High School Are Squads Required To Attend Cheer Camp?

[Kentucky Girl]

As far as I know, neither Auburn nor Notre Dame attend camp but I could be wrong.

 

[LaurenYHScoach]

If you want to compete at UCA or NCA high school nationals in 2018 you must attend a camp or have a minimum of a 2 day home camp. Doing this fulfills their credentialing requirement

 

[ScottyB]

If you want to compete at UCA or NCA high school nationals in 2018 you must attend a camp or have a minimum of a 2 day home camp. Doing this fulfills their credentialing requirement

"credentialing" such a laugh

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

"credentialing" such a laugh

I dunno...

I completely agreed with you last year when we had our home camp. Obviously, we were the only team there and I was thinking, "we know this stuff. We teach it every day."

This year in attending a commuter camp, I watched as the instructors were asking the questions in the book. My kids were able to actively participate because the questions were about things like being a well-rounded athlete in the school and community, in addition to the material about safety. Many of the other teams, including a couple who go to nationals regularly were either unable or unwilling to answer.

That's not to say the many teams who have done very, very well at nationals aren't also extremely good at this other stuff. It's more to say that as an activity, it probably doesn't hurt to require our kids to get some degree of education that teaches them about being safety conscious and well-rounded members of their school community.

I'm not sold on it, completely, but after our experience this year, I'm more in agreement,

 

[ScottyB]

I dunno...

I completely agreed with you last year when we had our home camp. Obviously, we were the only team there and I was thinking, "we know this stuff. We teach it every day."

This year in attending a commuter camp, I watched as the instructors were asking the questions in the book. My kids were able to actively participate because the questions were about things like being a well-rounded athlete in the school and community, in addition to the material about safety. Many of the other teams, including a couple who go to nationals regularly were either unable or unwilling to answer.

That's not to say the many teams who have done very, very well at nationals aren't also extremely good at this other stuff. It's more to say that as an activity, it probably doesn't hurt to require our kids to get some degree of education that teaches them about being safety conscious and well-rounded members of their school community.

I'm not sold on it, completely, but after our experience this year, I'm more in agreement,

Is the knowledge valuable? Yes. But that info was the same stuff the staff has always had to say, just now they have to sign off on it. The program was written by two UCA Staffers who work in the UCA/Varsity office. It's nothing new or game changing, just is mandatory if you wanna compete.

Calling it credentialing and making it required under the guise of safety and education, when it is just a way to boost camp sales numbers is what is laughable

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

Is the knowledge valuable? Yes. But that info was the same stuff the staff has always had to say, just now they have to sign off on it. The program was written by two UCA Staffers who work in the UCA/Varsity office. It's nothing new or game changing, just is mandatory if you wanna compete.

Calling it credentialing and making it required under the guise of safety and education, when it is just a way to boost camp sales numbers is what is laughable

I agree with that. I'm also a representative statistic. We never went to camp until they started this last summer for that very reason.

I still won't go to an overnight camp. I refuse to make my kids pay for it.

 

[ScottyB]

I agree with that. I'm also a representative statistic. We never went to camp until they started this last summer for that very reason.

I still won't go to an overnight camp. I refuse to make my kids pay for it.

That's fair. The prices def aren't going down so it sucks we all have to find ways to eat the now required costs.

I'm an always camp type of coach; to me, the bonding that happens at camp is rarely duplicated elsewhere. But that's just me!

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

That's fair. The prices def aren't going down so it sucks we all have to find ways to eat the now required costs.

I'm an always camp type of coach; to me, the bonding that happens at camp is rarely duplicated elsewhere. But that's just me!

I hear a lot of talk about the bonding of camp. I just don't see it as $360 worth of bonding. For $360 we can attend a home camp or a commuter camp AND pay a large portion of our choreographer's fee. I have a very socioeconomically diverse group of kids, so that must always be at my forethought.

I will admit that I enjoyed seeing them have fun at the commuter camp this year. I think a large percentage of that is the work we put into our team culture since tryouts. Though I won't completely dismiss camp as a source as well.

 

[SparkleSpankies]

I hear a lot of talk about the bonding of camp. I just don't see it as $360 worth of bonding. For $360 we can attend a home camp or a commuter camp AND pay a large portion of our choreographer's fee. I have a very socioeconomically diverse group of kids, so that must always be at my forethought.

