High School Summer Practices

[Twinklestars]

The all star forum thread got me curious. How often do your teams practice? How long are your practices? When is/was camp and/or choreography? What is your policy on missing summer practices?

We are having issues again, shocking, I know. I am so glad my child is a senior and this is it. I don't know if I could handle another year. I don't know if I can handle this year. I wish I could go into anonymous mode.

 

[coacha]

We are not allowed to make practices mandatory until the start of the fall season (which happens to be Aug 14 this year - 2 weeks prior to the first day of school). So we have "summer workouts" but since they aren't mandatory and kids are always here and there for vacations and what not, I just do 1 night/week for 2 hrs. I know it's light compared to a lot of teams, but it's summer. We (including myself) need breaks, so that's how we roll.

I'm not allowed to make summer practices mandatory, but I'm not sure I would even if I could. I have kids who have custody agreements where they are out of state with other parents for weeks. I have kids on vacations. Kids who have summer jobs. Kids who go to camp or other academic enrichment things. I'm pretty sure I'd have a headache trying to track attendance and excused/unexcused.

As for camp, we've done where it falls in the 2 week of mandatories before school, but this year we are doing the first week of August, so not everyone is attending (33 out of 48 cheerleaders across our 3 teams).

Choreography will get done on a Saturday once school starts.

 

[tojofasho]

We are not allowed to make practices mandatory until the start of the fall season (which happens to be Aug 14 this year - 2 weeks prior to the first day of school). So we have "summer workouts" but since they aren't mandatory and kids are always here and there for vacations and what not, I just do 1 night/week for 2 hrs. I know it's light compared to a lot of teams, but it's summer. We (including myself) need breaks, so that's how we roll.

I'm not allowed to make summer practices mandatory, but I'm not sure I would even if I could. I have kids who have custody agreements where they are out of state with other parents for weeks. I have kids on vacations. Kids who have summer jobs. Kids who go to camp or other academic enrichment things. I'm pretty sure I'd have a headache trying to track attendance and excused/unexcused.

As for camp, we've done where it falls in the 2 week of mandatories before school, but this year we are doing the first week of August, so not everyone is attending (33 out of 48 cheerleaders across our 3 teams).

Choreography will get done on a Saturday once school starts.

Ours is about the same - you cannot mandate practices over the summer for any sport, nor can there be any repurcussions for any missed practices. We also can't tryout transfer students or incoming freshmen officially until after school starts, so we have to "invite" them to practice with the teams. For this reason, I just hold Open Weighttraining (most of the returners go to it) and then "summer team", which is essentially tumbling and basic stunting drills to help the girls prepare for tryouts.

It's not perfect, but it's the best we can do :/

 

[CoachTamara]

We are doing the same since all the sport changes came about... We start practices officially on August 7th, but have had some open workouts this summer. Camp was optional this year, and I have 28 going, most of whom are hoping to make the comp team.

 

[AndyT_T]

Monday through Thursday 5-8, which is pretty standard around here. We give them breaks here and there though, we just got back from two weeks off after camp.

 

[CheerBank]

We start "non mandatory but highly suggested" training sessions this coming week, 2 nights a week. This is open to all current varsity and JV and any incoming freshman or current students interested in trying out. The coach has a google doc set up so that she has an idea of how many were attending each session. There is also a workout class for 8 weeks at a training center. Tryouts are August 21st and 22nd, and a 2-day UCA camp is the end of August.

Our big issue this year is that homecoming is in mid-September, so they have very little time to learn and perfect a routine.

 

[Twinklestars]

We had camp at the end of May. We haven't practiced since. We have three public schools where we can use the gyms and a small, private university that has a gym we have used in the past. Our coach didn't reserve the gym. We had camp in an unairconditioned gym for the same reason.

We are allowed to practice anytime except dead period. Nope.

Coach is wanting the team to compete. She thinks two practices per week 1.5-2 hours is going to be fine. There are only one or two girls who have ever been on a competition team.

Camp was choreography. One of the girls wasn't there because her family had planned a vacation at that time.

We have four two hour practices scheduled until school starts.

Ugh.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[omgitssydthekid]

When I was in high school, practices were mandatory. If you missed practice or were late, you were not allowed to compete at regionals (regionals was in July). My coach was very strict about this and would remove you from the routine and replace you with an alternate by the time you arrived at practice. The only time we didn't practice in the summer was the dead week or the couple of weeks after regionals before school started.

We practiced from 8-11 am five days a week and had a 3/4 day UCA camp at some point in June.

Our JV team practiced 7-9 am five days a week, and they had the same attendance policy as we did.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mncheerqueen]

Practice for Varsity is three days a week and runs hour and half to two hours. Additional hour of tumbling on two of the days. JV is the same with one less day of practice.

UCA Camp is mandatory and so are practices. We have no true "dead period" except we give the girls the week of Fourth of July off.

Newly implemented we made the rule that girls must be at 80% of summer practices to keep their spot on the team. This rule is very much needed considering some girls take two month long vacations and have to be bumped down to JV (which honestly isn't that bad considering our JV is better than most Varsity teams) but causes a lot of stress with trying to pull girls up to Varsity to take the spot because by summer we don't have solidified "alternates".

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

One hour-long tumbling class

2-3 two-hour practices per week.

Attendance is optional for the most part. The idea that kids should spend their whole summer at cheer practice with no time off leads to burnout and repetitive use injuries. If you feel like you have to make everything mandatory or kick people off the team because "otherwise they wouldn't show up," then you're just getting off on a power-gasm and your team culture sucks.

