All-Star Confessions Of A Cheermom

[justpeachy]

TLC's newest show: Lifestyles of Drunk and Antisocial Cheer Moms

 

[dawgshow]

Ok, this might tick off some people but I move those seat holders when there's no place to sit. "Oh, sorry. It must have fallen off of the seat. Here it is under the seat. Didn't notice it during these last TEN teams that have been on." Yeah, I despise campers.

 

[dawgshow]

TLC's newest show: Lifestyles of Drunk and Antisocial Cheer Moms

I'm only antisocial on day two or hour 10, whichever comes first.

 

[HeatUniqueJ]

My mom only came to one competition years ago, it was my first competition ever and we were horrible haha, all she said was ''well, that was pretty awful'' :D

I have huge respect for all you Cheer Moms though because sitting in that arena the whole day is awful, i can't even stand it myself and i wouldn't want to put my Mom through it ( which i don't have to anyways because i am old now)

 

[cheermomforever]

My daughter is coaching 2 teams plus competing this year, just may have to find her coaches pass! Especially on those 2 day with the $30 or more entrance fees.

 

[dizzzigrl]

HAHA this is funny - I totally brought some Captain into a comp a few years back - in s sweet tea bottle!

 

[StarshipTrooper]

As I sit here with a cheer hangover from a weekend full of competing I have the following confessions:

I have a problem spending 12 hours with a group of people I hardly know. I simply cannot be "cheer"ful for that long; it's not in my nature. As a result I often sneak out to my car to hide and recharge.

And the longer you have done it the harder it gets.

I don't like watching my kids compete from the VIP section. I think you can see better from further back and I'm usually such a wreck that I have difficulty drumming up the obligatory enthusiasm. I'm just trying to get through the routine without passing out. It's hard to go 2:30 without taking a breath.

One area where we differ. Front, center and close.

When watching the other teams in my kids division I don't hope that they drop a stunt or anything - seriously, but I do have a momentary sense of relief/satisfaction if they do. I do feel guilty about it though.

Not me. If we hit at Worlds and everyone else makes mistakes, not my problem. Makes it easier to judge. This may be a Mars vs Venus thing, but if the opposing team funbles I try to recover it, if the opposing team misses free throws to tie the game with no time left, I take the win. I get what you are saying but I think in sport you don't hope due to Kharma but you certainly do not mind getting gifts.

While I certainly hope that our teams come home with a banner, as long as MY kid's stunts and tumbling hit I consider the weekend a success. That's really all I care about.

Now here we just disagree. I want to make sure my kid does her job first and foremost because that is the only way the whole team can be sure of hitting clean. Every kid has to hit, and I just do not get happy anymore unless they hit. Now if you say hit but don't win, I'm still happy except maybe at the judges but these routines are so complex and intricate, even though they never "hit" as you know, they can come close and look like they do. What an accomplishment for those kids.

I'm hoping that these confessions will allow me to escape the inevitability of an eternity in cheer hell and just spend some time in cheer purgatory when the time comes.

Great thread btw.

 

[cheermeup]

Yesterday at WSF all of the seats were taken. My daughter was on one of the first level 5 teams to compete. There were 2 empty seats next to us. I asked if she could sit in one of them and the woman said no, they were her kid's seats. She put shopping bags in the seats. My daughter sat on my lap until a seat a row down came available. The ladies kids never came back. Those seats were held for shopping bags through the entire level 5 division.

MamaSlapAHo was tweeting about people moving in and out of her row. I kept trying to find an active row to find her so she could come put that mom in her place for me.

 

[Jersey Cheer Mom]

I may or may not have dressed younger cp who was not competing at that comp in her uniform so as not to pay for her. More than once.

Lord! I was contemplating confessing to this one, but should have known I'd have company.

At our previous gym, my CP's team wasn't competing. One of the moms told me to dress her in warmup and bow put her bow and just walk through. I said cool and justified it with the fact that I buy a zillion dollars worth of stuff from the vendors, so, whatever! When we got to the comp, I chickened out and said, forget it, I'll just pay. She said no, are you crazy, you better not pay. So I was in the corner rehearsing what I was gonna say to the person at the gate. She said, just walk through and don't say anything. As I went to get my arm band, the mom was ahead of me and walked right in without saying a word. I was petrified! I felt compelled to say something and said, She's competing today, we have to meet the team. To me, it sounded so unconvincing, but the woman at the gate assumed she was competing and they let us in. As we were walking in, I held my breath, thinking they were going to call me out and I would have turn around and go home, never to be seen again.

I felt so guilty and said if that happened again, I would just pay! BTW, love this thread!!!!

