All-Star Poor Sportsmanship At Cheer Events

[NEliteSteven]

I totally get it, was just trying to start a dialogue. I think when kids aren't necessarily brought up in cheerleading, the lines get skewed. If you have a someone join cheer from another sport, they don't always "get" it. I also don't think it's a bad lesson to learn. Some people in life want to see you fail. How are you going to react to it? One of the things I dislike about this sport is that people can be so over sensitive.

 

[NEliteSteven]

Sidenote: for all you 'watchers', I hope that this thread goes where you think it may go. I need some entertainment.

 

[kristenthegreat]

I don't know where anyone thinks this is going. I think that there are some good sportsmanship things we try in cheer and some absurd ones.

 

[Asterism]

I think when kids aren't necessarily brought up in cheerleading, the lines get skewed. If you have a someone join cheer from another sport, they don't always "get" it.

I grew up not in sport, but in music, and I see a lot of parallels here. At music competitions, you're nominally competing against other people, but in reality you're competing against yourself - you want to do your best, you're not directly against someone else, and if you do your best and someone else's best is better than yours you can't do anything about that and should be happy anyway. To me, cheer is just the same, except that you have a team performance instead of an individual one.

 

[GreenStormLucy]

I will take soccer as an example (it´s a big thing here you know):

When my son plays soccer, i´m all about being fair and showing good sportmanship. They are kids, we as parents are role models, let´s behave. I can´t with parents yelling at their kid and even other kids and being mean or cheering because another 12 year old missed the ball.

When it comes to professional soccer, it´s another thing. First of all: Me sitting in the stands of my favorite clubs huge arena...none of the players or the parents of the player or friends of them will feel offended if i´m happy the other team missed the ball.
And they are professionals. They are getting paid to win and make their fans who buy expensive tickets, merchandising and whatever more - happy.

Still - even there i´m all for keeping it classy, if a player get injured or something like this, you don´t cheer and jump around like a squirrel.

In cheer, almost all teams and athletes are far away from being professionals (meaning it´s not their job, although they train like professionals). They do what they love and we should be role models in good sportmanship.
If you put out your best and your competitions puts out their best, and you win - it feels a lot better than winning because your hardest oponent had a bad day.
But this is just my 2 cents

 

[Underestimated]

Our program has been successful the last couple of years. That being said, I was embarrassed at the behavior of some athletes, coaches, and parents at a recent event in Pittsburgh this month.

I saw kids, parents, and even some coaches from our program cheering when another competitors team had some falls and stunt problems. I was appalled at this behavior. Other teams and parents in my section were clearly disgusted by behavior.

I never thought I would say this, but I am embarrassed by the behavior of these people from our program. Cheerleading is a team sport. Sportsmanship is part of this. This is clearly not the type of behavior I want my child to model.

Am I wrong to feel this way or is this what it has come to in allstar cheerleading? Is this the new norm?

I'm going to hold my mouth shut on this one.............

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[Underestimated]

interested to know what team your daughter is on at HC.... And my other question is.... If you're so disgusted why don't you leave this program???

@Hotcheerfan



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[Mamarazzi]

I'm just kind of surprised that your bringing up something like this involving your own gym in such a public place. just a little confused by that.

Sometimes it's safer to get a temp check here first. Besides, snitches get stitches.

interested to know what team your daughter is on at HC.... And my other question is.... If you're so disgusted why don't you leave this program???

@Hotcheerfan



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Good Lord. Why does it have to be like that? If we all quit our programs over things that ticked us off, we'd be a giant homeless cheer community.
Can we not make it all-or-nothing? The great thing about mistakes is that they can be fixed.

 

[dawgshow]

Good Lord. Why does it have to be like that? If we all quit our programs over things that ticked us off, we'd be a giant homeless cheer community.
Can we not make it all-or-nothing? The great thing about mistakes is that they can be fixed.

Exactly! Goodness knows there are things about CP's gym that irritate the snot out of me but overall I love it.


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[Hotcheerfan]

So, to sum things up, people feel both ways. Some of you prefer to teach your kids or athletes to root for others to fail. That is fine. This is your choice.

My point was that not everyone was or should be ok with this line of thinking. I am not. Other parents in our program are also not ok with it. As parents we are responsible for teaching our kids right from wrong.

The funny thing about this whole incident was the kids. After the competition, some of the kids from the other program mingled and talked with some of our kids. These kids were on teams together last year. It was clear that they were getting along fine and were glad to see each other.

I think it is very interesting that some of you were trying to dig out information about me and the team that my kid is on this year. You also told me that you think I should quit. Bring it on. I don't think that is any of your business. I did not name any names. I saw what happened and so did everyone else at the competition.

Our program is successful, but success sometimes breeds arrogance. I am glad that my kid knows right from wrong. Thanks for all of the replies.

 

[juscheerthatisall]

I think it is in poor taste to outwardly cheer when the competition falls, makes a mistake etc. I think most would be lying if they said they don't do toe fulls on the inside as soon as the stunt starts to bobble. The way the scoring system is set up now most teams (good teams) walk into the competition knowing where they will score if they hit perfectly, what makes this sport interesting is that one mistake can change the whole outcome. If we prayed for our competitors to be at their very best every competition then we are asking for the same results for the entire season, since we are all doing the same routine (for the most part). Of course it's great to beat your competitors on their best day but what if it's not your best day? when your team falls are u still hoping the competition hits perfectly (because they're kids and you want them to do their best!) I am definitely a supporter of good sportsmanship and with the original post I agree: I would be concerned if people jumped and cheered. But I have heard similar argument where people were bothered because an opposing team did something as simple as smile, and I think that's absurd. My generic response when I'm sitting next to strangers "ohhh, that's unfortunate"

 

[ufomom]

The cheer world is a small place, and I always assume I am sitting next to the falling flyer's grandmother. I won't sit with people who cheer when other teams make mistakes, but it doesn't mean I won't be counting them in my head and jabbing my seatmate with my elbow. Sure I want to win...who doesn't, but I have a lot of empathy for the kids competing because I know how hard they worked to bring the routine to the floor. That's just me, and I don't need people to agree with me. Besides it goes in the bad karma category in my opinion.

 

[GiaBellaMom]

I think as parents the best we can do is instill good values in our children and try to be positive models for that behavior as well. In life you are always going to have parents and children who err on the wrong side but that is life. We have to do the best we can and hope our children grow up to make positive choices. In football I think to a degree it IS similar - when Michael Irvin (Hall of Fame Cowboy receiver) got VERY hurt on the field, motionless for 20 minutes with a neck injury which ultimately ended his lucrative career, the fans in Philly cheered. It was such a bid deal and bad sportsmanship it is STILL remembered and talked about. The Philly newspaper called it "unspeakable, even for us"....so I think their is a fine line, but I also think it happens everywhere, even in football - where it is not ok to cheer when someone could be hurt. Again, a line between a fumble and getting hurt but still. Apples and Oranges. What percentage of first place teams (and parents) cheer (some LOUDLY) when second place is called? Is this acceptable or bad sportsmanship? Or does the different lie in the age of the team (minis vs. Seniors)?

 

[DJ]

I'm curious as to the authenticity of the original poster. Are they indeed a "HotCheerFan", or is this a sly way of throwing mud, without appearing tacky from an opposing program. I'm just finding it difficult to believe that a Hot Cheer "fan" or "parent" as purported would publicly slam their own program. I've seen a lot on these boards, so I rarely put anything past anyone these days.

 

[creator13]

IMO, the responsible adult role model should talk to HotCheer owner/coaches and explain what they witnessed. To me the posts seemed like an additional ingredient to keep the pot stirring.