The upcoming issue of D Magazine has a cover story on the 2011-12 Cheer Athletics Panthers.
How_the_Plano_Panthers_Cheer_Squad_Became_World_Champions
Our feelings on the article are mixed. It isn't entirely bad, but there are definitely things in there that we would never have approved if we had any editorial control over what was being said.
The reporter had followed Panthers throughout the season last year and was given access to practices and behind the scenes at performances. After the season, and in talking to him, we were really excited about the possibilities of the article. He had been given the opportunity to follow what was arguably the best cheerleading team in the world through an undefeated and historical season. Unfortunately, the type of article that the cheer world would want to see isn't the same as what they feel they need to do to sell magazines.
The biggest disappointment we have is that there was the potential for such a great story about the athleticism and grace of the sport. It is simply sad to me that he chose to spend 12 paragraphs on a teenage slumber party and 1 sentence on them actually winning the World Championship. That was not at all what we were led to believe.
There was also some vulgar language that makes it inappropriate for many of our younger athletes. I don't envy the parents of the youngsters having to explain what some of the words mean. That is not language that we allow in our facility for the precise reason that we don't want the younger athletes to hear that.
The athletes themselves often come up with team "slogans" that they use for bonding purposes. BABS can actually stand for multiple things, but the crudest one, and the most popular one on Twitter, was the one they chose to print. We may now have to re-visit allowing our athletes to come up with their own sayings. It is worth noting that the reporter was unable to discover what the letters stood for until someone from Fierce Board, a coach from another program, told him. It's not like the athletes walk around saying those words at the gym.
On a positive note: the pictures were great.
PS
There are several flat-out factual errors, and several misleading things taken out of context that give you a false impression about the team and some of the athletes. They did send Brad a fact-check sheet that listed several items to confirm and he made corrections. Some of the those corrections did not get changed in the final article.
a partial list of errors:
Plano Panthers Cheer Squad - I don't recall anyone ever calling the Cheer Athletics Panthers that. One of the high schools in Plano is also Panthers, so there is likely to be much confusion locally.
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You know this competition isn't that big a deal. There aren't any big squads here anyway." If memory serves correctly, Panthers were the only team in their division. That was what Brad was referring to. The overall event itself WAS a big deal with 2 paid bids at stake. There were multiple reigning World Champion teams and something like 12-14 teams who had medalled in the last couple of years all competing for 2 paid bids. There were definitely "big squads" there - in fact there were a surprisingly high number of VERY strong Worlds teams.
Just after a Herkie, Victoria lands flat
Perhaps minor point, but they were not doing Herkies anywhere in their routine.
Panthers lost at Spirit Celebration. They did not get a paid bid, which was one of their goals. However, they did not "lose" as was described in the article. The two paid bids went to two eventual World Champions - CA Cheetahs and SOT Medium Coed. Panthers (I think) were in 3rd for the two bids.
They would have loved your stunts if you had them.
Again, a minor point - but it should have read "if you had HIT them."
A month at Cheer Athletics, with dues and private lessons, costs about $500 Technically, this could be true IF you did lots of optional private lessons every month, but actual tuition is about half of that.
Habermel turns back to his assistant coaches
We do not have head coaches or assistant coaches. Everyone is at the exact same level when it comes to coaching - whether you are an owner or not.
