High School Ugh (lack Of Discipline / Motivation)

[Tyler Henne]

Does anyone have (or had) a problem with coaches not doing anything about their rowdy and dysfunctional teams?

Personally, as an athlete, I have an urge to take over my coach's team and tell my team to stop talking for once. I've had this problem even with my last team, and haven't been to a single competition due to this and honestly it's bringing not only me down, but the team's reputation down.

I'm not saying it's completely a coach's fault, but when most of our practices involve the team talking about some random boy or about the next trend on Instagram and there isn't really any intervention, something has to be going on.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Does anyone have (or had) a problem with coaches not doing anything about their rowdy and dysfunctional teams?

Personally, as an athlete, I have an urge to take over my coach's team and tell my team to stop talking for once. I've had this problem even with my last team, and haven't been to a single competition due to this and honestly it's bringing not only me down, but the team's reputation down.

I'm not saying it's completely a coach's fault, but when most of our practices involve the team talking about some random boy or about the next trend on Instagram and there isn't really any intervention, something has to be going on.

Bumping this. How do your coaches work with THAT much talking? It has to be interfering with your preparation for competitions.

 

[KPep]

Does anyone have (or had) a problem with coaches not doing anything about their rowdy and dysfunctional teams?

Personally, as an athlete, I have an urge to take over my coach's team and tell my team to stop talking for once. I've had this problem even with my last team, and haven't been to a single competition due to this and honestly it's bringing not only me down, but the team's reputation down.

I'm not saying it's completely a coach's fault, but when most of our practices involve the team talking about some random boy or about the next trend on Instagram and there isn't really any intervention, something has to be going on.

First things first: Have you talked to your coach about it?

 

[Joanie]

First things first: Have you talked to your coach about it?

I agree with this. Talk to your coach about it first. You don't want to seem like you're taking matters into your own hands and trying to undermine authority. Recommend having a sit down with your team and let your coaches and teammates know that they're better than this.

While you have good intentions, "taking over the team" is a great way to come off as a trouble maker and ruin your relationship with your coach and your reputation with school officials. I know you don't mean it like that, but that is how people will take it.

Has your coach tried any form of disciplinary action?

 

[Tealxblack25]

As a coach, I can tell you that when an athlete stands up for their coach to the team and asks the team to stop talking. From a coaches perspective, it makes me feel good and like ok some people have my back. Some athletes may not like it but if they have a problem with it they probably are the ones doing the "crime"

 

[quitthedrama]

My CP deals with a similar environment. Talking to the coach (or AD or principal) likely won't do a darn thing except get the coach and the dysfunctional teammates to have a chip on their shoulder towards you. Coaches are the ones who control the culture of the team. When they run practices this way they are probably only there for the paycheck and could care less how the team looks and acts. I know how frustrating it is and I'm sorry you're dealing with it.

 

[coacha]

are probably only there for the paycheck

LOL! Do you have any idea how little cheer coaches make? I could make more per hour at McDonalds.

Yes, there are bad coaches out there. I'm not sure why they coach, but I'd be shocked if any do it for the paycheck.

 

[quitthedrama]

LOL! Do you have any idea how little cheer coaches make? I could make more per hour at McDonalds.

Yes, there are bad coaches out there. I'm not sure why they coach, but I'd be shocked if any do it for the paycheck.

I coached, so yes I do. Since it is a set payment and not hourly, good coaches put the time in and so their hourly is low. In my CP's case, they practice 4 hours a week (and it's at the gymnastics facility the head coach owns and the assistant works at and they tag team "coaching" and working), so per hour they have themselves a pretty good deal.

 

[cheer25mom]

LOL! Do you have any idea how little cheer coaches make? I could make more per hour at McDonalds.

Yes, there are bad coaches out there. I'm not sure why they coach, but I'd be shocked if any do it for the paycheck.

When they are teachers that get a class period off to coach cheer and another one for planning they are often there for the extra planning/ free time. Also, in many places teachers get a substantial pay supplement to coach. Several thousand extra dollars.

 

[Official OWECheer]

LOL! Do you have any idea how little cheer coaches make? I could make more per hour at McDonalds.

Yes, there are bad coaches out there. I'm not sure why they coach, but I'd be shocked if any do it for the paycheck.

Also keep in mind that there are teachers who coach cheer not out of passion, but for the $ and so they put in as few hours a week as possible.

 

[tojofasho]

When they are teachers that get a class period off to coach cheer and another one for planning they are often there for the extra planning/ free time. Also, in many places teachers get a substantial pay supplement to coach. Several thousand extra dollars.

