High School High School Tryouts

[AScheer]

I can tell you that it boggles my mind how many people (adults) will re-ask things I have already said. Or ask for exceptions to things when it has already been stated that we won't make exceptions.

Yes!! Our packet says many times that if you can't attend summer camp, don't tryout. Anyone not going to camp will be removed from team, etc. I verbally will say it in the meeting. Every single year I get questions about how Suzie has church camp, or Suzie has a family reunion, or whatever else Suzie likes to do during that week, so would that be excused? What part of a bolded sentence that says these are the mandatory dates, don't even tryout if you can't be there don't they understand?!?

Or my other favorites, if our daughter makes JV, can she tumble in varsitys class because that time works better for us? Or can JV Suzy come to varsitys practices too so she can learn from them and get a better chance of making future varsity teams?!?

 

[acecheermom]

We delineate JV and Varsity on skills here because Varsity is the competitive squad.

They are two separate tryouts as well. So really, you have to decide which you'd like to be considered for.

I have had freshmen on my Varsity squad before, because they had the skills and scored well in the tryout.

We've also had Seniors on JV due to being new to cheer or things like tumbling block issues (tumbling is bonus/optional on the JV scoresheet.) Most upperclassmen who have cheered Varsity and don't make the squad as a returner (rarely) choose not to tryout for JV and just don't cheer, because they find it embarrassing.

It is set up based on skills only here as well. The only difference is our state body governing this will not allow Seniors on JV teams.

She had a near perfect score from tryouts. She impressed everyone with her jumps on day 1. She is small and so people don't expect such high and great jumps. On Day 2 she did not max out her tumbling points because she decided not to throw her full on dead floor since she's only ever done that level of tumbling on spring floor with her Allstar team. But she did throw her layout step out so she still scored very well. The coach then held her behind her group so she could show her jumps to one of the tumbling judges.

So after all that she was still a nervous wreck on Friday wondering if she would even make the team. LOL I love this kid but like her Allstar coach always tells her she has no idea how good she really is. Not that she not confident in her skills just that she is her own worst critic and always thinks she hasn't hit perfection and can do more. Just her personality.


Now we have uniform fittings on MOnday and then parent meeting on Tuesday. Trying to figure out how to NOT be THAT parent but we already have an issue. The coach sent out the practice schedule for Varsity with the acceptance letters. They will practice for now every Tues and Thurs from 3-5. The problem is since she is still in Middle school her school doesn't even get out til 4:05. She'd be 4:30 before she can make practice. Not sure how I should approach this with the coach since most of the other kids are 9-11th graders so they get out of school at 2:50. Suggestions?

 

[cheermommaRN]

That is the #1 reason our district doesn't put freshman in varsity or jv. Our junior high gets out much later than the HS and the coach is not going to make the older kids sit around after school or go home and come back.

My irritation right now is I am a very busy parent and I'm used to AS where I know what is due when and what time things are happening. Cp came home from announcements with an order form for required items and camp clothes. The coach says "bring $150 for your uniform and your camp clothes order for to fittings"...soooo when do you want the rest of your money? And if she's bringing her camp form why is camp clothes fitting listed as being two weeks later?
Oh and I'm out of town for work the night of the parent meeting so dh has to go. He barely pays attention. I'm sending cp with him to take notes....

 

[cheer25mom]

It is set up based on skills only here as well. The only difference is our state body governing this will not allow Seniors on JV teams.

She had a near perfect score from tryouts. She impressed everyone with her jumps on day 1. She is small and so people don't expect such high and great jumps. On Day 2 she did not max out her tumbling points because she decided not to throw her full on dead floor since she's only ever done that level of tumbling on spring floor with her Allstar team. But she did throw her layout step out so she still scored very well. The coach then held her behind her group so she could show her jumps to one of the tumbling judges.

So after all that she was still a nervous wreck on Friday wondering if she would even make the team. LOL I love this kid but like her Allstar coach always tells her she has no idea how good she really is. Not that she not confident in her skills just that she is her own worst critic and always thinks she hasn't hit perfection and can do more. Just her personality.


Now we have uniform fittings on MOnday and then parent meeting on Tuesday. Trying to figure out how to NOT be THAT parent but we already have an issue. The coach sent out the practice schedule for Varsity with the acceptance letters. They will practice for now every Tues and Thurs from 3-5. The problem is since she is still in Middle school her school doesn't even get out til 4:05. She'd be 4:30 before she can make practice. Not sure how I should approach this with the coach since most of the other kids are 9-11th graders so they get out of school at 2:50. Suggestions?

Just ask her how she wants to handle it. Maybe email her now before the parent meeting? She has to work around it because it is school. Its not like it is some kind of optional activity. She cannot leave school over an hour early 2 days a week.

 

[AScheer]

It is set up based on skills only here as well. The only difference is our state body governing this will not allow Seniors on JV teams.

