 team or level 5 team for 8 years, its worth it.

I think we're agreeing in the ways that count. I would love for my cp to get a cheer scholarship, but, in all reality, she probably won't. So the life skills that are learned in cheer are the most important, they just don't happen to be the only reason to do all star. If my family was faced with the same issue in any other travel sport, I would have to re-think whether or not my child could learn the same life lessons, or enjoy it as much, on a rec/youth league, without the added cost and time of a travel league. I'm not saying I would make my child quit the sport if there was no progression, whatsoever. What I am saying is that the sport doesn't have to be played to the extent of all star or a travel league.

 

[NJ Coach]

This isn't a beat up on CEA thing. What they are doing is hugely successful for them. As you can see though, reading any suggestion that a child that can't progress to level 5 is somehow failing is a bit of a hot spot for me!

I agree. I'm not an "all or nothing" coach. There are plenty of kids that will never have level 5 skills...and that's ok.

 

[BubbleToes]

I think we need to define what progress and success actually mean in a sport and what you are looking to get out of that sport. Looking at myself, as a gymnast many years ago, had I not advanced, it would've meant I failed. I would not have been happy staying at the same level year after year. I do think most athletes think like this, but I was around many like myself....I wanted the Olympics, not just to be a gymnast, so I had this need inside to keep pushing, progressing, and succeeding.

If you're doing cheer as an activity, for social reasons, maybe to stay in shape, or just because you love it no matter where you are level wise, then progress and success is measured differently.

 

[newcheerdad]

We can't all be level 5. We don't all have the same potential. As long as you can meet your own personal potential then you succeed. There are kids who walk into Rays that might cheer for 10 years and never progress past level 2. Are they failures? I can't think they are. If level 2 is their maximum potential then be the best damn level 2 we can be.

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This. A million times, this.

I've coached plenty of kids in soccer who had all the drive and passion in the world, who did everything you asked and worked their butts off - and never made the elite travel team, or made the high school varsity soccer team. There are some kids out there that will simply max out a certain level, no matter how hard they try or how bad they want it.

Now what I will say is that your program as a whole should progress as the years go by. If you attract quality kids who work hard, coach them up, and keep them in the program, eventually you'll have great teams at the higher levels. We're seeing that in our gym as our highest-level teams are now competing and winning in level 4 and open 5 when in years past we might not have had a team above level 3.

 

[newcheerdad]

If you're doing cheer as an activity, for social reasons, maybe to stay in shape, or just because you love it no matter where you are level wise, then progress and success is measured differently.

There is this, too. Perhaps CEA has a different mindset, but I would never look at anyone who only wanted to play rec soccer - even if they had the potential to play elite - and think, "wow, what a waste." If they're showing up to every practice and competition with a great attitude and always do their part, then that should be more important than whether they've got their layout or not.

I sometimes fall into this trap myself. My daughter has lots of potential (at least that's what the coaches say) but I don't want her to think she's a failure if she doesn't get her tuck by the time competitions start. If she's doing everything the coaches ask her to do and has a smile on her face while doing it, that should be enough.

 

[BubbleToes]

I sometimes fall into this trap myself. My daughter has lots of potential (at least that's what the coaches say) but I don't want her to think she's a failure if she doesn't get her tuck by the time competitions start. If she's doing everything the coaches ask her to do and has a smile on her face while doing it, that should be enough.

Not to pick on your daughter, I'm sure shes just great!!!....But this statement I can work with!!! I do think that is enough and its certainly not failure..............but, is that considered progress or success????

 

[CharlotteASMom]

I thought I should add...

All kids want to progress each year and want to eventually compete on an elite team. My CP has wanted to "Be TEAL" since she was 3. There were several tryouts that ended in tears and it hasn't always been easy, BUT each year she has felt challenged and valued. She became known as a cheerleader that the coaches knew they could always count on...even at level 2. That was a real life lesson for her to know how valued she was even when she didn't meet her personal expectations.

 

[newcheerdad]

Not to pick on your daughter, I'm sure shes just great!!!....But this statement I can work with!!! I do think that is enough and its certainly not failure..............but, is that considered progress or success????

Yes, it is.

Because maybe my daughter doesn't want to be Maddie Gardner. Maybe she's more interested in music, or art, or softball, or some other thing out there is her true passion. For her, maybe cheer is fun, and she'll work hard at it. Maybe she learns how to deal with kids better, be a great teammate, and become more confident in herself.

THAT is how I measure success, not whether she's got a running full by the time she's 9. And I think to suggest that a coach is "failing" a kid because they haven't made them the next superstar athlete is being way too hard on the coaches and my kid.

Now, none of this is necessarily true - or false - with my daughter. But when we start defining "success" by someone's level of tumbling or how great they fly in the air, we've lost sight of the true purpose of youth athletics in the first place.

 

[BubbleToes]

Yes, it is.

Because maybe my daughter doesn't want to be Maddie Gardner. Maybe she's more interested in music, or art, or softball, or some other thing out there is her true passion. For her, maybe cheer is fun, and she'll work hard at it. Maybe she learns how to deal with kids better, be a great teammate, and become more confident in herself.

THAT is how I measure success, not whether she's got a running full by the time she's 9. And I think to suggest that a coach is "failing" a kid because they haven't made them the next superstar athlete is being way too hard on the coaches and my kid.

Now, none of this is necessarily true - or false - with my daughter. But when we start defining "success" by someone's level of tumbling or how great they fly in the air, we've lost sight of the true purpose of youth athletics in the first place.

Fair enough! I'm thankful for your response.