 

[Official OWECheer]

We had camp at the end of May. We haven't practiced since. We have three public schools where we can use the gyms and a small, private university that has a gym we have used in the past. Our coach didn't reserve the gym. We had camp in an unairconditioned gym for the same reason.

We are allowed to practice anytime except dead period. Nope.

Coach is wanting the team to compete. She thinks two practices per week 1.5-2 hours is going to be fine. There are only one or two girls who have ever been on a competition team.

Camp was choreography. One of the girls wasn't there because her family had planned a vacation at that time.

We have four two hour practices scheduled until school starts.

Ugh.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yikes. From what you've told us over time, it sounds like they'll need more practice in order to get more consistent skill reps and conditioning. When is your dead period?

 

[Twinklestars]

Yikes. From what you've told us over time, it sounds like they'll need more practice in order to get more consistent skill reps and conditioning. When is your dead period?

It just ended. First practice back today. They mostly worked their stunts but the coach didn't pay enough attention at camp to know if they were doing them right. My cp talked to most of the girls and no one wants to compete--mainly because they feel like they won't be prepared.

 

[Official OWECheer]

It just ended. First practice back today. They mostly worked their stunts but the coach didn't pay enough attention at camp to know if they were doing them right. My cp talked to most of the girls and no one wants to compete--mainly because they feel like they won't be prepared.

At least they're mostly on the same page. It won't be a good idea to send them in... furthermore, if they perform badly due to a lack of prep, it could worse their confidence regarding their ability to compete, making it harder to get them to compete in the future.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

We had camp at the end of May. We haven't practiced since. We have three public schools where we can use the gyms and a small, private university that has a gym we have used in the past. Our coach didn't reserve the gym. We had camp in an unairconditioned gym for the same reason.

We are allowed to practice anytime except dead period. Nope.

Coach is wanting the team to compete. She thinks two practices per week 1.5-2 hours is going to be fine. There are only one or two girls who have ever been on a competition team.

Camp was choreography. One of the girls wasn't there because her family had planned a vacation at that time.

We have four two hour practices scheduled until school starts.

Ugh.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sadly, this sounds like the small, private school where I used to volunteer. They have gone to crap with five different coaches in three years. No one wants to deal with their horrible AD. Which is why I would never do anything more than volunteer there. Are you SURE, it's 100% the fault or lack of effort of the coach? The athletic director could be squashing her efforts. Also, I don't know what state in which you reside, but states have varying rules on what is and is not permissable during summer. Most parents are aware of what the teams around them are doing, not of the actual rules in place.

For example, I get an earful every year from one parent or another, always a newcomer to the team, about how it isn't fair that one person can fundraise x amount of dollars and another can fundraise (x - x) dollars and they both benefit the same. I also hear about how the school across town puts quotas on the amount of items sold in a fundraiser for each athlete, which is illegal. I have to explain to them that just because other schools aren't following the rules doesn't mean we aren't going to follow the rules. Those are IRS tax laws for non-profit or tax exempt organizations. The IRS is the most powerful organization on the planet. I'm not flirting with their regulations.

I'm only suggesting that you be very certain that you are placing blame where it is due.

 

[Twinklestars]

Sadly, this sounds like the small, private school where I used to volunteer. They have gone to crap with five different coaches in three years. No one wants to deal with their horrible AD. Which is why I would never do anything more than volunteer there. Are you SURE, it's 100% the fault or lack of effort of the coach? The athletic director could be squashing her efforts. Also, I don't know what state in which you reside, but states have varying rules on what is and is not permissable during summer. Most parents are aware of what the teams around them are doing, not of the actual rules in place.

For example, I get an earful every year from one parent or another, always a newcomer to the team, about how it isn't fair that one person can fundraise x amount of dollars and another can fundraise (x - x) dollars and they both benefit the same. I also hear about how the school across town puts quotas on the amount of items sold in a fundraiser for each athlete, which is illegal. I have to explain to them that just because other schools aren't following the rules doesn't mean we aren't going to follow the rules. Those are IRS tax laws for non-profit or tax exempt organizations. The IRS is the most powerful organization on the planet. I'm not flirting with their regulations.

I'm only suggesting that you be very certain that you are placing blame where it is due.

I'm just south of you. Five coaches in three years is about what we have had. We are only not allowed to practice the last week in June and the first week in July. I know our principal would be fine with washing his hands of the cheer program and his daughter used to cheer!
The cheer program was amazing about 10 years ago and several state championships were won. Now, it is a struggle to find a coach and they won't hire an outside coach. It HAS to be a teacher.

I have made it my business to know what the rules are and where to find things if I am unsure. I have had to send rules to change illegal things in routines. I had to send the new music rules last year. I am prior military and a nurse. I thrive on knowing the rules!

I paid very close attention when my child was younger and I had to drive her to stunt clinics and camps. I listened to the instructions given. I learned tons. I am one of those parents who thinks they know more than the coach.

I am frustrated. It has been years of crap that keeps piling on. I found this place when looking for what to do about a coach wanting the cheerleaders to throw basket tosses in the gym. I had been returning something to her when she said it. I couldn't help but blurt out, "That's illegal ". She closed practices after that. We switched schools. (It wasn't just that)

A lot of this was the ramblings of an overtired, overstressed mom. Another child is across the country and ill with a flare-up of an ongoing medical issue. I might be back to edit.