So as a math teacher/coach, I really like putting things numerically because it helps me process. If you don't like numbers, probably don't read this post. I'm 100% probably going to accidentally offend someone with what I'm about to say, but I swear that's not my intention. I JUST WANT TO BREAK IT DOWN.

Let me start by saying that there are some terrible coaches out there and I'm sorry if you've dealt with one in your experience. I've had parents who have literally thought I was the worst coach ever because I wasn't the same as the old coach, and who said I did it for the money or the power (that one makes me laugh, we have no power). But I guarantee that almost everyone who coaches either care about kids or cares about cheer; if they're coaching a high school team (all star I can't speak to), we are making a decent wage, but not a great one, and definitely not one that's worth all the hassle unless you truly love the sport.

Now let's break it down! Every teacher/cheer coach I've ever spoken to gets one of the things you listed - either the class period where they coach instead of teach (with maybe a small $500 stipend added on), or the 'substantial' paycheck (around $3000, pre tax). My school goes with the second option, but let me tell you, even if I was a terrible coach who only put in the bare minimum, I would not be making very much per hour when you break it down.

Let's say I only do 4 hours of practice a week, attended all home football (4 hours each), away football (5.5 hours with driving time on average), and home basketball (2.5 hours each) games, and did not compete or work at all outside of practice on anything. These are the terms listed in my contract, so they're all I really 'need' to do to get the job (though I probably wouldn't be able to keep it past a year).

The contracted cheer coaching season is 31 weeks from August to February (and then you take out 3 weeks for fall/winter breaks, since I'm a terrible coach and wouldn't dream of practicing over them, bringing it down to 28 weeks total). Assuming I put in that measly 4 hours every week, that's 112 hours of practice time.
For my five home football games, that's 20 hours.
For my five away games, that's 27.5 hours.
For my home basketball games (both men and women is twenty two total), I'm adding 55 hours.
So by putting in the absolute bare minimum contract hours, the coach is still putting in 214.5 hours. Pre-tax, that's making a little under $14 per hour.
Keep in mind this shows none of the behind-the-scene work (choreographing routines, putting in facility requests, going through finances, ordering materials, finding a practice location, attending any outside team event, etc.). Many people who have never coached don't realize how much time is spent outside of practice on these girls - to put it in perspective, I spend about 2-3 hours per week doing all of these things (then again, I also practice for 10 hours a week with my girls so clearly I'm not doing the bare minimum, but still, even a crappy coach would probably do like 30 minutes of this stuff a week because they had to).

So yeah, $14 per hour. That's more than minimum wage, sure, but it's nothing groundbreaking. And that's with the bare minimum workload. To put that $14 per hour into perspective, my first summer job was as a lifeguard - and I made $15 per hour when I did that while eighteen years old. Plus, here in AZ you can lifeguard year round, so in theory I would make way more as a lifeguard than I would as a sucky cheer coach.

Now again, this is just my personal experience, and I'm sure the pay amounts vary between schools, districts, states, etc., but I doubt anyone coaching in the high school setting is making anything close to a substantial wage. Sure they may suck, but they're not doing it for the money. They probably just aren't passionate about what they do and are just trying to make it through the year - if they really were the absolute worst, they would just quit halfway through the season and ruin the team. So they're staying in it for some reason.

This is the end of my very lengthy math post. I apologize to anyone who I offended with my math speak, or anyone I accidentally offended by talking about coaching. Anyone who read this far, you get all the shimmies in my heart.

 

[tojofasho]

As a coach, I can tell you that when an athlete stands up for their coach to the team and asks the team to stop talking. From a coaches perspective, it makes me feel good and like ok some people have my back. Some athletes may not like it but if they have a problem with it they probably are the ones doing the "crime"

Sorry for the double post, but this x1000 is amazing. I am stern with my girls so much that it's almost refreshing to hear someone else keep them in line. I love when my girls will say things like "Hey stop talking, coach is talking." I would only get annoyed if they literally tried to overtake the team and undermine my authority (sending out texts telling girls they were going to get kicked off, fighting me in front of the team, etc.).

Try talking to your coach before/after practice in a private setting. I always tell my girls I'm open for suggestions ALWAYS, but if they try and suggest things (like switching stunt groups) during practice, I get annoyed. Before/after is always best!

 

[cheer25mom]

So as a math teacher/coach, I really like putting things numerically because it helps me process. If you don't like numbers, probably don't read this post. I'm 100% probably going to accidentally offend someone with what I'm about to say, but I swear that's not my intention. I JUST WANT TO BREAK IT DOWN.

