All-Star Discounts For Elite Tumbling?

[Official OWECheer]

I feel like this is a marketing ploy that has less than a 20% return. What it will do is get your "name" in the cheer papers, so to speak and make you the talk of the town. It will (and should) be a source of inspiration of those already enrolled in the program to work hard to get to that level. What it will do is draw in other level 5 athletes which again weakens your competition locally as the other gyms they came from have to rebuild.

But as for drawing in new level 1-4...or to be honest to glean them from other programs, I don't feel this is an accurate statement. You get the level 1-4 by being good in those divisions. You get the level 1-4 by giving them an opportunity to fly if they were going to base at their old gym and refused to. You get the level 1-4 by showing them it means as much to be on those levels in your gym as it does to be on the level 5 showcase team.

I'm thinking, how many years does it take to truly establish your L5 team(s) as one (or some) of the best? You would have to scholarship several kids for several years, which could cost you huge amounts of money. If you are not training your L1-L5R athletes well enough that at least 99% of kids can progress past level 1, and a reasonable percentage of kids can make it to level 5 (being well-rounded AND having good technique), you will rely VERY heavily on outside kids, but not enough on your own. Is that really sustainable? Not saying every gym trains their kids at the same caliber, but still.

 

[Cheerleading Is My Life]

I have many issues with this, but one thing I will point out that hasn't been mentioned yet. I feel like having this advertised will make new athletes less likely to join. Some 12 year old with all of a cartwheel sees that this gym they want to attend is giving free rides to athletes with level 5 skills, then this kids might feel like they aren't "good enough" to go to this said gym.

 

[Official OWECheer]

I have many issues with this, but one thing I will point out that hasn't been mentioned yet. I feel like having this advertised will make new athletes less likely to join. Some 12 year old with all of a cartwheel sees that this gym they want to attend is giving free rides to athletes with level 5 skills, then this kids might feel like they aren't "good enough" to go to this said gym.

If anything, I would think that the gym is REALLY desperate for L5 kids (obviously not the case for every gym doing this). You very well might be good enough to cheer there.

 

[SL&AM]

I wouldn't say that we have SMOED for blame for this; I think SMOED simply brought to light what has been happening for years. I mean, Top Gun in Miami---as an example, has out of towners since I was in high school. People have traveled and will travel to be with a better gym; that is the name of the game when all these L5 kids wants is a ring at World's.

As for it slapping a LVL 1-4 athletes---yes and no. To be honest, I think a lot of that depends on how a family decides what gym to go with. CP is at a gym with a Lvl 5R team---did I look at what they were doing to decide to bring her there? Not really, I looked at their previous Tiny's, Mini's, Youth...etc etc.

The part about coaches not focusing so much on home grown that makes me sad isn't the slap it gives everyone else, it's that I don't want to ever feel like I need to gym hop to get her more attention, or extra coaching, or better lessons. I want to be at the gym we are now ten years from now when she's on a senior team (assuming she's still cheering then) and is connected to the kids, coaches, staff...etc, because she's grown up there. I think that is what I appreciated about the Fab 5 out of CEA---I hated the Cheerleb part, but I appreciated the bond those girls shared growing up together. Those are the memories I think CP will benefit from long term, not the trophies or the rings.

 

[klynn64]

IMHO I think it's tacky to advertise free tuition, I know gyms do it but I'm not feeling the whole advertising of it, it makes them seem so thirsty! I know I'm not the only parent eye rolling the whole thing, so I can't imagine this being good for business!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think that it's a very short sighted thing to do. It may help them field a Level 5 team this year, but at what cost. If they insist on offering free tuition, don't advertise how desperate you are because it alienates you from competitors and athletes within your own gym. Keep that fact a well guarded secret (if there is such a thing).

 

[Pebbles49]

After reading through several posts, I started to wondered, those top programs with a long history of athletes uprooting to be tpart of their program such as TopGun, Smoed (most publicized team), Stringrays (watched the recent NCA program and they mentioned all newcomers from out of state) did they advertised and promised free tuition and scholarships for these elite athletes? I hate to accuse a program is offering discounts, when they really not...

 

[randomactsofcheer]

I think I have the minority opinion here. I don't see an issue. Level 5 Worlds teams are one of the focal points of a program. If marketed right, they can bring publicity to the gym, especially if they are a successful team. Making it easier for these athletes to compete under your brand seems to be a great use of advertising dollars.

Ideally, it would be great if it was offered to any athlete (regardless of level) if they spend X amount of years within your program, but ensuring that your Worlds teams are competitive also make sense imo.

You work hard, you get rewarded , just like @gofriars610 pointed out, it is very similar to a scholastic scholarship.

I agree. I saw the Twitter post for this particular gym and didn't think there was anything controversial about it until I saw this FB post. CP is an athlete at a smaller gym near this other gym and has friends on teams there. When I saw this level 5 ad, I jokingly texted a friend (whose CP is at this gym) that her kid better get to work now that they are offering the scholarship to junior athletes.

I don't see how this is any different from a school offering a student an academic or athletic scholarship. I didn't feel like it was a slap in the face to me when a friend was offered a larger grant to attend the same university I attended. She had better grades than me! If CP was at this gym, I wouldn't be upset that new athletes were entering the gym with this scholarship. I would think that scholarships for upper level athletes would entice more lower-level athletes into the gym, not the other way around. And I know there are kids at CP's gym receiving scholarships for various reasons (although I don't believe anyone is receiving a scholarship solely because of their athletic ability). It doesn't make me feel different about the program or my CP's place at her gym.

 

[klynn64]

I see this as a potential problem for those gyms who take loads of kids from other gyms and form a team. And Id like to use Smoed as the example - though they are not the only ones who I've witnessed this happen to.

