Christian Brothers program had a year where the team got into some trouble and the “brothers” (the male nuns who run the all-boys, Catholic school) stopped supporting the trip. The way it was told to me the year it happened, the brothers never really were crazy about the travel and the competition itself, but they were Varsity’s poster children and kept winning and it took a big ordeal to stop the tradition.
You could be right about this, but I think it may be more like they were absorbed by Houston than “became” Houston. If not, then I have no idea what happened to the program. The reason I say this is because I remember Houston HS from back in the day at the same competitions as Germantown.
It’s always a shame when powerhouse programs just disappear, even though I know HS cheer success is cyclical. I’m still mourning the loss of a great team in our area. The coach left due to entitled parents and ungrateful girls who seemed to think that making the team meant they already had next year’s title on lock... no work ethic, no hunger, no nothing. I was heartbroken to see her go because she was a GREAT coach who understood cheer strategy like she invented it. But I understood why she left. Entitled parents who feel they’re owed everything and give nothing are a stain on cheer culture.
All the talent in the world cannot overcome a poorly implemented team culture that is left to chance instead of actively managed
Yes. You can literally have full ups on full ups and standing fulls on fulls on combos but that will get you nowhere if the kids are completely uncoachable.
A few years back, the Shelby County and Memphis City districts merged, and the suburbs (Germantown, Collierville, Bartlett, and Arlington/Lakeland) made separate districts. Germantown high school is actually on the Shelby County side of the line and stayed a Shelby County school, while most of the students went to Houston. Houston High School is coached by the folks at Memphis Pride, and Collierville by the head coach at Memphis Cheer (which is the coaching staff from Memphis Elite of a few years back, but is under different ownership). Cheer in the Memphis area has been really shaken up in the last few years.
For several years, Delta State was one of the top squads with several UCA Division II titles before West Georgia came along while Columbus State was also a top Division II squad.
I’m sure a lot of talented cheerleaders are interested in living in Cleveland Mississippi these days. I think that alone with Mississippi not being a hot bed for cheerleading is probably Delta state problem. Columbus State has to deal with West Georgia being 1 hour 1/2 away.
