All-Star Cuts From A Large All Star Program That Claims To Be No Cut

[kristenthegreat]

Are we talking cuts due to skills? Or cuts due to behavior/personality issues? Very different issues...the former, in my opinion, shouldn't exist at low level, low age teams. The latter, perhaps.

I also think it depends on the age ranges/'level' of chaos..are we talking mostly 3 year olds who are generally good but get a little rowdy? Are we talking one child SCREAMING in the corner and refusing to do anything? Is it a small gym with only a mini team so you've got a couple 4 year olds causing mass chaos by running through other team's practices at the gym?

In my posts, I'm coming from a mindset of occasional light chaos (I've been a camp counselor to 5 year olds. Utterly adorable. Utter madness lol.) with maybe a bit of focus trouble which is typical for under 5s. Most 8 year old minis usually have their business together by that age..

 

[cheer25mom]

As to minis and comps, our gym competes our minis at every comp the rest of the gym goes to. They are a full part of the program.

 

[MomOf2ThatsMe]

I coach minis. I own a gym. And I flat out told at least 2 parents that their child was not ready for all star cheer. Some children are not ready. I love kids and frankly when you are 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years old, you should be having fun. Our kids love it. But some children just want to run around. I like to think I have a lot of patience with little people, but I can't understand why parents would want me to have to spend an extra 20 minutes on their child because they can't stand still since they are just not ready. I mean, it's expensive. Why would you want to spend money like that when instead you could put your child in tumbling lessons, horse riding, or just taking them to the park??? Not doing tiny or mini cheer does not put your child behind the 8 ball of cheerleading btw. Some of the best cheerleaders come later to the sport. Mainly because they suffered through stuff they didn't want to do when they were 4.

This was my little one. Second year in a row *I* pulled her. She loves the gym, loves the people in it, but was just not ready for the team. I am not going to spend $150 a month for her to have a fit because she didn't feel like practicing that day. At our gym we have full competitive, half year, and exhibition tiny-age teams. A lot of kids in that age bracket start out in the lower committment teams and move up the the full competitive teams after their first season. Hence, most of the tiny's are 5 turning 6 during the season and will age out to mini the next year after starting full competetive. The reality of it is though I would be a paying customer, so are the parents of the other dozen or so kids on the team, and I can't expect my kid to get special attention during practice and monopolize the coaches time because she is too emotionally immature to handle the expectations of the sport. When I see the kid in the corner of the floor of a competition crying, I feel bad for them. But, OTOH, as a paying parent for a competitive team, there is nothing cute about a kid having a breakdown at a comp and jacking the whole routine because they are sitting in the corning crying. I do agree with @kingston though, I think 5 or 6 should be the minimum age for allstars as a whole.

 

[cheermommaRN]

Before my cp did cheer in Texas she did competitive gymnastics, before that we tried a Tiny exhibition team. I pulled her because of that reason...she just wasn't ready. She spent half the practice sleeping on the mat and the other half running away from the coahes and hiding under the tumbletrack (she was 3 turning 4). I didn't think it was fair to the other parents for my child to take up all of the coaches time. Now at 10 years old she is at one of the more competitive gyms in the nation and holds her own against one of the most demanding coaches I have met (in gymnastics or cheer and not demanding in a bad way, demanding in that he expects 100% at every practice). Some kids just need more time to focus. I do agree with the "8 ball" statement above...for some reason (and its with any sport) parents have started feeling like if they don't start little Susie in sport xyz while she's still in diapers then she will never be the next Mia Hamm, Shawn Johnson, or Maddie Gardner. Take soccer for example, kids can't even play "club soccer" until they are 10 or 11, but academy teams are getting younger and younger. I saw a "want ad" on a soccer forum asking for defensive players for their U4 team! Does a 3 year old even know what a defensive position is?? The same can be said for cheer, when my oldest started tiny teams were just a bunch of kids dancing to music and accepting their complementary trophy after, now you have 3 and 4 year olds trying to become National Champions. There is nothing wrong with that, it is just the competitiveness of our society.

