High School Tryout Season

[SparkleSpankies]

I don't know how you structure your actual tryout, but I have become a firm believer that having kids SEE who they are trying out against goes a long way towards cutting out tryout drama based on team selections. We let them watch each other do their skills and their cheer/fight song. Once people can see that they are outmatched by some of their peers, they sometimes remove themselves from the tryout, or they at least know going in that they are a long shot.

I had a few that didn't "get it". One year I had a kid who was on JV (in a place where we took almost all - not ALL) if there was potential on JV.. after 2 years of being on JV, she was not lunging into a cartwheel and stepping overherself. I tried to use an analogy of a gymnast.. It was last year, an olympic year... I said do you see what gymnasts do when they are lunging into their roundoff, especially pomininent on the balance beam.. kid looks me dead in the face and says I have never watched gymnastics... Same issues with motions, she would "mirror" someone, and then we as coaches would correct, and then explain, and then try again.. and still nothing. Suzie, please be sure you match Jenny... I do (meanwhile arm is completely turned a different way)... some just don't get it!

 

[Chelseadrew]

I'm a long time lurker, but I've decided to put my two cents in on this conversation. I've really struggled to build my program at the high school I coach. When I first came in, it was kind of joke: varsity was only doing preps and they were very poorly executed, girls would decided when to come to practice, and when they would come, there were often excuses as to why they couldn't do what I was asking. The school didn't take us seriously and the girls were often "booed" at performances. I decided to make the the tryout process more put together and more organized so that it might be taken more seriously by the students trying out. I actually made all tryout clinic days mandatory, I made requirements to be on Varsity, and I put in a grade requirement. We've always focused on learning a cheer, a dance, and jumps for tryouts. But after two years of having this tryout process, it has not gone over well at all. We have gone way down in the number of people trying out and we tend to lose quite a bit over the course of the tryout process. So this year I'm changing it up a bit. We will only be learning a dance and the rest of the time will be focused on stunting. We are also doing a no cut tryout in terms of score. If they have an awful attitude and no work ethic, we will definitely not be taking them. My hope is that we will keep the interest of students longer, so that they actually make it to the tryout. We also wanted to bulk up our program, so that if we do have people quit or have to remove people we still have a team (this year our jv went from 15 to 7 because we had to remove so many). This is a short term goal, meaning I'm hoping we can go back to our normal tryout process in a year or so... once we are able to build our team the way we want and need. I'm just hoping I can find something that works for this school!

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

I had a few that didn't "get it". One year I had a kid who was on JV (in a place where we took almost all - not ALL) if there was potential on JV.. after 2 years of being on JV, she was not lunging into a cartwheel and stepping overherself. I tried to use an analogy of a gymnast.. It was last year, an olympic year... I said do you see what gymnasts do when they are lunging into their roundoff, especially pomininent on the balance beam.. kid looks me dead in the face and says I have never watched gymnastics... Same issues with motions, she would "mirror" someone, and then we as coaches would correct, and then explain, and then try again.. and still nothing. Suzie, please be sure you match Jenny... I do (meanwhile arm is completely turned a different way)... some just don't get it!

Sorry, I was probably not clear. I meant it helps alleviate tryout drama if they see that they are overmatched. In other words, I don't have mommy-dearest calling me after tryout results are announced wanting to know why their kid didn't make it. Those kids are either out of the picture because they've realized they don't have the skills, or they aren't hopeful of making the team...in which case it's a lot of fun to make that call and let them know that they did.

 

[CoachTamara]

I don't know how you structure your actual tryout, but I have become a firm believer that having kids SEE who they are trying out against goes a long way towards cutting out tryout drama based on team selections. We let them watch each other do their skills and their cheer/fight song. Once people can see that they are outmatched by some of their peers, they sometimes remove themselves from the tryout, or they at least know going in that they are a long shot.

We do a clinic and try-out which is coming up in a few weeks, but I think this has been helpful in doing that. It has been especially great for tumbling, because we normally don't work on it much during the clinic and you throw what you have... At these practices, it's been all jumps, conditioning and lots of focus on tumbling. This weeded the girls out that never want to tumble or even try, which has been great.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

We do a clinic and try-out which is coming up in a few weeks, but I think this has been helpful in doing that. It has been especially great for tumbling, because we normally don't work on it much during the clinic and you throw what you have... At these practices, it's been all jumps, conditioning and lots of focus on tumbling. This weeded the girls out that never want to tumble or even try, which has been great.