She had a near perfect score from tryouts. She impressed everyone with her jumps on day 1. She is small and so people don't expect such high and great jumps. On Day 2 she did not max out her tumbling points because she decided not to throw her full on dead floor since she's only ever done that level of tumbling on spring floor with her Allstar team. But she did throw her layout step out so she still scored very well. The coach then held her behind her group so she could show her jumps to one of the tumbling judges.

So after all that she was still a nervous wreck on Friday wondering if she would even make the team. LOL I love this kid but like her Allstar coach always tells her she has no idea how good she really is. Not that she not confident in her skills just that she is her own worst critic and always thinks she hasn't hit perfection and can do more. Just her personality.


Now we have uniform fittings on MOnday and then parent meeting on Tuesday. Trying to figure out how to NOT be THAT parent but we already have an issue. The coach sent out the practice schedule for Varsity with the acceptance letters. They will practice for now every Tues and Thurs from 3-5. The problem is since she is still in Middle school her school doesn't even get out til 4:05. She'd be 4:30 before she can make practice. Not sure how I should approach this with the coach since most of the other kids are 9-11th graders so they get out of school at 2:50. Suggestions?

Is she the only freshman? I would email the coach to see how she handles middle school kids during the transition months until summer. If there are other freshman or have been in past years then the coach is probably used to working around that. I know we have our new incoming kids get there as fast as possible. It's only a few weeks and it's part of it. Not much you can do about the time your school gets out.

 

[acecheermom]

That is the #1 reason our district doesn't put freshman in varsity or jv. Our junior high gets out much later than the HS and the coach is not going to make the older kids sit around after school or go home and come back.

My irritation right now is I am a very busy parent and I'm used to AS where I know what is due when and what time things are happening. Cp came home from announcements with an order form for required items and camp clothes. The coach says "bring $150 for your uniform and your camp clothes order for to fittings"...soooo when do you want the rest of your money? And if she's bringing her camp form why is camp clothes fitting listed as being two weeks later?
Oh and I'm out of town for work the night of the parent meeting so dh has to go. He barely pays attention. I'm sending cp with him to take notes....

Wow, um I did not in anyway mean that other kids should sit around and wait on her or go home and come back. But I also am not going to check her out of school 2 times a week for practice. As far as I'm concerned I don't care if she doesn't even start practices until school gets out. But I don't want her penalized for missing practices either.

I will email her next monday morning. We have Spring Break this week and she made it very clear in her letter that the kids were not to contact her over Spring break to discuss anything about the results of tryouts. So I'll wait and email Monday morning hopefully that will give her enough time to figure out what she wants to do.

There is another freshman on the team so maybe she is already thinking about it. THis coach is fairly new too so she hasn't dealt with this before. She started sometime during hte summer last year so after this type of conflict if they had it last year.

She did schedule accordingly for tryouts as the incoming freshman had a different tryout clinic time so maybe she's coming up with a similar plan for practice???

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

It is set up based on skills only here as well. The only difference is our state body governing this will not allow Seniors on JV teams.

She had a near perfect score from tryouts. She impressed everyone with her jumps on day 1. She is small and so people don't expect such high and great jumps. On Day 2 she did not max out her tumbling points because she decided not to throw her full on dead floor since she's only ever done that level of tumbling on spring floor with her Allstar team. But she did throw her layout step out so she still scored very well. The coach then held her behind her group so she could show her jumps to one of the tumbling judges.

So after all that she was still a nervous wreck on Friday wondering if she would even make the team. LOL I love this kid but like her Allstar coach always tells her she has no idea how good she really is. Not that she not confident in her skills just that she is her own worst critic and always thinks she hasn't hit perfection and can do more. Just her personality.


Now we have uniform fittings on MOnday and then parent meeting on Tuesday. Trying to figure out how to NOT be THAT parent but we already have an issue. The coach sent out the practice schedule for Varsity with the acceptance letters. They will practice for now every Tues and Thurs from 3-5. The problem is since she is still in Middle school her school doesn't even get out til 4:05. She'd be 4:30 before she can make practice. Not sure how I should approach this with the coach since most of the other kids are 9-11th graders so they get out of school at 2:50. Suggestions?

It's a non-issue for me. Our time difference isn't quite as pronounced, but I know from tryouts til the end of the year any incoming freshmen are going to be late. That's part of it. All we do is conditioning anyway, but even if we were having full blown practice, I wouldn't care if kids were late because of what time school dismissed.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I have had freshmen on Varsity before. Varsity practice starts at 3:30 in April and May. Middle school is out at 3:15 whereas HS is out at 2:45.

It is understood that until school lets out in May, any freshmen are going to be late unless they go to the MS closest to our building and are practically running/don't need to change clothes (Seriously. Freshmen at the middle school next door are only on time if they were pretty much wearing practice clothes to 7th period.) Any other MS, you can expect them around 4:15.

That is fine as it is only temporary (April and May.) That and you understand that you need to try to get here. Late is fine, but not rolling in with 30 min left.