 

[quitthedrama]

Different gyms have different expectations, just like any sport, and I fully support a gym choosing to cut someone if it benefits the team as a whole. We have been a part of two gyms, and each had a different philosophy. At our old gym my kids were on teams where the majority of practice was spent catering to one or two kids who were crying and complaining (even on youth and junior teams), and the result of that philosophy showed on the mat. It was infuriating for both my kids and I, but in talking with the gym owners about my concerns it became clear their priority was recreation over competition. That gym never would have cut anybody. That philosophy is fine - it just wasn't a match for us. At our current gym, our mini team competes at the same competitions and have the same expectations as the rest of our teams, and are therefor super-competitive and are very successful. Our coaches do wonders with some of these kids, but if there was a child that could not contribute to the team for behavioral, safety or skill reasons and there was no other team for them to be placed on, they would be cut (it did happen last year). We don't have nuggets/front spots, so that strategy is not an option for most of our teams. I do feel badly for the child this thread was started for, but I am sure there are other options where she can increase her skills and continue to do what she enjoys.

 

[xtremeteal4life]

Are we talking cuts due to skills? Or cuts due to behavior/personality issues? Very different issues...the former, in my opinion, shouldn't exist at low level, low age teams. The latter, perhaps.

My opinion is specifically referring to behavior/immaturity issues...not skills

 

[CheerCoach84]

This was my little one. Second year in a row *I* pulled her. She loves the gym, loves the people in it, but was just not ready for the team. I am not going to spend $150 a month for her to have a fit because she didn't feel like practicing that day. At our gym we have full competitive, half year, and exhibition tiny-age teams. A lot of kids in that age bracket start out in the lower committment teams and move up the the full competitive teams after their first season. Hence, most of the tiny's are 5 turning 6 during the season and will age out to mini the next year after starting full competetive. The reality of it is though I would be a paying customer, so are the parents of the other dozen or so kids on the team, and I can't expect my kid to get special attention during practice and monopolize the coaches time because she is too emotionally immature to handle the expectations of the sport. When I see the kid in the corner of the floor of a competition crying, I feel bad for them. But, OTOH, as a paying parent for a competitive team, there is nothing cute about a kid having a breakdown at a comp and jacking the whole routine because they are sitting in the corning crying. I do agree with @kingston though, I think 5 or 6 should be the minimum age for allstars as a whole.

I agree 1000%%%%% There is no reason that a Gym, regardless of size, area, etc... couldn't have classes for the pre-k to maybe 5 year old range to have the fun, but still be able to Learn at the same time! I have coached cheerleading since 1984, and allstars since 96, and have taught pre-school since 87, and IMO, some kids are just not ready, despite what their parents might think. Look at the signs: innatentive, negative behavior, crying, being disruptive, not excited at all about that 2 hour practice, one really needs to think befor e you invest that type of money, which even for a Tiny is not cheap! So really everyone just needs to find the right environment for their child, whether it is a class, recreation team or allstars, if they are ready, and don't have to be drug into the facility....:fro: I wish that I coached our Tiny/Mini teams at the gym I coach at, just love those 3-5 year olds!!!:cool:

Cheers Ya'll from NC!!!! Good Luck in your season!!!

 

[arianna cash fhas]

children should not be cut at the ages of 4 or 5. they are just learning and you should give them a chance.

 

[MomOf2ThatsMe]

I agree 1000%%%%% There is no reason that a Gym, regardless of size, area, etc... couldn't have classes for the pre-k to maybe 5 year old range to have the fun, but still be able to Learn at the same time! I have coached cheerleading since 1984, and allstars since 96, and have taught pre-school since 87, and IMO, some kids are just not ready, despite what their parents might think. Look at the signs: innatentive, negative behavior, crying, being disruptive, not excited at all about that 2 hour practice, one really needs to think befor e you invest that type of money, which even for a Tiny is not cheap! So really everyone just needs to find the right environment for their child, whether it is a class, recreation team or allstars, if they are ready, and don't have to be drug into the facility....:fro: I wish that I coached our Tiny/Mini teams at the gym I coach at, just love those 3-5 year olds!!!:cool:

Cheers Ya'll from NC!!!! Good Luck in your season!!!