Isn't it nice when they cut themselves?

 

[CoachTamara]

Isn't it nice when they cut themselves?

YES. Saves me a lot of trouble, time, and fundraising.

 

[Official OWECheer]

I'm a long time lurker, but I've decided to put my two cents in on this conversation. I've really struggled to build my program at the high school I coach. When I first came in, it was kind of joke: varsity was only doing preps and they were very poorly executed, girls would decided when to come to practice, and when they would come, there were often excuses as to why they couldn't do what I was asking. The school didn't take us seriously and the girls were often "booed" at performances. I decided to make the the tryout process more put together and more organized so that it might be taken more seriously by the students trying out. I actually made all tryout clinic days mandatory, I made requirements to be on Varsity, and I put in a grade requirement. We've always focused on learning a cheer, a dance, and jumps for tryouts. But after two years of having this tryout process, it has not gone over well at all. We have gone way down in the number of people trying out and we tend to lose quite a bit over the course of the tryout process. So this year I'm changing it up a bit. We will only be learning a dance and the rest of the time will be focused on stunting. We are also doing a no cut tryout in terms of score. If they have an awful attitude and no work ethic, we will definitely not be taking them. My hope is that we will keep the interest of students longer, so that they actually make it to the tryout. We also wanted to bulk up our program, so that if we do have people quit or have to remove people we still have a team (this year our jv went from 15 to 7 because we had to remove so many). This is a short term goal, meaning I'm hoping we can go back to our normal tryout process in a year or so... once we are able to build our team the way we want and need. I'm just hoping I can find something that works for this school!

My fingers are crossed for you!

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I don't know how you structure your actual tryout, but I have become a firm believer that having kids SEE who they are trying out against goes a long way towards cutting out tryout drama based on team selections. We let them watch each other do their skills and their cheer/fight song. Once people can see that they are outmatched by some of their peers, they sometimes remove themselves from the tryout, or they at least know going in that they are a long shot.

This is why I use stations.

The only sort of private part is stunting because we go one group at a time once stations are complete.

You can physically SEE that Rebecca just landed her tuck before you at the tumbling station.

You can tell your mom I played faves and Rebecca made it because "she cheered last year" but I bet you won't have your mom call me because you know you're lying. You saw her out-tumble you.

This is also why I have clinics and open gyms.


In the event that you think you're God's gift to cheerleading because you're on a half year Senior 2 (real athlete) and spent a year on JV, it really humbles you to walk into a clinic and see 40 girls fulling up to libs and throwing standing tucks when you just got your BHS series.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

I'm a long time lurker, but I've decided to put my two cents in on this conversation. I've really struggled to build my program at the high school I coach. When I first came in, it was kind of joke: varsity was only doing preps and they were very poorly executed, girls would decided when to come to practice, and when they would come, there were often excuses as to why they couldn't do what I was asking. The school didn't take us seriously and the girls were often "booed" at performances. I decided to make the the tryout process more put together and more organized so that it might be taken more seriously by the students trying out. I actually made all tryout clinic days mandatory, I made requirements to be on Varsity, and I put in a grade requirement. We've always focused on learning a cheer, a dance, and jumps for tryouts. But after two years of having this tryout process, it has not gone over well at all. We have gone way down in the number of people trying out and we tend to lose quite a bit over the course of the tryout process. So this year I'm changing it up a bit. We will only be learning a dance and the rest of the time will be focused on stunting. We are also doing a no cut tryout in terms of score. If they have an awful attitude and no work ethic, we will definitely not be taking them. My hope is that we will keep the interest of students longer, so that they actually make it to the tryout. We also wanted to bulk up our program, so that if we do have people quit or have to remove people we still have a team (this year our jv went from 15 to 7 because we had to remove so many). This is a short term goal, meaning I'm hoping we can go back to our normal tryout process in a year or so... once we are able to build our team the way we want and need. I'm just hoping I can find something that works for this school!

I have some resources on turning around athletic programs that you might find interesting. Please feel free to PM me with an E-Mail address and we can talk about how to turn this around for you. Your situation sounds almost untenable.

