All-Star Would You Send Your Child To A Gym Where The Head Coach Had No Personal Cheer Experience?

[AngelsMum24]

Excellent point. The gym is also putting themselves at greater financial liability by allowing an un-certified person to coach. A little piece of paper that certifies you know what you already know can be a huge benefit in the event of a lawsuit.

Just curious, how does rec cheer get around that? There is a NAYS membership and a cheer course that is super basic. I don't remember having to take the concussion training for NAYS, either. I am USASF credentialed and AACCA certified, but just curious.

 

[Michael White]

Just curious, how does rec cheer get around that? There is a NAYS membership and a cheer course that is super basic. I don't remember having to take the concussion training for NAYS, either. I am USASF credentialed and AACCA certified, but just curious.

Or any high school coach? Should every person involved in any level of cheer be certified for all levels?

(Edit: since there is a large variation in school cheer.)

 

[AngelsMum24]

Or any high school coach? Should every person involved in any level of cheer be certified for all levels?

(Edit: since there is a large variation in school cheer.)

It is my understanding high school should be AACCA certified and additional insurance can be provided by being an NFHS member.

 

[NerdMobile]

I will just put this out there- my daughter has skills well in advance of a back handspring. A year or so ago, on the tumble track she did her back handspring- that was it- a back handspring. Somehow she broke her wrist- in three places. We have awesome insurance- but I did not have my card with me that night when we went to the ER. Though I called with the info the next day, the initial bills arrived without insurance processing. Your insurance would not have been enough for just that visit. We had a referral to a pediatric ortho (potential growth plate issue) and all the subsequent visits. One little injury...massive bills (so thankful for the $20 copay for me that covered it all in the end).

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

Just curious, how does rec cheer get around that? There is a NAYS membership and a cheer course that is super basic. I don't remember having to take the concussion training for NAYS, either. I am USASF credentialed and AACCA certified, but just curious.

I think rec gets around it because those coaches are volunteers and you probably can't "require" volutneers to get certified.

I think a lot of people would be amazed if they found out what industries don't require certification to be in a place of leadership. Yoga, zumba, personal trainers, fitness instuctors, etc don't require licensing or certification to call themselves those things.

I also don't believe that a certification is the end all be all for a coach. Certifications help in legal cases and can help regulate an industry. It doesn't make a bad coach good and the absence of a certication doesn't make a good coach bad. Years of experience and hours of training makes a good coach good - probably far more training than the certification requires.

Getting certified or having credentials shows you've demonstrated atleast a minimum amount of knowledge and practice in the thing - that you're credible and/or competant enough to perform a task and to pass a test. It isn't always a marker of a good coach.

For me personally, if I were looking for a coach in an industry that doesn't not require certifications or credentials, there is a tipping point where the experience and outcomes of a coach outweighs an absense of a certification. But that's just me.

 

[CLynn]

Not sure exactly about rec, although when my daughters cheered rec. they had significant limitations on what they could do (stunts to prep levels, only backwalkers, etc). I think even our high school only allows handsprings...

Back to the original question, I wouldn't mind if the leaders were split between a cheer person/business person but I would expect that cheer person to have experience. There are just so many opportunities along the way to gain that experience, I would question why they never obtained any at some point. That said, I guess if my daughter were joining after year one or two, that owner would now have some experience....

 

[SL&AM]

I'm asking just because I'm curious. Is certification really that important? Is it a deal breaker? I've coached 2 years, spotted levels 1-4 tumbling (20 hours a week) as a part time job for 2.5 years, and I cheered 2 years in college, 3 in all star, and have been an NCA instructor. Never have I been certified in anything except CPR and first aid.

If CP's coach wasn't certified, she wouldn't be there. It's something I have verified at every single gym we have ever been to.

 

[SL&AM]

I would never let an athlete throw a skill where that was a possibility though. I know no one plans for an accident, but I'm very careful. Plus, I've never heard of an injury that severe, does it happen often? I'm sure it does, but I've never heard of it. The only time any athlete has been injured while working with me is when a girl, who has her handspring, threw a handspring and broke two bones across the back of her hand. It was a skill she's landed successfully hundreds of times. $25000 would have definitely paid for the expenses. I went with $25000 because it was suggested as a good figure by the insurance agency.

