Pop Warner

[oldcheermom]

@yellow laces You can order the rule book for $5 on the national Pop Warner website.

 

[SL&AM]

@yellow laces Any updates? Have things gotten better?

 

[yellow laces]

@yellow laces Any updates? Have things gotten better?

Unfortunately, the only thing that improved over last week is the first set of bows arrived for the games this weekend. The bows are not very good, I doubt they will last the season. My daughter's has a water stain on it and a mystery brown mark. The spanks came in, but they are all the wrong size so most of the girls still don't have them. I did, however, find some shorts called playground pals at Kohl's that look exactly like the spanks they ordered at a fraction of the price. I bought a set for my daughter and shared the info with other parents.

As of today, my daughter hates cheer to a point where she was crying this morning when it was time to leave for practice. This week was the first week back to school around here then they had practice Friday night 7-9:00 pm, then needed to be at the field at 8:30am Sat for games only to have to return to the field at 5:00 for a Pep rally. They were asked to stick around and cheer for a Mity mite game at 7:00, but 7:15 rolled around and the game started, yet everyone was spread out around the festivities with no one cheering. I asked the coach but she mumbled something about a dunk tank so we just left because it was clear nobody knew what was going on. Which lead to the crying today, she just wanted a break. They all need one, the littlest girls were a mess at the game, whiny, clingy, staring into space... It was a long week for them, many had just started full day kindergarten a few days before.

As for the coaching issue, we are down from 30 girls to about 24 or 25. I guess some quit, can't say I blame them, so that leaves us with a coach, a team Mom and 14 yr old which is within guidelines. I think if they asked for more coaches, they would have gotten them based on parent comments.

Nothing has been done about the skirts. In fact several of the girls were whining that they don't want to go to competition because they don't want to wear the skirts all day.

I am not really sure where to go from here. I really have no desire to stick with Pop Warner after this year. A friend I cheered with in high school runs a pop Warner team in a different league, she recommends we just move to her area and I coach with her. [emoji23]


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[CoachTamara]

Unfortunately, the only thing that improved over last week is the first set of bows arrived for the games this weekend. The bows are not very good, I doubt they will last the season. My daughter's has a water stain on it and a mystery brown mark. The spanks came in, but they are all the wrong size so most of the girls still don't have them. I did, however, find some shorts called playground pals at Kohl's that look exactly like the spanks they ordered at a fraction of the price. I bought a set for my daughter and shared the info with other parents.

As of today, my daughter hates cheer to a point where she was crying this morning when it was time to leave for practice. This week was the first week back to school around here then they had practice Friday night 7-9:00 pm, then needed to be at the field at 8:30am Sat for games only to have to return to the field at 5:00 for a Pep rally. They were asked to stick around and cheer for a Mity mite game at 7:00, but 7:15 rolled around and the game started, yet everyone was spread out around the festivities with no one cheering. I asked the coach but she mumbled something about a dunk tank so we just left because it was clear nobody knew what was going on. Which lead to the crying today, she just wanted a break. They all need one, the littlest girls were a mess at the game, whiny, clingy, staring into space... It was a long week for them, many had just started full day kindergarten a few days before.

As for the coaching issue, we are down from 30 girls to about 24 or 25. I guess some quit, can't say I blame them, so that leaves us with a coach, a team Mom and 14 yr old which is within guidelines. I think if they asked for more coaches, they would have gotten them based on parent comments.

Nothing has been done about the skirts. In fact several of the girls were whining that they don't want to go to competition because they don't want to wear the skirts all day.

I am not really sure where to go from here. I really have no desire to stick with Pop Warner after this year. A friend I cheered with in high school runs a pop Warner team in a different league, she recommends we just move to her area and I coach with her. [emoji23]


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Where are you from?

Is it possible to run for a position on the board? I believe most pop warner leagues have a cheer director, and it sounds like you could make some huge improvements to the program. If there are that many kids and it's being run poorly, imagine the possibilities if it was going well...

 

[SL&AM]

Unfortunately, the only thing that improved over last week is the first set of bows arrived for the games this weekend. The bows are not very good, I doubt they will last the season. My daughter's has a water stain on it and a mystery brown mark. The spanks came in, but they are all the wrong size so most of the girls still don't have them. I did, however, find some shorts called playground pals at Kohl's that look exactly like the spanks they ordered at a fraction of the price. I bought a set for my daughter and shared the info with other parents.