I will admit that I enjoyed seeing them have fun at the commuter camp this year. I think a large percentage of that is the work we put into our team culture since tryouts. Though I won't completely dismiss camp as a source as well.

I am a huge supporter of away camp! Worth every penny in my opinion... I do agree it is an expense but with the PFC camps here in the Northeast, it is not much more expensive at the end of the day... just my opinion and I support all teams decisions for what is right for their program.

 

[ScottyB]

I hear a lot of talk about the bonding of camp. I just don't see it as $360 worth of bonding. For $360 we can attend a home camp or a commuter camp AND pay a large portion of our choreographer's fee. I have a very socioeconomically diverse group of kids, so that must always be at my forethought.

I will admit that I enjoyed seeing them have fun at the commuter camp this year. I think a large percentage of that is the work we put into our team culture since tryouts. Though I won't completely dismiss camp as a source as well.

For sure, we could find a different way to spend the $400/kid that would be all skills based. We could also take a $400 each vacation and bond on a beach for 3 days with no skills too. Lots of ways to approach it for each of our teams.

I have a very socioeconomically diverse group of kids, so that must always be at my forethought.

Good on you for this. Many coaches and gyms don't keep things like this in mind and just spend spend spend.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

For sure, we could find a different way to spend the $400/kid that would be all skills based. We could also take a $400 each vacation and bond on a beach for 3 days with no skills too. Lots of ways to approach it for each of our teams.

I hope you didn't feel as if I were faulting you for going away to camp. Many of my local colleagues swear by it. Its just not the bang for our buck that I want.

 

[AScheer]

I like away camps for the bonding and atmosphere it puts them in. 4 days away from family, boys, jobs and day to day normalcy to focus on cheer AND it puts them in a competitive environment so soon in the season. Those to me are the perks.

What I don't like is that it's $400+ and growing each season for material we don't use. The prices have gotten out of control. The overnight camps when I started coaching less than a decade ago were in the range of $280 a girl. You can't attend a camp in this area for under $400. It's really hard to justify that price for the "experience." We do nationals, and it's financially tough to do both each season, especially when both prices keep going up. We are in a pretty well off area, and even with fundraising, it's still a lot to ask from families year after year.

 

[tojofasho]

I like away camps for the bonding and atmosphere it puts them in. 4 days away from family, boys, jobs and day to day normalcy to focus on cheer AND it puts them in a competitive environment so soon in the season. Those to me are the perks.

What I don't like is that it's $400+ and growing each season for material we don't use. The prices have gotten out of control. The overnight camps when I started coaching less than a decade ago were in the range of $280 a girl. You can't attend a camp in this area for under $400. It's really hard to justify that price for the "experience." We do nationals, and it's financially tough to do both each season, especially when both prices keep going up. We are in a pretty well off area, and even with fundraising, it's still a lot to ask from families year after year.

This x1000. I wish that stunting-heavy camps were more popular as an option. My kids don't need to learn four cheers, a band chant, an xtreme routine, a hip hop routine, etc. etc. for hundreds of dollars. With that kind of money I'd much prefer to do a home camp focused specifically on stunting and maybe an xtreme routine and some bonding elements, but then you lose out on the atmosphere and interacting with other teams, which is one of the best parts about cheer camp.

Honestly the thing that sucks is since you need to attend a UCA camp in order to compete UCA, they know they aren't going to be losing camp business anytime soon -_-

 

[CheerBank]

This x1000. I wish that stunting-heavy camps were more popular as an option. My kids don't need to learn four cheers, a band chant, an xtreme routine, a hip hop routine, etc. etc. for hundreds of dollars. With that kind of money I'd much prefer to do a home camp focused specifically on stunting and maybe an xtreme routine and some bonding elements, but then you lose out on the atmosphere and interacting with other teams, which is one of the best parts about cheer camp.

Honestly the thing that sucks is since you need to attend a UCA camp in order to compete UCA, they know they aren't going to be losing camp business anytime soon -_-

Our UCA camp is a 2-day home camp that focuses on stunting. And although is being held after tryouts this season (last season it was held mid-summer) I am not clear on whether it is mandatory or not. I believe they do need a high percentage of team attendance in order for it to "count".

 

[Mcheer]

Accidentally post ignore sorry