All-Star Drinking Pictures On Fb?

[kristenthegreat]

This is off topic, but in response to this statement....I hate that some 15/16 year olds are irresponsible drivers...however raising the age to 18 wouldn't help. I was 17 when I went to college. I couldn't imagine having positively no driving experience when I'd gone away to college...

That would have been a nightmare.

You'd end up with new drivers partying hardcore in their freshman year off college...away from parental supervision.

I'll pass lol.

Anyone from a foreign country where the driving and drinking age are similar want to comment? How do you find it works?

 

[ErinS]

Anyone from a foreign country where the driving and drinking age are similar want to comment? How do you find it works?

I don't think its a matter of driving and drinking ages being similar...I didn't drink and drive in college (nor did any of my friends)...I don't drink and drive in adulthood.... Its the experience behind the wheel. I know that here in SC there is progression. Permit (15) Restricted (15)...# of passengers, times at which you can drive etc. Raising the age to 18...where you'd presumably be a college freshman, possibly moving away from home...That takes away 3 years of getting comfortable behind the wheel.

I had a roommate that came from a...rural town... wasn't used to driving in traffic....we went to college on the outskirts of a major city. She simply wasn't prepared for "city driving" and would willingly admit she couldn't do it.

I just feel like you can't just give children all of these "privileges" when they become a certain age...Becoming an adult is a process and certain things need to be grandfathered in.

 

[cheerforeverever]

Anyone from a foreign country where the driving and drinking age are similar want to comment? How do you find it works?

One thing to think about in regards to this is that most other countries have better systems of public transportation than America does. Also, gas and cars in general tend to be highly more expensive in much of the world. Both of these combined = less necessity/opportunities for those drinking to drive themselves home.

 

[AndyT_T]

So.. because teenagers experiment.. it's okay to just let it go when they're caught drinking.. even if it's illegal and could be detrimental to their lives.. because teenagers experiment.. it's "extreme" to kick them off a team for committing an illegal act.

I just want to be sure I'm getting this right.

Common activity does not equal correct activity.

No. If you're a good parent than you should punish them. Try to teach them that it's wrong.
But, there comes a time when you can't control all of your kids life anymore. You just hafta hope that you taught them well enough that theyll survive.
For some kids that moment is college, for others it's HS. But you just hafta accept that kids are gonna do stupid things. As an adult you try to stop it, and as a child they will try to circumvent your rules.

I'm not saying you should stop being a good parent, but you also need to be realistic.

Ex: Those people in college that go INSANE freshman year.

 

[mollymags]

I don't understand how people can feel comfortable posting this stuff on the internet. I wouldn't ever want to put 500 random people from my life into an auditorium and show them a slideshow of pictures from a party I went to that weekend, or announce to them all that I'm "SOOOOOOO DRUNK". That's pretty much what you're doing with Facebook.

 

[PghxCheer2]

Maybe you should just stress to your athletes that they shouldn't be adding people they don't know/making their profile public. It would teach them more than kicking them off a team, because they were drinking at a party, ever would. Kids should have their profiles entirely private regardless of the activity the participate in, allstar cheerleader or not. There are so many creepy people out there, and timelines plastered with girls in sports bras and booty shorts is gonna have creepers flocking to their profiles. Cutting down on athletes adding fans would definitely make the pictures easier for a gym to tolerate because people around the country who've never met them/are fans of the gym won't see the pics.

Plus, when they get kicked off the team they're just gonna have more time to drink and poorly represent your gym. I don't think a coach should have to deal with an athlete constantly having pics of them trashed at a party being made public to the world, but I think it is SO WRONG for a gym to police every aspect of an athlete's life when it has no direct effect on the rest of the team. What I do on my time (especially when pics aren't posted) is none of my coach's business unless I'm showing up to practices or competitions affecting the rest of the team. The gym isn't a parent. And coaches shouldn't be responsible for monitoring athlete's profiles. You're all acting like this would be something easy to police and monitor. If you kick your level 3 base with a janky tuck off, you better be DAMN SURE you're center flyer on your worlds team with a toe full and an arabian to double doesn't have a single picture posted that one might question. What if your gym has 30 teams with 10 different coaches? Suzy is buddy buddy with Coach Paula, so he just tells her to get rid of the picture and she stays on the team. Mary has an almost identical picture, but since Coach Nancy isn't as lenient as Paula, Mary gets kicked off the team. The only thing instating a 'no tolerance' policy with drinking pictures would do is cause more stress for coaches, and more pissed off athletes.