 

[Mamarazzi]

Voodoo finger-wiggle-bobble thing, I'm the best at that. Except when we compete against World Cup. It's like they have anti-hex armor.
And I judge your teams. I judge your Dorito scorps, your boy flyer, your piked layouts, your unis, your manners, your cp's little brother's manners, the Dippin Dots kid's manners, the EP rep's manners, and the cleanliness of your flyer's shoes.

I make the ticket people put my bracelet on extra-loosely because "I'll swell up," then I make an athlete run it outside to whomever is waiting for it.

Oh, and I'm sitting with Grandma in one of those 15 seats she's saving.

 

[12stepCheermom]

1) I may've had both CPs wear their gear to a massively large, unnamed national competition in the SE USA when we just went to watch our two senior teams and my kids weren't actually competing...so they could get in free.

2) I turn "ravaging cheer fan" in VIP IF and ONLY IF there are multiple non-program people camped out in VIP that don't seem to appreciate vigorous support of our team currently on stage... (oh, so sorry was that stadium horn in your ear terribly loud? you should probably not be sitting in the FRONT ROW of VIP then, oh, random non-supportive person from a gym that's not ours....)

3) ...which is ironic, because I'm not the ravaging cheer fan. I can video my kids' routines (good or bad) without making ONE SINGLE SOUND in the video camera microphone....and I can keep my hand steady.

4) Regardless if I'm wearing a gym shirt or not....I'll be ordering "Whatever you can make that's fruity...I don't really care what it is." when we go to dinner.

5) I do not let my kid lay out (did you like what I did right there....) of school ALL day long on Friday, to "travel" to a competition that is in fact 90 minutes away.....and starts on Saturday.

6) I used to build grids and score divisions (and was pretty good at it) before I was totally "over" cheer and tried (without much success) to not eye roll at the droves of people asking me, "I know they dropped like 4 stunts, had a tumble bust, bloodshed and an ambulance called....but outside of that, they HIT! do you think we're in first?!"

Why YES! in fact, I'm sure we'll be the FIRST name called at awards!!!! smh.

7) In my early years of cheer momism, my princess asked me to wear her favorite practice bow for good luck.....and I did. I'm not proud of it. I've now gotten smart and cut my hair!

8) I've never been so happy in my life as when said princess FINALLY started doing her OWN makeup.

9) I am physically incapable of "poufing" her hair in a way that doesn't make her look like...well...$%#*. Cheer mom fail.

10) And the biggest confession of them all.....I used to be the awesome, gym-supporting cheer mom. That all died a quick and painful death over the last few months. This past weekend, the only thing I could think watching twitter....."Thank you sweet baby Jesus I am NOT sitting in a convention center stuck in cheer hell this weekend!" Everything that used to excite me about watching my kids compete is now a chore and I hate it. The only thing I still love.... my kids.

 

[Ashley]

4) Regardless if I'm wearing a gym shirt or not....I'll be ordering "Whatever you can make that's fruity...I don't really care what it is." when we go to dinner.

I'm not a cheer parent, but a cheer athlete, and I've been doing this longer than most of these kids have been alive. I know what my body can take, and it's not going to impair my performance on Sunday to sit at the bar on Saturday night while waiting for a table for dinner and have one drink. And I'll do it in my gym's t-shirt, because I'm 25 years old and it is perfectly legal to do so and I don't think I'm making my gym look bad with one freaking drink. So judge away!

If I was going out on Saturday night of a two-day comp (which, I'll admit I've done) then I'll be sure to not wear anything that says what gym I'm from.

 

[cheergoogle]

I love this thread.

I also hate VIP sections. I prefer to stand in the back so I can see the whole floor and all the competitors in the division.

When my children were on Tiny teams and young minis I openly called warm-ups "free babysitting" and dropped and ran as soon as I could so I could watch other teams in the arena. Annoys me when all the parents hang around outside the meeting area and expect me to do the same.

 

[GlitterPlz]

And I always feel guilty - when everyone gets up from our gym to move to the front and I don't go with them - but I just hate it up close. Plus I can't stand when people record performances on their iPads, I somehow seem to be an iPad magnet and that parent is always in front of me.

I loathe moving to the front when it's another team within our gym. I don't know many Of the other parents because we are relatively new to this gym, so I always feel like they're looking at me like "hey lady get back with your team". But then I feel like a big schmuck if I don't get up and sit with the other moms like they're saying "hey lady what are you too good for our team". It's just a lose lose situation in my own feeble brain

 

[Mamarazzi]

If I was going out on Saturday night of a two-day comp (which, I'll admit I've done) then I'll be sure to not wear anything that says what gym I'm from.

So I guess getting ripped with the coaches in the bar, with all of us in gym gear, is out? Got it.