Thanks! I think our gym is good proof that a gym regardless of size or area can offer those types of programs. We are in Eastern NC (Greenville) and there is definately a market for all levels of dedication to cheer. I mean, we have THREE tiny teams as stated above, each a full team at each level. I think we have a total of 11 teams, with 2 being half year and 2 being exhibition, plus our IOC 5 that we have with a couple of other gyms (NC Force). I notice that a lot of the kids that get forced into the full competitive world without being ready are often either the oldest in their family or the only girl. The parents are excited that their CP is old enough to really do fun, cute stuff, and are often hesitant to pull them because even for parents the sport is exciting. The tiny's are so very cute, it is just a lot of $$ and well, pressure for a little kid who probably doesn't even fully understand what is going on.

Good luck to you guys too! Our first exhibition is tomorrow in Raleigh- we couldn't be more excited!

 

[CheerCoach84]

Thanks! I think our gym is good proof that a gym regardless of size or area can offer those types of programs. We are in Eastern NC (Greenville) and there is definately a market for all levels of dedication to cheer. I mean, we have THREE tiny teams as stated above, each a full team at each level. I think we have a total of 11 teams, with 2 being half year and 2 being exhibition, plus our IOC 5 that we have with a couple of other gyms (NC Force). I notice that a lot of the kids that get forced into the full competitive world without being ready are often either the oldest in their family or the only girl. The parents are excited that their CP is old enough to really do fun, cute stuff, and are often hesitant to pull them because even for parents the sport is exciting. The tiny's are so very cute, it is just a lot of $$ and well, pressure for a little kid who probably doesn't even fully understand what is going on.

Good luck to you guys too! Our first exhibition is tomorrow in Raleigh- we couldn't be more excited!

Ours is next saturday here in Charlotte......Cheers!!!!:fro: Coop

 

[TheVipersMom]

I say cut them if they aren't ready!
No my cp's gym does not do this but my cp is 6 and she is a competitive person. She cried last year when her tiny team didn't get first. She cried when this one girl was distracted by a bow and ran up to the front holding and shaking it instead of doing her routine because someone's bow came out and this was when she was 5 on a tiny team! My cp has tons of fun but to see girls who don't pay attention and listen it's bothersome!

Even on mini's this year they had to keep putting off learning the dance part of their routine because of others. My daughter gets in the car and says she hates so and so because they messed it up and didn't listen and they have to wait longer to learn the dance blah blah blah.

What I'm saying is id love to have had the best 8 out of 14 girls off tinies last season. I would love to have the best 16 out of the 26 we have for mini's this season! No offense to them but there are kids on that team who do care about winning besides my cp. There are kids who can't pay attention, don't practice at home to remember their routine so it has to be gone over again at the next practice and waste more time.

I know our coaches don't want to cut kids as they try so hard to make sure they succeed but idk why some parents don't see their kid just isn't ready. If my daughter was some of those girls I would of pulled her off in a heart beat...

So I don't think it should be the coach necessarily cutting kids I think some parents just need to realize this and don't.

 

[cupieqt]

I've never cut a tiny or mini from their appropriately aged teams but I did ask a mini to leave the (only team) youth team I had one year. She was a sweetheart but she could care less about learning the routine. Her mom could see that she was hurting the team at comps. They were an extremely talented bunch and she would bounce around the stage "performing" and doing her own thing. If the other girls weren't so good or the team/routine was boring it may have been cute but it wasn't. It was disappointing and commented on by the judges at every comp. I worked so diligently one on one with her for months before her mom and I just decided it wasn't for her. The team went on to do extremely well after that. FYI she was on the team bc it was our very first year and at the time she joined we only had 5 kids. We figured even though she didn't do so well on her tryout that her enthusiasm would help her catch up and get better.

In our rec classes we have had to ask parents to remove their children from classes and on a couple of occasions, we have asked them to leave the gym entirely, because of their disruptive nature. Refusing to listen to instruction and compromising the safety and overall experience for others is pretty much the only reasons we would do that though. It is our responsibility to ALL of our customers to ensure their experience is a positive one. If someone is asked to leave then a gentle but honest conversation is necessary.

A child on a tiny team should never be cut due to lack of talent. Lack of attention or understanding of safety and rules? It would have to be pretty extreme but ok. To quote numerous posts "some kids just aren't ready".