It just goes to show many of us look at success and progress in sports differently. AND I think it comes down to the individual child. You don't push someone who doesn't want to be pushed. If they are happy with the level they're at, fantastic! They find their success and progress in other ways.

 

[MomOf2ThatsMe]

CP is in her fourth year of cheer. Gradual progression each year from rec league. This is her 3rd season at an allstar gym. She simply struggles with tumbling. It's not the coaches- it's her. Is she disheartened that all of the kdis she started with are working on skills well beyond the ROBHS she can't seem to get? You bet! Have we had to have talks about how tumbling isn't the end-all be-all of cheer? Absolutely. She isn't a tumbler, plain and simple. She is a dancer, jumper, and flyer. And while I have told her to keep trying to prove she deserves to be on her team, she has somewhat shifted her focus from tumbling to perfecting the other elements of a cheer routine. I would hate to hear someone refer to my kid as a failure because she hasn't followed their model of progression.

 

[CharlotteASMom]

CP is in her fourth year of cheer. Gradual progression each year from rec league. This is her 3rd season at an allstar gym. She simply struggles with tumbling. It's not the coaches- it's her. Is she disheartened that all of the kdis she started with are working on skills well beyond the ROBHS she can't seem to get? You bet! Have we had to have talks about how tumbling isn't the end-all be-all of cheer? Absolutely. She isn't a tumbler, plain and simple. She is a dancer, jumper, and flyer. And while I have told her to keep trying to prove she deserves to be on her team, she has somewhat shifted her focus from tumbling to perfecting the other elements of a cheer routine. I would hate to hear someone refer to my kid as a failure because she hasn't followed their model of progression.

Perhaps are children were separated at birth.

 

[Mo-Lissa]

After reading all and I mean all of the comments in the CEA questions and answers, and reading all of this....IMO she stated earlier that she DID put children on the level 5 teams, that were there for solely basing, flying, and tumbling skills. Watch Senior Elite and Co-ed Elite neither are teams of standing fulls or team doubles. Some kids...throw tucks. CEA is fortunate enough also when smaller gyms within hours of them don't supply teams for level 5 athletes, they are handed to her and not homegrown. Which is fine every CP and their families decision. As far as are these kids that don't progress in tumbling failures, I guess not she herself has them on her top level teams. I do believe that every child is in this sport for different reasons, every family should make that decision for themselves. If may CP could only do a cartwheel, but was happy to be on a team that gave her confidence and made her happy. That is success is itself!!!

 

[xtremeteal4life]

What measures "progress" ? I understand going from a bhs to tuck to layout etc. But in real life can't good progress be meeting new friends at cheering? Bettering your social and listening skills? Becoming more flexible? Getting in shape? Normally a cheerleader can achieve all of these but techincally still be 'not progressing'. Im not sure where my rant is going but I think that alot of times parents overlook alot of little changes their children are going through because they are so focused on susie hitting that tick tock or double full.

Yes, we progress there as well...but like her school analogy. I don't want my kid going to school just for the social aspects, listening skills, etc. That will come regardless..what I'm really looking for is a good education. If you can't provide that for my kid, I'm in the wrong place.

Now are some kids not quite as "smart" (skilled) as others? Of course. Does that make it wrong? Of course not. Then why pay all sorts of money for a private school where the curriculum is primarily all AP classes, etc. if your kid isn't at that level? (again, nothing wrong with that)

There's another argument to be made too though for the "school analogy"...often there are plenty of kids who are more than capable of excelling academically, but won't bc it's not "expected" or bc they're simply being lazy. They're much more content making "easy A's" than trying a more difficult class where they might actually have to study. At CEA, you have to study...if you're content w/the easy A's when you're capable of more, then we aren't for you I suppose.

 

[ErinS]

Are we taking into consideration that CEA doesn't just progress people based on tumbling?

That most people in general don't progress as quickly in tumbling as they do other areas in cheer?

Some gyms put people where they are needed based on the area that they are skilled in.

My younger sister started cheer in 7th grade. She got a standing and robhs in 2 months.
She switched gyms and got her standing tuck, robhstuck, and rotuck in a matter of weeks. She was literally shown a standing tuck, spotted a few times...and then could throw it.

Now she hasn't progressed past those skills (I personally think it has to do with high school team/coaching/team training environment and not so much allstar)...but at any rate her tumbling as stopped progressing....however her jumps are basically perfect, shes a talented dancer, she has jumps to tuck...she can base any level 5 stunt and overall shes a great performer.

Shes progressed in other areas, so I don't feel that my parents are throwing away money by letting her do allstars just bc she doesnt have a full.

 

[xtremeteal4life]

@Mamarazzi , I understand cheerleading is expensive and time consuming but how is it any different then a parent paying for their child to be on a traveling baseball team even though the child may be benched. I agree with you but I think we all need to realize that those thousands of dollars spent arent only for skills. Unless a parent is planning on cheerleading to give their child a scholarship to college, then what good will that full do for them when they are adults. On the contrary, the friends they made, and the ability to work with a team will carry on to later stages of their lives. Long story short, if the child loves what they are doing, regardless whether they are on a level 1 team or level 5 team for 8 years, its worth it.

We can't all be level 5. We don't all have the same potential. As long as you can meet your own personal potential then you succeed. There are kids who walk into Rays that might cheer for 10 years and never progress past level 2. Are they failures? I can't think they are. If level 2 is their maximum potential then be the best damn level 2 we can be.

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This is true..not everyone can be doctors and lawyers...nothing wrong w/other professions if you're happy, but if my kid has the potential to be a doctor I'd rather her go to Duke than a community college. That wouldn't make much sense to me....know what I mean? That's how I equate CEA personally..