Make profiles private and instead instate a rule that they must know every person they add, and that THEY can't post pictures that could be controversial. Then, have a coach look out for pictures posted on their profile by their friends/etc. , but if one arises then just ask them to untag themselves. Kicking them off the team for something they had NO CONTROL over is absolutely insane. Kids who post those types of pictures usually have many friends and active social lives outside of cheerleading. If you tell them they can't hang out with their friends if one of those friends MIGHT post a picture of them with a Natty in their hand, well then you're asking for your business to fail.

 

[ztaprincess]

Making profiles private isn't taking away the fact that what they are doing is ILLEGAL. The gym doesn't have to police what athletes are doing outside of the gym, but if is it brought to their attention that an athlete is constantly posting pictures of them drinking underage they have every right to say that athlete no longer has a place on their team.
You aren't telling them who to hangout with you are telling them to be smart about what they do. If they want to booze up all weekend then so be it, but do NOT do it in uniform and do NOT post pictures of it online. I actually think that there is a setting on facebook so that others can't tag you (not sure if it is still a setting but it once was). If those athletes have pictures like that all over their facebook do you not think that it can reflect badly on the gym? It shouldn't, but it sure as heck does. There are several gyms in my mind right now that I know have several of their top athletes that regularly discuss drinking on their social networking sites like facebook and twitter. That right there can look bad for a gym if someone comes across them.

 

[12mowerd]

One thing to think about in regards to this is that most other countries have better systems of public transportation than America does. Also, gas and cars in general tend to be highly more expensive in much of the world. Both of these combined = less necessity/opportunities for those drinking to drive themselves home.

nooo haha in Europe (maybe just France but pretty sure all of Europe) has NO speed limits. which is why all highway accidents are 100% fatal.

 

[littlebear]

I didn't think it would start this big of a fuss. Sorry everyone.

 

[tellithowitis]

what about coaches facebooks that have pictures of athletes drinking at the coaches house?

 

[Philly Pherocious]

I think as long as whatever the athlete does outside of the gym doesn't negatively affect what they do in the gym, then it shouldn't matter. In most cases an athlete won't give up their freedom to be a cheerleader. So as long as they aren't performing poorly because of it or making the gym look bad, then what an athlete does outside of the gym isn't really any of their business.

 

[Philly Pherocious]

what about coaches facebooks that have pictures of athletes drinking at the coaches house?

This should be obvious. Lol

 

[cheerforeverever]

nooo haha in Europe (maybe just France but pretty sure all of Europe) has NO speed limits. which is why all highway accidents are 100% fatal.

Actually most European countries do have a speed limit, and if you speed, the fines are extremely expensive. I believe one of the few that does not have a set speed limit is Germany, yet there is still a recommended speed limit of below 130, and if a cop thinks you are driving innappropriately for the road conditions they can still give you a fine. Yet I don't really see how this relates to my post in the first place, because it was about public transportation (busses, trains, subway systems, etc.)........

 

[TheUltimateFan]

I didn't think it would start this big of a fuss. Sorry everyone.

The fact that there has been this much debate, with so many diverse opinions, probably means this was an excellent topic to raise.

It seems everyone can choose to learn something from a different point of view if it is out there for them to consider, right?

 

[RS_Amie]

In the UK we can start driving at 17 and can drink at 18. Unfortunately the majority of British teenagers drink. There are probably a few that don't but in my experience most under 18s (usually 14+) drink. It can be at parties, on park benches, in the safety of their own homes (where it is legal to drink from about 5+, don't ask) but most teenagers drink. Which leads to a lot of teens drink driving. I have personally never witnessed any of my friends drinking and driving whether they were under age or legal to drink. I did have a friend in college (16-18) who was 18 and lived out of town, sleep in his car in the college car park after a night out. So whether he would have done that a year before at 17 when he passed his test I don't know.
Because it can take a while to pass your test over here some people don't learn until they're 18 so they are legal to drink by then anyway.

As for cheerleaders who drink. As I have mentioned on another thread I once coached a small high school team where all the girls were under 16. One of these girls made no attempt to hide from me that she drank. I'm only 21 so I have a feeling that they felt I was the young, cool coach. There was no way I could have had them kicked off the team for photos of them drinking because it was the school that ran it and I was a student volunteer. It would have been difficult for me to criticise her for illegally drinking because I did it when I was younger, but I did have a talk with her several times to ask that she wasn't so open about it because I didn't need to know.

Sorry for any possible lack of relevance, this is just my point of view as a Brit.