Let me start by saying that there are some terrible coaches out there and I'm sorry if you've dealt with one in your experience. I've had parents who have literally thought I was the worst coach ever because I wasn't the same as the old coach, and who said I did it for the money or the power (that one makes me laugh, we have no power). But I guarantee that almost everyone who coaches either care about kids or cares about cheer; if they're coaching a high school team (all star I can't speak to), we are making a decent wage, but not a great one, and definitely not one that's worth all the hassle unless you truly love the sport.

Now let's break it down! Every teacher/cheer coach I've ever spoken to gets one of the things you listed - either the class period where they coach instead of teach (with maybe a small $500 stipend added on), or the 'substantial' paycheck (around $3000, pre tax). My school goes with the second option, but let me tell you, even if I was a terrible coach who only put in the bare minimum, I would not be making very much per hour when you break it down.

Let's say I only do 4 hours of practice a week, attended all home football (4 hours each), away football (5.5 hours with driving time on average), and home basketball (2.5 hours each) games, and did not compete or work at all outside of practice on anything. These are the terms listed in my contract, so they're all I really 'need' to do to get the job (though I probably wouldn't be able to keep it past a year).

The contracted cheer coaching season is 31 weeks from August to February (and then you take out 3 weeks for fall/winter breaks, since I'm a terrible coach and wouldn't dream of practicing over them, bringing it down to 28 weeks total). Assuming I put in that measly 4 hours every week, that's 112 hours of practice time.
For my five home football games, that's 20 hours.
For my five away games, that's 27.5 hours.
For my home basketball games (both men and women is twenty two total), I'm adding 55 hours.
So by putting in the absolute bare minimum contract hours, the coach is still putting in 214.5 hours. Pre-tax, that's making a little under $14 per hour.
Keep in mind this shows none of the behind-the-scene work (choreographing routines, putting in facility requests, going through finances, ordering materials, finding a practice location, attending any outside team event, etc.). Many people who have never coached don't realize how much time is spent outside of practice on these girls - to put it in perspective, I spend about 2-3 hours per week doing all of these things (then again, I also practice for 10 hours a week with my girls so clearly I'm not doing the bare minimum, but still, even a crappy coach would probably do like 30 minutes of this stuff a week because they had to).

So yeah, $14 per hour. That's more than minimum wage, sure, but it's nothing groundbreaking. And that's with the bare minimum workload. To put that $14 per hour into perspective, my first summer job was as a lifeguard - and I made $15 per hour when I did that while eighteen years old. Plus, here in AZ you can lifeguard year round, so in theory I would make way more as a lifeguard than I would as a sucky cheer coach.

Now again, this is just my personal experience, and I'm sure the pay amounts vary between schools, districts, states, etc., but I doubt anyone coaching in the high school setting is making anything close to a substantial wage. Sure they may suck, but they're not doing it for the money. They probably just aren't passionate about what they do and are just trying to make it through the year - if they really were the absolute worst, they would just quit halfway through the season and ruin the team. So they're staying in it for some reason.

This is the end of my very lengthy math post. I apologize to anyone who I offended with my math speak, or anyone I accidentally offended by talking about coaching. Anyone who read this far, you get all the shimmies in my heart.

Math works way differently in our district. Cheer coaches get $3500 a year plus a "cheer block" which means no after school practices. Football games and home basketball games are the ONLY required out of school time. Some coaches go above and beyond, do amazing things, etc. Some are only in it for the money and extra planning time they get by ignoring the team.

I have coached. I know what it takes to do it right, but I have also come across coaches who are only doing it for the stipend and don't care.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[tojofasho]

Math works way differently in our district. Cheer coaches get $3500 a year plus a "cheer block" which means no after school practices. Football games and home basketball games are the ONLY required out of school time. Some coaches go above and beyond, do amazing things, etc. Some are only in it for the money and extra planning time they get by ignoring the team.

I have coached. I know what it takes to do it right, but I have also come across coaches who are only doing it for the stipend and don't care.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Interesting to know, I've never heard of that. Is that back east where cheerleading is big? I'm genuinely curious, our school couldn't give two poops what our cheer team does as long as we practice and show up to support the other teams on campus, so I doubt they'd ever move to a system like that. But I'd love to know where that does happen, that's awesome!

 

[KPep]

Math works way differently in our district. Cheer coaches get $3500 a year plus a "cheer block" which means no after school practices. Football games and home basketball games are the ONLY required out of school time. Some coaches go above and beyond, do amazing things, etc. Some are only in it for the money and extra planning time they get by ignoring the team.

I wanna be paid like that! I barely get half!