As of today, my daughter hates cheer to a point where she was crying this morning when it was time to leave for practice. This week was the first week back to school around here then they had practice Friday night 7-9:00 pm, then needed to be at the field at 8:30am Sat for games only to have to return to the field at 5:00 for a Pep rally. They were asked to stick around and cheer for a Mity mite game at 7:00, but 7:15 rolled around and the game started, yet everyone was spread out around the festivities with no one cheering. I asked the coach but she mumbled something about a dunk tank so we just left because it was clear nobody knew what was going on. Which lead to the crying today, she just wanted a break. They all need one, the littlest girls were a mess at the game, whiny, clingy, staring into space... It was a long week for them, many had just started full day kindergarten a few days before.

As for the coaching issue, we are down from 30 girls to about 24 or 25. I guess some quit, can't say I blame them, so that leaves us with a coach, a team Mom and 14 yr old which is within guidelines. I think if they asked for more coaches, they would have gotten them based on parent comments.

Nothing has been done about the skirts. In fact several of the girls were whining that they don't want to go to competition because they don't want to wear the skirts all day.

I am not really sure where to go from here. I really have no desire to stick with Pop Warner after this year. A friend I cheered with in high school runs a pop Warner team in a different league, she recommends we just move to her area and I coach with her. [emoji23]


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Will your waiver be granted to move to a different PW league? If not, maybe run for the board and try to fix it.

 

[yellow laces]

Where are you from?

Is it possible to run for a position on the board? I believe most pop warner leagues have a cheer director, and it sounds like you could make some huge improvements to the program. If there are that many kids and it's being run poorly, imagine the possibilities if it was going well...

One parent with two cheerleaders and a football player did just that, the husband joined the board hoping to improve things. His wife says he is even more confused about the goings on now than he was before.

I think part of the issue is the team used to be a very well run, and a lot of work and organization went into it. But as those organizers moved on, those who moved into their place simply don't have the experience and skill to keep things up as well combined with several rule PW changes. As a result, costs and debts are piling up, attempts to keep up are taking their toll. I don't know how long they have been renting out their gym space but I don't think it has been that long but it is the reason practice times are so bad. There is no reason non competitive 5-7 year olds need 6 hours of practice a week on spring mats, one night a week with two outside would be enough, but they aren't listening.

I think it is time for the team to move on from what it once was and accept that things have changed and they are not an All Star team and don't need to try to compete with them. Listen to parents, realize that buying the most expensive sneaker in the catalog does not make them cheer better.

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[FTSP]

Do you have an AYC team in your area? That may be an option for next year[emoji846]


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[Eyes On The Prize]

One parent with two cheerleaders and a football player did just that, the husband joined the board hoping to improve things. His wife says he is even more confused about the goings on now than he was before.

I think part of the issue is the team used to be a very well run, and a lot of work and organization went into it. But as those organizers moved on, those who moved into their place simply don't have the experience and skill to keep things up as well combined with several rule PW changes. As a result, costs and debts are piling up, attempts to keep up are taking their toll. I don't know how long they have been renting out their gym space but I don't think it has been that long but it is the reason practice times are so bad. There is no reason non competitive 5-7 year olds need 6 hours of practice a week on spring mats, one night a week with two outside would be enough, but they aren't listening.

I think it is time for the team to move on from what it once was and accept that things have changed and they are not an All Star team and don't need to try to compete with them. Listen to parents, realize that buying the most expensive sneaker in the catalog does not make them cheer better.

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My brother and I were involved in Pop Warner until I was about 12. Both of my parents coached cheer and my dad held multiple board positions. He joined because he was also unhappy with what he was seeing. (He also loved to be fully involved with anything we were doing lol.) When he first joined, he took over the concession stand and whipped that thing into shape - it was thriving. After that they asked him to be treasurer. In the three or so years he held that position he got them out of some debt and left them with a surplus of a few thousand dollars. A few years after we left PW, they were in debt again and scraping by with chicken dinner fundraisers.

I remember my dad being very frustrated with the politics that went on there even though it was just parents running it. The cheer coordinator was the absolute worst. But I think that's the problem most of the time - it's just parents running the local organizations. If you have ideas and you have a plan of attack to make your ideas happen, it wouldn't hurt to throw your hat in the ring and join the board. Some parents can really turn things around. But it's definitely a tough job.

I think your definitely right about the coordinators needing to understand that PW isn't all star and should stop trying to make it all star. PW caters to different crowd. In my experience it mostly caters to kids who want to do high school cheer, not all star. It's also for families who don't want to/can't commit the amount of time and money all star requires but still want to let their kids cheer.