Smoed became famous for winning worlds (and more or less their TV show). They had great technique, worked as a cohesive unit, and we're able to pull off some really amazing routines.

Smoed now lacks the great technique they once had and is not as cohesive as they once were. I like to think a little of that is attributed towards the way they built their team. Smoed a couple of years ago was made up of mostly home grown athletes, kids who've been in the program for a bit, learned their technique there, grew up on teams with the kids they were on Smoed with. Smoed now has kids from all over with different levels of technique. They don't have the same cohesiveness because they haven't been around each other for that long. It takes time for some people to work out the kinks when put together in stunt groups and get used to your bases and flyers. When you cheer with the same group of people, you learn how to anticipate each others action and the effort and time spent to recover from a problem is significantly less since you are used to working together. A large chunk of their team is new to CA so Smoed doesn't have the same "team dynamics" they once had when they were mostly home grown kids. I bet they had to go back to the basics and start at a lot less advanced level than what they were used to. Some probably had to be corrected on their technique so it matches Cali's technique/style. This all takes away time spent on other things and becomes a real set back. And unfortunately it's shown this season.

This is what I see happening. To me, a group of homegrown kids are invaluable to a group that's from all over. You cannot replicate years of practice with the same group of people under the same coaches in one season, no matter how talented the athletes can be.

While I agree in principle with what you say, I don't think SMOED is a very good example to use.

You mentioned above "Smoed now has kids from all over with different levels of technique" and "A large chunk of their team is new to CA so SMOED doesn't have the team dynamics...". I was curious so I went and checked out the team composition for the last two seasons.

Despite all of the bad press SMOED has received about all of their imported athletes, you might be surprised to learn that they have fourteen homegrown athletes on their 2014-2015 team. Their 2013-2014 team had fifteen homegrown athletes.

It looks as if Cali does value their homegrown athletes.

 

[SL&AM]

After reading through several posts, I started to wondered, those top programs with a long history of athletes uprooting to be tpart of their program such as TopGun, Smoed (most publicized team), Stringrays (watched the recent NCA program and they mentioned all newcomers from out of state) did they advertised and promised free tuition and scholarships for these elite athletes? I hate to accuse a program is offering discounts, when they really not...

I don't think I have ever seen any of these gyms offer it publicly, even back when, and I think it's done on an as needed basis. One gym I have some knowledge on offers a discounted rate or free tuition to their higher level athletes, BUT they are still responsible for competitions fees, uniforms and practice wear, travel, make-up, music, and choreo fees...etc. So free tuition doesn't always necessarily mean completely free.

 

[TumbleMamaof2]

IMHO I think it's tacky to advertise free tuition, I know gyms do it but I'm not feeling the whole advertising of it, it makes them seem so thirsty! I know I'm not the only parent eye rolling the whole thing, so I can't imagine this being good for business!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To me it seems more of a tactic to try and not lose their home grown athletes to a certain bigger name gym in the area that offers a larger variety of worlds level/sr5/j5 teams.

 

[Pebbles49]

After reading several posts and thinking about the subject, I totally changed my prospective on scholarships for elite athletes, only if these scholarships are given for talent and not being of a certain favored gender (males) because this type of gender based scholarship discriminate against my daughter and I also hope that the scholarships given to these athletes are generated by fundraising and not increased tuition and fees for the already struggling parents (me!)

Another thing, partial scholarships or assistance can be accessible to all athletes in the gym, if done correctly...I must shout out my daughter's former gym, CJA, I still remembered they offer all athletes an opportunity to win reduced tuition and fees by essay contests and providing the straight A's report cards and every level athletes had an opportunity to win scholarships and tbh, I really did not object to supporting these type of scholarships because they were more inclusive...

PS: In essence, I still object to paying for someone else to play a sport, especially when I cannot afford to keep my child in the sport without help too...But I agree that scholarships should be provided to some athletes...

 

[Official OWECheer]

To me it seems more of a tactic to try and not lose their home grown athletes to a certain bigger name gym in the area that offers a larger variety of worlds level/sr5/j5 teams.

Good point.

 

[Official OWECheer]

I've done some thinking and I want to clarify my position: I have no problem with a strong (well trained, progressing L1-L5R kids) gym offering free tuition to L5 athletes (in and out of the gym) as an incentive for kids to upgrade their skills, because the kids within the program actually have a chance of making their way up. It's the gyms that are too desperate to get to Worlds just to say that they have a Worlds team that bother me.

You know, the ones that don't pay much attention to their lower levels, and give them worse training (and in some cases, worse choreography), but pour all of their energy into fielding a L5 team. Your tacky neighborhood Xtreme Jankletics. They rush kids through tumbling and stunting progressions, so no one is actually fit to compete at their assigned level. Kids don't really progress and so a level 5 is non-existent. The owners know this and they try pull L5 kids in by offering free tuition. They succeed, and behold! XJ Senior 5 is a thing! They then go on to (by the grace of the Cheer Gods) win an AL bid. They pay it off and go to Worlds, but their foot stomping, hair whipping, and blinged out uniforms aren't enough to blind the judges from their sloppy technique and obvious incompetence, and they are cut in Prelims.

I might be wrong, but I think THAT'S what some people on this thread have a problem with.

 

[retiredl5cheer]

This has been happening for YEARS. There was a gym in the tri-state area that did this dating back to 2008. It is what it is.

 

[AngelsMum24]

We don't offer it for elite skills, but as coaches, we volunteer our time and I have two unused hours I pay rent for. We'd like to have a senior team so have offered free tuition for 12-18 year olds interested in trying competitive cheer. It's very new in our area, there is no rec. and not a lot for that age group to do if they haven't lived here forever (military area). So, I am offering it to spread the word and give teens something to do. Team fees still apply.