 

[AScheer]

I had a few that didn't "get it". One year I had a kid who was on JV (in a place where we took almost all - not ALL) if there was potential on JV.. after 2 years of being on JV, she was not lunging into a cartwheel and stepping overherself. I tried to use an analogy of a gymnast.. It was last year, an olympic year... I said do you see what gymnasts do when they are lunging into their roundoff, especially pomininent on the balance beam.. kid looks me dead in the face and says I have never watched gymnastics... Same issues with motions, she would "mirror" someone, and then we as coaches would correct, and then explain, and then try again.. and still nothing. Suzie, please be sure you match Jenny... I do (meanwhile arm is completely turned a different way)... some just don't get it!

Part of me envies those kids that just don't get it. What a happy, delusional, rose colored world they must live in.

 

[AScheer]

I'm a long time lurker, but I've decided to put my two cents in on this conversation. I've really struggled to build my program at the high school I coach. When I first came in, it was kind of joke: varsity was only doing preps and they were very poorly executed, girls would decided when to come to practice, and when they would come, there were often excuses as to why they couldn't do what I was asking. The school didn't take us seriously and the girls were often "booed" at performances. I decided to make the the tryout process more put together and more organized so that it might be taken more seriously by the students trying out. I actually made all tryout clinic days mandatory, I made requirements to be on Varsity, and I put in a grade requirement. We've always focused on learning a cheer, a dance, and jumps for tryouts. But after two years of having this tryout process, it has not gone over well at all. We have gone way down in the number of people trying out and we tend to lose quite a bit over the course of the tryout process. So this year I'm changing it up a bit. We will only be learning a dance and the rest of the time will be focused on stunting. We are also doing a no cut tryout in terms of score. If they have an awful attitude and no work ethic, we will definitely not be taking them. My hope is that we will keep the interest of students longer, so that they actually make it to the tryout. We also wanted to bulk up our program, so that if we do have people quit or have to remove people we still have a team (this year our jv went from 15 to 7 because we had to remove so many). This is a short term goal, meaning I'm hoping we can go back to our normal tryout process in a year or so... once we are able to build our team the way we want and need. I'm just hoping I can find something that works for this school!

Do you have any connections with your feeder school? Could be ways to start their interest young.

 

[Chelseadrew]

Do you have any connections with your feeder school? Could be ways to start their interest young.

I don't really have connections, even though I've tried. The times I've tried to connect with our Jr. High's to either put up posters advertising clinics or tryouts, or to perform at the schools to garner interest in becoming a member of the team, my admin tells me it isn't possible or I don't hear back from the Jr. High's. Plus, we have 6 feeder Jr. High's (we're in a very large district in California). It's heartbreaking because I've been coaching for quite a long time, but I can't seem to have any breakthroughs with this school.

 

[Chelseadrew]

My fingers are crossed for you!

Thank you!!

 

[EWalsh1029]

H.S. GIRLS BASKETBALL: Braintree coach steps down - Sports - The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA - Quincy, MA

Thought this would be an interesting read for some, as tryout season approaches and I'm sure we will all have our fair share of parents.

In case anyone wanted an update/more information on this. The source isn't the best (it's kind of a 'trashy' local media source that tends to call people out - so if it offends anyone - sorry in advance) but this popped up on my timeline today. Makes me feel a bit better knowing I wasn't the only coach dealing with parents like this!

Here’s The INSANE Emails Out Of Control Braintree Parents Sent Coach Kelly McDonnell That Forced The 2 Time State Champion To Resign – Turtleboy

 

[Twinklestars]

In case anyone wanted an update/more information on this. The source isn't the best (it's kind of a 'trashy' local media source that tends to call people out - so if it offends anyone - sorry in advance) but this popped up on my timeline today. Makes me feel a bit better knowing I wasn't the only coach dealing with parents like this!

Here’s The INSANE Emails Out Of Control Braintree Parents Sent Coach Kelly McDonnell That Forced The 2 Time State Champion To Resign – Turtleboy

I hate this, but it is nice to see that other sports have these issues.

I know this happens with male coaches also, but does it happen as often?

ETA: nice isn't the right word. Can't think of the correct one at the moment