 

[yellow laces]

Does anyone have knowledge or access to an Alleson Youth skirt? Specifically a youth medium. Cheer uniforms are completely different than they were 20 yrs ago, our team coordinator insists they are supposed to be this tight, but I am convinced there is something wrong with the sizing. The waist on my daughter's media is about 18 inches. Alleson's website has the skirt size listed at 21-23inches. So is that the band size, or waist size the band is supposed to fit on? I can barely stretch it to that size.

I attached a picture for opinions. I pictured the skirt with the boy shorts I bought at Kohl's that fit her perfectly for comparison.

Note that my daughter's skirt actually fits BETTER than most. A lot of the girls skirts are way smaller and tighter. My concern really is for the team as a whole.



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[catlady]

It appears to me that it is very possible that your fit coordinator went by their size chart and the product sizing is way off. According to Alleson's website for fittings:

Alleson Harmony Skirt C281

The problem that your coordinator may be running into is their return policy window and/or how long it would take to replace them. If your coordinator is not willing to contact Alleson, I would contact them directly and see what can be done. These look like stock items so, they should be able to overnight a skirt to you and send you a return label if they're stocked in the US. If a Youth M is supposed to have a waist measurement of 23-25" and it is only measuring 18" at rest, I can understand why these kids would be complaining. According to the baby chart below, a 12-18 month old baby would fit that skirt.

CONTACT US
Alleson
2921 Brighton-Henrietta Townline Road
Rochester, NY 14623

1-800-641-0041

ETA: Kind of interesting, I Googled Alleson's size chart which gave two very different measurements. I just noticed the size chart measurement you listed and it's different from the two I pulled up.

 

[Cheer Dad]

@catlady, I think it is safe to say they reuse skirts year to year and do not order new.


**Sometimes I use the FB web version just to check on my negative ratings**

 

[catlady]

@Cheer Dad Ahhh, I thought I had read they were new this season but, went back and reread and she said they were fitted mid year last season. None the less, it appears based on the pic above there was a huge sizing issue with at least this skirt or someone altered it to fit their toddler. While I tend to come from the "suck it up buttercup" school of parenting, if you take my pants in 5" I'm going to whine all day, too. @yellow laces if these are recycled uniforms, then the parent option is to purchase a new one or have a complaining child.

 

[yellow laces]

These were new last season to the best of my knowledge, and they didn't fit then either. At this point, I am sort of making a list of issues that, as parents, we can go to the board with. The parents tried last year, but I don't think they had really researched their complaints to make a strong enough case for change. Like I said, some of the girls are in a much worse fit situation than my daughter including the coach's own daughter. I haven't had a chance to talk to her this weekend to see if even she was able to get a better fitting skirt, her daughter also got a medium but is at least one pant size larger than my daughter. The smalls are about 2/3 the size of the medium at rest when laid flat like above. They basically said to parents and coaches they are supposed to fit like this. So far, everyone is accepting this excuse. Given the attitude of the coordinator so far, I don't think she listens to anyone enough to have followed through with the possibility that these skirts were defective. I tried calling Alleson twice, but wasn't able to get anyone. I will keep trying now that I know that not every uniform out there doesn't fit like this as our coordinator claims. At the very least, maybe they can tell me what the resting size should be and determine if there may be a defect. I don't what, if anything, might come of it especially given the history of our coordinator and vendors. Last season the warm ups everyone was required to purchase were given out at the final competition after the football season ended. And this season, we are 2 games in and we still don't have spanks nor are this year's warm ups in.

I wish the solution was as simple as joining the board, but there other political factors at play. The coordinator doesn't even have a child on the team, I am not sure she has any kids. She is very young and has at least family member overseeing the regional association. Maybe no one else stepped up when the position became available, I don't know.

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[cheer25mom]

Personally, I would advise cutting your losses and getting out. I have seen too many bad rec programs, and been there myself. Seems to me it's clear this one is badly run and not likely to get better.
We don't have pop warner, but a similar system and we only did one season. It was poorly run by parents on a ego trip, and pretty much everything was drama. My kid learned NO technique because the mom coaching them had no clue what she was doing. We practiced 8 hours a week with 5 year olds and it was still like herding cats. We went to all stars and never looked back.


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[SL&AM]

I've had to squish my child into a too small uniform one time and we left that all-star program and never went back; expecting me to do so every weekend for games, ha. Honestly, if you don't think joining the board will help and the coordinator seems to be a hot mess, then your only options are to suck it up or leave. At this point, what are your reasons for staying?