High School ...who Made The Squad???

[gi_cheer]

Tryout season is upon us! I'm wondering about creative ways to find out you made the team!
When I was in high school we did "kidnapping" where you would get picked up at your house when you made the squad and they old sqaud would take you out for night. That's no longer allowed though b/c its considered hazing.
Last year my girls were brought into the gym in groups and told that they either made the team or didn't. If the made the squad they got flowers and were escorted to the locker room where they waited to take team pics. If they didn't make it the got a letter thanking them for trying out and encouraging them to tryout again the next year.

So what are creative ways YOU or someone your know found out you made the squad? How does your team do it?

 

[AScheer]

Nothing creative about the way we do it! We post it online. We've found it to be the easiest way. It's always hard for the girls that don't make it, this way they aren't embarrassed in front of everyone else and they don't have to see all the happy girls celebrating while they're crying. We also do it on the weekend before our two week spring break. It gives plenty of time for the girls to get over it and be okay before having to return to school.

 

[MissBee]

As fun as those creative ways are for the girls who make the team, they are heartbreaking for those who don't. I agree 100%, for any sports team, that posting tryout numbers on a team website on a Friday evening is the best way. That way kids can find out in private, and have the weekend to process the results. I was cut from my middle school cheer team (it was the early 90s and I had a standing tuck, everyone else had cartwheels....the "coach" just didn't like me). The results (names) were posted on the cafeteria door at dismissal one afternoon. I had to see that I didn't make the team, walk through the school and out to the bus, and ride the whole way home, trying to hold back the tears. It sucked. I would try to spare any other child that experience.

 

[kem1129]

i totally agree with MissBee i'm sure it's very fun for the girls who make the team to be treated so special but at the same time it's embarrassing and totally upsetting for the girls who didn't and i don't think its fair to them. my high school team made phone calls to every single girl who tried out to be told if you made the team or not. if you didn't make the team the coach explained to you what you should work on for next year's tryouts and encouraged the girls to come back next year. i liked this system a lot because nothing was done publicly and if you didn't make the team you could at least get some explanation as to why you didn't. we also had a team meeting the very next morning for everyone who made the team so that there was not asking in school who made the team which could get awkward for the girls who didn't if they got asked in front of other people.

 

[MissBee]

i totally agree with MissBee i'm sure it's very fun for the girls who make the team to be treated so special but at the same time it's embarrassing and totally upsetting for the girls who didn't and i don't think its fair to them. my high school team made phone calls to every single girl who tried out to be told if you made the team or not. if you didn't make the team the coach explained to you what you should work on for next year's tryouts and encouraged the girls to come back next year. i liked this system a lot because nothing was done publicly and if you didn't make the team you could at least get some explanation as to why you didn't. we also had a team meeting the very next morning for everyone who made the team so that there was not asking in school who made the team which could get awkward for the girls who didn't if they got asked in front of other people.

That is classy!

 

[BuegeSmalls]

Every year I've been in cheer (except for last year) the coaches would read the list of who made what team after all the tryouts had been finished but last year after everything was all done they called us in the room one by one and told us what team we made, results were also posted online for those who couldn't stay till the end.

 

[gi_cheer]

Sorry...guess I should have clarified. Those who didn't make it weren't told in front of anyone else. They were in the room with just the coach. Then they were direct out opposite doors and were able to leave out of the school in a way where they didn't have to see anyone else including the girls who were still waiting to find out. They didn't have to do the "walk of shame"....they could just leave if they wanted to. We also do it on a friday so they have the weekend to regroup before having to go to school.

I totally get how heartbreaking it can be to not make the team. I was cut from my high school team the first time I tried out. It was awful.

 

[gi_cheer]

So I'm looking for creative ways for the girls to who did make it to find out w/o embarrasing or doing any harm to those who didn't make it.

 

[Haley042197]

At my school they just post the list of girls who made it outside of the high school gym.

 

[ONE44cheer]

We post numbers after tryouts.

 

[Tosh]

Each person get a number (privately) and the numbers are posted on the website after tryouts are completed.....so only the individuals who made it/or not are aware of who they are.....of course some of use tell what our numbers are, but I like it this way.

BTW, how many days are tryouts? We do a total of 4 days.....learn a dance, cheer, review motions and jumps and practice stunting the first three days and then day four we are divided into groups of 4/5 and have to do our motions, jumps, dance and cheer as a group in front of the judges, then we individually do standing and running tumbling.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

We usually have 4 days, the first three are clinic days where you learn all the material and the last one is the actual tryout.
Everyone is assigned two groups, a stunting group & a tryout group. Stunt groups are called in first, and they just place you randomly with people. Last year I tried out with two girls that had never cheered before, and I'm a senior. Everyone has to do at least a half cradle (lame, but some for some people this is their first time stunting), but you can do an extension or full down if your group is comfortable with it. You also stunt with your group a few times during the clinic days. Then after all the stunts are done then the tryout groups go in (groups of 3 or 4) and do the dance, cheer, fight song, jumps,and running/standing tumbling.

 

[SmileyRyleigh]

As fun as those creative ways are for the girls who make the team, they are heartbreaking for those who don't. I agree 100%, for any sports team, that posting tryout numbers on a team website on a Friday evening is the best way. That way kids can find out in private, and have the weekend to process the results. I was cut from my middle school cheer team (it was the early 90s and I had a standing tuck, everyone else had cartwheels....the "coach" just didn't like me). The results (names) were posted on the cafeteria door at dismissal one afternoon. I had to see that I didn't make the team, walk through the school and out to the bus, and ride the whole way home, trying to hold back the tears. It sucked. I would try to spare any other child that experience.

same thing happened to me all three years.

 

[SmileyRyleigh]

We usually have 4 days of tryouts (stunting, learning the dance, cheer, and working on jumps and motions. day 4 we get our numbers that we try out in.) after everyone tries out, we all get envelopes with our numbers on it, and we get a note inside either congratulating us that we made it, or saying we did not and encouraging us to try again next year.

 

[AScheer]

4 days long. 3 are clinics and the fourth is tryouts in groups of 3. We don't stunt at ours because there are usually around 60 - 70 girls and most have never stunted before. Its not worth it to risk injury to the girls that do know what they are doing stunting with those that don't! Last year we did tumbling tryout on the 3rd night of clinics and it worked so well. It shortened the actual tryout so much by not having every girl do their tumbling the day of, they already go into tryouts with that score.