Look up the case where a little girl was doing a routine backwalk over in her living room and is now paralyzed from the waist down. Sometimes freak accidents don't happen because an athlete is being careless and throwing skills beyond them---but if that were you and you were coaching that child at that second, then what?

At a competition last season we had a Tiny ambulanced from a competition for shattering her entire wrist while doing a BWO; a skill she had mastered for quite some time; again, freak accident.

 

[quitthedrama]

Just curious, how does rec cheer get around that? There is a NAYS membership and a cheer course that is super basic. I don't remember having to take the concussion training for NAYS, either. I am USASF credentialed and AACCA certified, but just curious.

Rec cheer (i.e Pop Warner) is likely covered under the national umbrella insurance. That is what part of the registration fees go towards. They are also non-profit, which makes a difference in the court system. If you are a private, for-profit business and you are allowing coaches who do not have proper certification to coach under your roof, you are putting yourself at a large financial risk if something were to happen. The court is going to look at school or rec cheer much differently.
I completely agree that the certification doesn't necessarily make a coach "better", but if I'm paying someone to coach my child, I want them certified.

 

[Michael White]

Rec cheer (i.e Pop Warner) is likely covered under the national umbrella insurance. That is what part of the registration fees go towards. They are also non-profit, which makes a difference in the court system. If you are a private, for-profit business and you are allowing coaches who do not have proper certification to coach under your roof, you are putting yourself at a large financial risk if something were to happen. The court is going to look at school or rec cheer much differently.
I completely agree that the certification doesn't necessarily make a coach "better", but if I'm paying someone to coach my child, I want them certified.

I guess in my opinion there's just something flawed with the system then. A certification should not be optional, and if it is so important as everyone seems to think it is, then it shouldn't be prohibitively expensive. My CPR/First Aid course was $25.

 

[cheer25mom]

I guess in my opinion there's just something flawed with the system then. A certification should not be optional, and if it is so important as everyone seems to think it is, then it shouldn't be prohibitively expensive. My CPR/First Aid course was $25.

Many, many job required certifications cost thousands of dollars, it's a cost if doing business. IMO it should be expensive, involved, and extensive. You literally have the lives of children in your hands. You should have to commit financially and time wise to their safety.


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[SL&AM]

Many, many job required certifications cost thousands of dollars, it's a cost if doing business. IMO it should be expensive, involved, and extensive. You literally have the lives of children in your hands. You should have to commit financially and time wise to their safety.


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This. For my mom to keep her license in accounting (she's a CPA) she has to do x amounts of credits per year and then continue to re-apply for her license every so often and it cost her in the thousands every year to do so.

 

[mamabear]

CP left a gym where one of the owners had very little experience in cheer , yet coached of one of the older teams. The gym also had other coaches who were brand new to the sport , who headed teams and/or tumbling. In contrast, at the gym that CP switched to, almost all the head coaches have won Worlds, as either a coach or an athlete. The difference of the level of instruction and compassion is immense. Knowing what I know now, I would not allow my CP to be coached by someone who did not cheer (unless they had several years of coaching experience or are certified gymnastics instructors.) The knowledge that comes with a BTDT experience is too valuable to ignore, imo.

I definitely think that a non-athlete can own and run a gym successfully (especially if they have a strong business background) but now I would be very hesitant for CP to be coached solely by a novice, especially one who seems eager to title themselves as a director/head coach.

As for certification, Micheal, I think you are playing a risky game. Please listen to the others.It is amazing how quickly medical bills add up and how fast people are to try to blame others. Sadly, you would be an easy target without certification. It is kind of amazing that you have seen so few injuries. In my five years of being an all star mom, I have seen countless ones.

 

[Michael White]

Many, many job required certifications cost thousands of dollars, it's a cost if doing business. IMO it should be expensive, involved, and extensive. You literally have the lives of children in your hands. You should have to commit financially and time wise to their safety.


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I agree that usually certification is on the person getting certified, I will have to get certifications at my new place of business. The difference is I'll be making $1000 a week, not $60 a week.

 

[cheer25mom]

I agree that usually certification is on the person getting certified, I will have to get certifications at my new place of business. The difference is I'll be making $1000 a week, not $60 a week.

If you are making $60 a week coaching, then you need to find another place to do it. I don't see how it's even worth your time at that point.


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