All-Star Cheer Extreme Questions And Answers From Courtney

[cheerfan27]

It's an athlete who has already graduated high school but is still age-eligble to cheer on a senior level team for another season or two

Thanks!

 

[coachTSC]

Courtney, How much do your rosters change from tryouts to the start of the season (all levels) and how to you handle moving kids down a level and/or cutting them from the original roster if someone new needs to move up and fill that spot (because of their tumbling or stunting skills).... it looks like we may have to do some roster rearranging over the summer (for the first time ever) and i'm worried about some backlash from parents and kids that may feel hurt because of our decisions
thanks for the advice!

 

[INeverStopCheering]

This is a personal question, but did you go to college?

 

[randomlover:)]

is the large junior girl looking good so far?

 

[bburke1]

This is a personal question, but did you go to college?

Don't wanna speak for her but since it relates to my question-- she went to Wake Forest and I'm almost positive she studied Biology.. runs in the family, her sister is a genius too!

 

[xtremeteal4life]

This is a personal question, but did you go to college?

I'm fairly certain she has a masters in biology (could be bachelor's though, not 100% sure)from Wake Forest University. She is quite a genius..one of the top ten in her class in high school (and her sister Kelly who coaches in Raleigh was the Valedictorian of her high school) Genius and good looks run in her family! ;)

*sorry to answer for her, but I know she won't toot her own her own horn and tell you how smart she really is. It's my understanding that she was on her way to becoming a doctor, but chose cheer instead bc it was her true passion and she followed her dreams :)

 

[Ceacoach]

This is a personal question, but did you go to college?

Yes I graduated from Wake Forest University with a BS in Biology

 

[Ceacoach]

is the large junior girl looking good so far?

Just had our first practice and yes we are very excited!

 

[Ceacoach]

Courtney, How much do your rosters change from tryouts to the start of the season (all levels) and how to you handle moving kids down a level and/or cutting them from the original roster if someone new needs to move up and fill that spot (because of their tumbling or stunting skills).... it looks like we may have to do some roster rearranging over the summer (for the first time ever) and i'm worried about some backlash from parents and kids that may feel hurt because of our decisions
thanks for the advice!

My best guess would be that by April most teams are about 15-20% different from our original tryout rosters. The reasons for this are numerous, people quit..move to a team to fly...lose skill...gain skill...get hurt...etc. We ALWAYS choose about 5-6 extra people for large teams and 3-4 for small. It always works out that we are right on target by mat time as far as numbers go. I suggest naming kids CDT's...conditional team members. You can consider yourself a member of this team assuming the following skill set is consistent ( meaning it doesn't go away for more than one practice ). This way the standard is set up front and if the athlete has the skills but was lucky they have the chance to work to keep them...if these conditions require them to gain new skills they are given a time limit to achieve.

 

[Ceacoach]

Someone posted K'ville's teams in another thread.
Tiny 1
Small mini 2
Large mini 3
Youth 5
Large junior 3
Large junior all girl 5
Large senior 2
Large senior coed 4
Medium coed 5
Medium all girl 5
Large coed 5
Large senior all girl 5

I was wondering how this location has just as many level 5 teams as level 1-4 teams. Most gyms with strong level 5 teams have a lot of lower level teams. Is it just that the level 5s travel to this location for a team and the lower level athletes stay at the other gyms until it is time to move up? It just seems that with a lack of lower levels it would be hard to produce the same amount of level 5 athletes in the future than you currently do.

This is a great question. We are often wondering the same thing. The reality is that in Kville kids don't stay Level 4 very long and with the advent of Mini level 3 and youth level 5, those that come up through our program are true level 5 athletes by the time they are junior age and stay that way. We certainly attract numerous level 5 kids, but mostly our team rosters are FILLED with kids who will be Level 5 whether they are this month or not come October. We think of it this way : If cheerleading were analogous to elementary school, and Level 2 was second grade, Level 3 was third grade...etc...the expectation would be to graduate from one level to the next each season. If we can't make that happen for an athlete and they summarily "fail" their grade and return back to the second grade ( repeat level 2 again )...we failed as their teachers. It is funny to me to see the celebration that exists on teams of athletes who have been level 2 for 3 or 4 years. To us, that is the equivalent of celebrating the same spelling test words for the 4th year in a row and being excited about knowing them. This is not meant to be offensive...just an analogy to see why we do have so many level 5 teams. We feel our parents as our customers are paying for instruction first and foremost...not assembly of skills. This is also why our lower level teams do not achieve the ability to be truly competitive in a division until the end of the season ( when they have actually become level 2, level 3, etc ). It is astounding to look back and see the growth over a season from the Showcase to the last competition. We think our parents appreciate watching the metamorphosis of the team...and each season we ask our parents to make sure they still stand by this decision. It would be much easier to compete kids at their current level without expecting them to progress.

 

[Ceacoach]

What competitions do you take the lower levels to?

We are going to a variety of events this season...and looking forward to it. We don't travel as much with our lower level teams.

 

[Ceacoach]

I read that you don't talk cheer past "the stop sign".

A. Does that rule apply with your hubby, also? We don't ever drive together...so that doesn't apply :)
B. What if one of your girls asks for your help with a skill? We do all cheerleading in the gym...none at home. If they ever ask to work on something we would go back to the gym and help whatever time it was.
C. Do the girls have any "equipment" at home? (tumbling octagons, stunt blocks, etc.) We do not...but we do have room to house a team for a sleepover...that was built in just for that purpose.

(o:

 

[Ceacoach]

I have a bunch of questions. Sorry if they have already been asked.

1) From what I've heard, the dance killed you guys at Worlds. Will you be focusing extra hard on the dance this year? Yes...we had a brilliant dance by Jamie Parrish...it got great scores for content...it just wasnt long enough and didn't change formation enough times.
2) Everyone knows that CEA is the tick tock capital of America. In your stunts, will you be focusing on more aspects instead of just the tick tocks? We have several really exciting ideas ( one of which we had two groups hit tonight )...hopefully we can add to the elements...At the same time..we won't digress totally from that skill that we know how to teach and more importantly how to correct.
3) Will you be altering the highlight stunt (i.e giving all of the stunts 360 ball ups) ...not certain...but with the overall strength of Senior Elite/CoEd Elite..we will keep all 85 for a few more weeks...I think they'll all be able to hit something very difficult in both stunt sections.
4) Will the order of events in the routine change for SE?

Somewhat...

 

[Ceacoach]

is there a medium all girl at both raleigh and kernersville? will both go to worlds?

We have three teams: Med CoEd Kville; Med All Girl Raleigh; and Med All Girl Kville hoping to get two worlds bids. Once the bids are received we will assemble the best two teams possible keeping within the limitations of the substitution rules

 

[Ceacoach]

How did you create the logo for CEA?

That credit goes to the genius Pat Coyne. His website and information on his marketing company are on www.cheerextreme.com