All-Star Maximizing Score Sheet

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justpeachy

Cheer Parent
Mar 26, 2010
535
1,552
I need to have a conversation with a coach about maxing out scores (or at least trying to). I am a parent, so I want to be careful not to offend her. I'm not sure if coach is unwilling to add difficulty, or if she just doesn't know how. Meeting with her tomorrow to get to the bottom of that.

Does anyone have any input as to how I can approach this topic without offending? Can anyone point me towards any resources I could share with her?

How do "good" coaches know which elements to add to their routines in order to achieve a decent level of difficulty? Are there websites? Classes?

Thanks!
 
Changing gyms isn't always feasible for everyone (though we have been driving over an hour for the last year because of this).

I have no desire to be the coach, or tell her how to do her job. Is there no appropriate way to help the situation improve without offending?
 
I need to have a conversation with a coach about maxing out scores (or at least trying to). I am a parent, so I want to be careful not to offend her. I'm not sure if coach is unwilling to add difficulty, or if she just doesn't know how. Meeting with her tomorrow to get to the bottom of that.

Does anyone have any input as to how I can approach this topic without offending? Can anyone point me towards any resources I could share with her?

How do "good" coaches know which elements to add to their routines in order to achieve a decent level of difficulty? Are there websites? Classes?

Thanks!
my guess is that your coach would add more difficulty if the following conditions allowed for it.

1. The whole team candle handle it without looking like a mess, falling, or getting deductions and thus an overall lower score than they would if they just nailed the simpler stuff.
2. There is enough time between competitions to make the changes and for the kids to adjust to it and hit the new skill cleanly.
3. Being able to make a change in difficulty that is big enough to be worth it but still stays within the same counts.

I would carefully look at those 3 things before you even consider having that discussion
 
Just going to start this off with this is my opinion as a coach at my gym for 6 years and how I would handle this situtation if a parent came up to me. First of all you are NOT a coach therefore it is not your job to tell him/her how to do their job. If you feel you can do it better start your own gym. I would tell you that this is not your place to tell me and that there are 3 other gyms in the city you can join next season. I would not punish your cp for YOUR actions. It is never ok imo to punish a cp for a parents action during that season. I would also probably not allow you in my lobby during practice.

You as a parent decide what gym to take your kid to. You are the one paying tuition. I feel by you choosing said progam and doing these 2 things you are agreeing non verbally that you TRUST this gym and will support them. Do I think if you have a problem about how your kid is being treated than you have every right to talk to the coach. However you don't have a right to tell a coach how they should run their team or their practice.
 
not really....imagine if the tables were turned and this coach came to you telling you how to do your job? (since thats what essentially you are trying to do)...how would you take it? perspective is everything and the only one that will be seen is that you are telling the coach that you could do a better job...if you truly believe that is the case...another gym is where you should be headed instead of a meeting...and keep in mind there are many more factors than you may realize that play a role in their coaching decisions...
 
To answer the original question there is ways to know what each competiton score sheet is looking for. Each one is different. I know In my gym we do more jambrand events there for our routines are geared more for a jam brand score sheet. There are coaches conferences, you can look on the website or even call the company to see what exactly you need to do in order to score high. We do go to some varsity events and score just as good as we do at jam brands but we change little things around depending on the competition (usually our triple jump section) ... As a coach I'm SURE your kids coach knows all of this however you can't always add everything you want to add... Doing more might hurt the team more then help them.. Being a concerned parent and wanting to get the most for your money is perfectly fine but don't assume the coach is purposely not adding this because she dosen't know or dosen't want to. It's hard getting a team of 20-36 kids w/ diff. Skill level on the same page. IMO if you are not happy with what your child is getting out of it then maybe looking into another gym would be your best bet!!
 
We change our routines various times during the season to make sure we are hitting each events scoresheet. Not to be rude but most parents have no idea if the routine is maxed out or not so they really should not be giving any input about routines. As a coach I do my job to make my routine max out that particular scoresheet. If your coach cant do that then maybe they dont know what they are doing, just a thought. Also if you are not happy then you should probably switch gyms!
 
I agree with the others. I feel that you cannot cross that line and question your cp's coach's knowledge because you have put your trust and faith in them by bringing your cp to that gym and if you don't like how the coach is coaching then you should find another gym. I do think that you can ask the coach to explain to you how ratios work because you want to understand them better because your knowledge of the cheer world from that perspective is not clear. What this will do is provide you time to discuss ratios with the coach, and the coach will have the opportunity to explain how ratios work in cheerleading and you will get a better understanding of how much the coach knows about ratios. I would not, however, go in and speak to the coach with a plan to attack or correct or even to make recommendations to the coach-if what you hear doesn't satisfy you, look for another gym, don't tell the coach that they aren't doing a good job at coaching.
 
this depends greatly on the coach. if you have a brand new coach, they very well might not know and if that is the case, I would inquire nicely with the gym owner as a manner of educating yourself, not calling out the coach. if it truly is a problem or needs to be improved, the owner can regroup with the coach. as previous posters have mentioned, there are NUMEROUS reasons why routines change or don't change....different comps, different score sheets, injuries, # of practice, etc. you could ask the gym owner to help you understand what the process is. if a parent came up and asked me about this, I would be pretty peeved. that being said, I have spent a very large amount of time studying score sheets, level regulations, other gyms in the area, etc and if someone approached me with this I'd be very taken aback. however, as also mentioned above, I would never "take it out" on your cp; that is inappropriate.
 

The 2 posts above me say what I was trying to say much better. :)
 
I don't think this coach would ever take anything out on my daughter... she is a caring and hard working coach. With all the things she does very well, it is hard for me to understand just how/ why her teams don't do well. I suppose that's what I wanted to find out. Of course, the last thing I want to do is offend her or tell her how to do her job. What I want is for her to know how to do her job, and do that! Is that wrong? I sincerely want to find a way to help her.

It doesn't take an expert to see that the routines are entertaining and clean, but the difficulty level is just not there. The result is girls who go out and hit their routines, but still come in last place almost every time. It's frustrating as a parent to see kids work hard for that.

Unfortunately, just finding a new gym isn't that easy. The closest all star program to this one is over an hour away and for most that is impossible. I made it work for the last year but next season it just isn't possible for us.

It appears there's no way to approach it without being labeled "Suzy's Mom". Which leaves my CP doing tumbling classes and rec cheer next year, instead of what she loves. Boo to that.

Thanks to those that gave sincere advice.
 
Unfortunately my only advice would be "tread lightly". Being supportive and involved is very important, however there's a very thin line to be crossed.
 
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