Replacing Girls After Summit Bid Earned??

[cheer25mom]

If it were my kid's team I would definitely have a problem with it. While there is no rule against it, I think it is extremely shady and not fair to the kids on the team who helped earn that bid. I would be talking to the powers that be about my disappointment and probably looking for another place to cheer next season.

 

[Fiercecheermom]

Cheer is a business. Do I agree with replacing athletes who were good enough to get a bid? No, but as others have said, I would make that clear by not returning the next year. We are raising children to be adults and while we want them to strive for greatness, we need to instill ethics and morals as well. Unfortunately, this is happening at quite a few gyms. I believe Summit is trying to stop these type of situations from happening (just like Worlds) but it will take time. Luckily, they can no longer use the exact same team at Worlds as they do at Summit....yes this happened year 1.

 

[quitthedrama]

It's becoming more common each year, not just with Summit teams, but Worlds teams as well. Worlds has stricter substitution rules, but it still happens. There are two sides to the debate. Some want the absolute best team on the mat. Others think those that earned the bid deserve to be there provided they haven't lost any skills.
My thoughts on this subject and sandbagging have evolved over the years. The bottom line is, right or wrong, the gyms did not create the monster - the USASF rules and the EPs did. The rules almost encourage this type of behavior, and some gym owners use jackets and rings as a marketing tool. Parents buy in to that, so they ultimately are to blame as well. Some gym owners get so much pressure from the parents to win that they have feel they have to replace the weaker athletes in order to keep the majority happy.
As others have said, money talks. If your gym does this and they continue to keep athletes and the parents are willing to pay for it, their strategy has worked. If everyone jumps ship and leaves for another program, the strategy failed. Ultimately as parents, we are the decision makers.

 

[driverto6]

Until Summit changes the rules and limits the number of athletes that can do this, it will continue. If it is the philosophy of a gym then it's certainly something they should tell their parents before try-outs...just so you know what you are signing up for!!

 

[cheermomforever]

Unfortunately some coaches don't care who they hurt, they just want to be able to say we go to Summit/worlds. We placed in X place and/or have rings. If u stay next year your cp could be one of the ones kicked off and replaced.


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[notyourcheermom]

hi all! I am a new cheer parent to the all star world and have had a great time this last year with my kids' teams. Both our kids teams worked hard and earned a bid to summit! YAY... My question is, now that they earned a bid the coaches are saying they will now replace some of the girls that were on the team all year with higher level girls that aren't going to summit because their team didn't get a bid. I really don't see this as right but then again being new to cheer I am not sure if this a policy at every gym across the country. Kicking a girl off that worked hard all season and WON the bid with their team should get to go..Any feedback would be GREAT! Thank you!!

Our gym doesn't replace athletes. They go with the athletes that won the bid. I am seriously happy about that. Now, my CP just got taken out of jumps. A kid that's injury healed is a much better jumper than my CP and I agree with that, too. But my CP is not off the team, she is out of jumps for now. I would be checking out the gym down the road and I would also ask them what their policy was on rosters for Summit/Worlds. While I admit freely I love that CP is at a competitive gym and her team is pretty competitive and we enjoy the wins, the losses are okay, too. I think the same kids should fail and succeed together all season if everyone still doing their job, not we know you're doing your job but we think Susie over there can do it better. Getting a Summit bid is hard, the kids who earned it had to be doing something right.

 

[Cheermom1969]

Oh hell no. If the scenario is just what the OP says, I would leave and never come back. Shady Athletics indeed.
It's one thing if you have an injury or an athlete can't got for financial reasons or previously planned vacation or something. But flat out replacing kids to put higher levels kids on the team? That burns me up.

This is the reason I'm going to Summit with ZERO expectations for a win. We have at least two known major "sandbaggers" (or whatever you want to call it) in our division so I'm being realistic. It's a shame that the Summit wants to be a big deal in the industry but lacks the ability, so far, to keep things like this from happening. I hope they further tighten up the rules next year.

We are taking the exact team that won the bid. Thankfully all girls were able to commit and KNOCK ON WOOD, no injuries.

 

[HeyMom]

One of our local gyms includes a disclaimer in their tryout packet that they will add or remove athletes from their Summit bound teams at the owners'/coaches' discretion. At least they let you know ahead of time that your kid might be on the team when they earn the bid but they could be replaced. Nice

 

[TealShades]

One of our local gyms includes a disclaimer in their tryout packet that they will add or remove athletes from their Summit bound teams at the owners'/coaches' discretion. At least they let you know ahead of time that your kid might be on the team when they earn the bid but they could be replaced. Nice

Oh how considerate of them

 

[Fiercecheermom]

I've seen that included on a few of the contracts/packets over the years.

 

[Pebbles49]

This is exactly why I was so against the big Summit event for lower levels. I always equated the Summit, as Worlds lite...Level5 athletes who could not get a Worlds bid, so these athletes knock out the level2 thru 4 or R5 athletes from their spot and compete in their places...

You know, when you think about it, it is much harder to get a Summit bid, especially a paid bid, but most Level5 athletes have enough skills to be on any lower level team. Unlike, a lower level 1-R5 athletes trying to cross over to a Worlds team, just doesn't work the other way.

PS: I skipped level 1, merely, because I heard too many times how hard it is for Level5 athletes to do walkovers...So Level 1s, might be safe from the Level5 athletes infringing on their Summit competition.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

It's becoming more common each year, not just with Summit teams, but Worlds teams as well. Worlds has stricter substitution rules, but it still happens. There are two sides to the debate. Some want the absolute best team on the mat. Others think those that earned the bid deserve to be there provided they haven't lost any skills.
My thoughts on this subject and sandbagging have evolved over the years. The bottom line is, right or wrong, the gyms did not create the monster - the USASF rules and the EPs did. The rules almost encourage this type of behavior, and some gym owners use jackets and rings as a marketing tool. Parents buy in to that, so they ultimately are to blame as well. Some gym owners get so much pressure from the parents to win that they have feel they have to replace the weaker athletes in order to keep the majority happy.
As others have said, money talks. If your gym does this and they continue to keep athletes and the parents are willing to pay for it, their strategy has worked. If everyone jumps ship and leaves for another program, the strategy failed. Ultimately as parents, we are the decision makers.

This is true.

You make Summit & Worlds the end-all-be-all and all stakeholders buy into the obsessive need to win it, yet wonder why people resort to unethical means to do so.

 

[Pebbles49]

I still remembered the persuasive Summit speech about Senior lower levels, who will never make it to be on a level5 team, these athletes will finally get that chance to finish their time in the sport by competing in a similar like stage, similar to Worlds before aging out of the sport...

I wonder, Is this still the argument for the need to have Summit? Hmmm..,

 

[cheer25mom]

I think summit would be a good thing, with the same crossover and substitution rules used at worlds.


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[katiecheer8]

I still remembered the persuasive Summit speech about Senior lower levels, who will never make it to be on a level5 team, these athletes will finally get that chance to finish their time in the sport by competing in a similar like stage, similar to Worlds before aging out of the sport...

I wonder, Is this still the argument for the need to have Summit? Hmmm..,

I always viewed it that way and for me (someone who is aging out of cheer as a lower level athlete) I did see it as the lower level version of worlds. With the bids and rings and it was nice to have something to work for that I could reach within my cheer career because lets be honest going from level 2 to 5 in two years probably wasn't going to happen for me. It sucks that it has become such a shady competition and hopefully varsity will continue to work on more rules so the cheerleaders going the next few years won't have to experience what I (and many other teams did these past few years)