All-Star Alternates

[CheerDadof2]

My cp's old gym started doing alternates this summer. They got rid of some lower level teams and put the kids who didn't quite have the skills for level x as alternates for that team. My understanding is that they were to practice with the team but would not compete with the team until they had the skills they needed to compete well with the team assigned.

We left before they did this so I'm not sure how well it's working, especially with all the gyms people can go to in the area. I have heard they've lost quite a few and have seen people visiting other gyms - well seen as in Facebook status

Can't imagine it would work very well for Allstar at all, IMO.

 

[minamay]

My cp's old gym started doing alternates this summer. They got rid of some lower level teams and put the kids who didn't quite have the skills for level x as alternates for that team. My understanding is that they were to practice with the team but would not compete with the team until they had the skills they needed to compete well with the team assigned.

We left before they did this so I'm not sure how well it's working, especially with all the gyms people can go to in the area. I have heard they've lost quite a few and have seen people visiting other gyms - well seen as in Facebook status

Can't imagine it would work very well for Allstar at all, IMO.

Agreed. From a monetary stand point, why in the world would you pay the same money as someone on the squad who gets all the perks while you get little to nothing? Seems like the short end of the stick to me.

I just don't think the idea of alternates works well for our sport. This isn't football where you can throw players X, Y, and Z in a position and have them all know how to play it.

 

[jessicamay]

My sophomore year in high school I was placed as an alternate on our school's competitive team. I had better tumbling and stunting skills than 3/4 of the team. I asked the coach why I was placed as an alternate and she said that it was due to my bad grades (I had a 2.5 GPA around that time... :() It was mandatory that I attended every single practice, meeting, workout, etc. When they practiced I was supposed to learn every part of the routine, but never was supposed to compete. They ended up having my fly in every stunt and I efficently learned the entire routine. It turned out that I was doing more than the majority of the regular team was, so I asked my coach if I could be considered part of the "real" team. (Keep in mind that I wasn't failing any of my classes.) And my coach said no. Flat out, no. I was frustrated and felt unappreciated. I ended up leaving the team and not returning back to tryout at my school ever again. Instead I kept with my allstar cheerleading career and I'm glad I did :)

So pretty much, I feel like when an athlete is strictly as an alternate, it's harboring them and makes them feel useless and lesser than the rest of the team. Esp if there's room for them on the regular team. AND if they're qualified for it.

 

[alliebby33]

This past season I started out the season on senior 4 (I didn't have any level 4 tumbling, but we were a first year gym and I'm a pretty strong base). In September I had to quit because of personal reasons, but my coaches still wanted me on the team. The week before the first competition (November) I was asked to fill in because a girl was hurt. There were soo many injuries this year and I ended up filling in for all but one competition. So I was technically the alternate for senior 4. In January, they made our senior 2 large and asked me to be on it full time so I got to do that, and still filled in on senior 4 for the rest of the season, minus the one comp where there were miraculously no injuries.

 

[INeverStopCheering]

We don't do the whole alternate thing. If we have a problem we just pull someone. You could do alternates in Allstars, I wish we did. It would go like this:

Senior 3 is chosen . But there are three alternates (kids from other teams) a flyer, base, and back, who attend some of the practices (maybe just the Saturday ones) to get a feel for the routine. That way if something happened they'd be prepared. It also gives coaches the power to actually enforce punishments. I feel like coaches are hesitant to bench kids for breaking rules, but if there are alternates, they have an actual threat

 

[canttouchthis]

im not a fan of the idea and if your paying the same but your an alternate you better talk to your own that just dumb

 

[alexamarysouza]

Im not quite sure how my gym handles it, but this was my first season they've had alternates. From what I can tell, the girls come to the practices as if they were a rostered member of the team, and do everything with us. They also have the alternates to make a full team from what I can tell. i.e.-we have 30 girls on Sr 3, and 2 alternates. Im just assuming they're gonna put the girls on the teams at the end of the summer if they feel its a right fit for them.

 

[mcekelci]

This past season I was asked to fill in on our J3 team in December because they had a major injury that required surgery. My coach does is so that if someone gets hurt, they just pull someone from another team, but once you're pulled you're on the team you got pulled to for the rest of the season. So I was on two teams last year for the majority of the season and I didn't have to pay extra competition fees until the girl I was originally filling in for came back at the end of the season. A few other girls got pulled to that team too and stayed on the team if there was space. Personally I like this because I didn't have L3 skills at the time and it made me feel better about myself when my coach asked me to be on that team to help and then let me stay on it for the rest of the season, and I think all All-Star gyms should do this if they can.

 

[yooolizzi]

We never had official alternates at my old gym, but we had a girl who literally filled in whenever we needed a flyer on ico5. She could coed stunt better than some of the actual flyers on the team. Thank God we had her for the two times we had girls leave before we took the floor day two at competitions. :cow:

 

[worldchampME]

At Cheerforce San Diego we do have kids that are strickly alternate positions. Usually the kids that don't wanna workout during the summer because they want a break, and come back and the teams are full, but still wanna work out in hopes of there being a spot. They still have to pay full monthly tuition (doesn't include comp fees) and if they are necessary for a comp, they pay that fee. It's a wicked good idea and it really helped one of my athletes last year who got a pretty bad concussion, it gave her some time off and an alternate filled right in.