 

[acecheermom]

I have had freshmen on Varsity before. Varsity practice starts at 3:30 in April and May. Middle school is out at 3:15 whereas HS is out at 2:45.

It is understood that until school lets out in May, any freshmen are going to be late unless they go to the MS closest to our building and are practically running/don't need to change clothes (Seriously. Freshmen at the middle school next door are only on time if they were pretty much wearing practice clothes to 7th period.) Any other MS, you can expect them around 4:15.

That is fine as it is only temporary (April and May.) That and you understand that you need to try to get here. Late is fine, but not rolling in with 30 min left.

See that's my worry here. Practice is 3-5 I think it was. She gets out of school at 4:05. So if I go quickest route I can have her there by 4:30 and that is with her changing in the car. So she'll only be with them the last 30 minutes. IDK I guess we'll see what she says next week.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Not related to my team's tryout at all, but my god-daughter's middle school tryout:

Background: G-daughter is 12. Going into 7th grade. This year, she trying out for the MS cheer team (MS cheer is 7th and 8th only at her school. No 6th graders. Sixth graders tryout and cheer rec on the 5th/6th grade rec team. Weird but that is not my concern.)

I have an issue with the tryout time and I need to vent to people who know and don't think I'm being Suzy's Godmom.

Since late February meetings, the girls have been told that the tryout for 7th/8th starts at 6:00 pm.

LAST NIGHT my BFF/Cousin (her mother) called me saying that G-daughter got into the car after clinics and was freaking out.

Because after about a month of the tryout being at 6:00 pm, the MS cheer advisor announced (at the end of that day's clinic) that in order to accommodate the HS tryout time (both programs are using the HS gym) the MS tryout would be MOVED UP TO 3:30.

(Before anyone asks, yes I asked her if she hadn't accidentally had the time wrong from the beginning. She didn't. This was new information and she was not the only freaked out kid with an irritated mom.)

So that meant that instead of going home, getting ready, and relaxing, she now has to leave school at 2:40 at go straight to the tryout. Her mom can't even drop her off now, due to work. Her dad has to leave work to run her to tryouts.

I'm sure other parents are being inconvenienced by this as well (What if you are a kid who for some reason can't even try out now because there is no one at home to bring you to the tryout at 3:3o on short notice?)

BFF/Cousin has no cheer background and she was not sure if this was typical of MS (as her only comparison is the rec tryouts) so she called me.

In summary, who does that? Seriously.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

Not related to my team's tryout at all, but my god-daughter's middle school tryout:

Background: G-daughter is 12. Going into 7th grade. This year, she trying out for the MS cheer team (MS cheer is 7th and 8th only at her school. No 6th graders. Sixth graders tryout and cheer rec on the 5th/6th grade rec team. Weird but that is not my concern.)

I have an issue with the tryout time and I need to vent to people who know and don't think I'm being Suzy's Godmom.

Since late February meetings, the girls have been told that the tryout for 7th/8th starts at 6:00 pm.

LAST NIGHT my BFF/Cousin (her mother) called me saying that G-daughter got into the car after clinics and was freaking out.

Because after about a month of the tryout being at 6:00 pm, the MS cheer advisor announced (at the end of that day's clinic) that in order to accommodate the HS tryout time (both programs are using the HS gym) the MS tryout would be MOVED UP TO 3:30.

(Before anyone asks, yes I asked her if she hadn't accidentally had the time wrong from the beginning. She didn't. This was new information and she was not the only freaked out kid with an irritated mom.)

So that meant that instead of going home, getting ready, and relaxing, she now has to leave school at 2:40 at go straight to the tryout. Her mom can't even drop her off now, due to work. Her dad has to leave work to run her to tryouts.

I'm sure other parents are being inconvenienced by this as well (What if you are a kid who for some reason can't even try out now because there is no one at home to bring you to the tryout at 3:3o on short notice?)

BFF/Cousin has no cheer background and she was not sure if this was typical of MS (as her only comparison is the rec tryouts) so she called me.

In summary, who does that? Seriously.

So is she having to check out of school early? That HAS to violate some kind of policy.


I'm asking this question hoping that they aren't upset because the kid suddenly has to ride the bus to her tryout if they can't pick her up.

 

[AScheer]

See that's my worry here. Practice is 3-5 I think it was. She gets out of school at 4:05. So if I go quickest route I can have her there by 4:30 and that is with her changing in the car. So she'll only be with them the last 30 minutes. IDK I guess we'll see what she says next week.

Are you allowed to check her out at 4? That extra 5 minutes make all the world in our school parking lot!!

 

[AScheer]

Not related to my team's tryout at all, but my god-daughter's middle school tryout:

Background: G-daughter is 12. Going into 7th grade. This year, she trying out for the MS cheer team (MS cheer is 7th and 8th only at her school. No 6th graders. Sixth graders tryout and cheer rec on the 5th/6th grade rec team. Weird but that is not my concern.)

I have an issue with the tryout time and I need to vent to people who know and don't think I'm being Suzy's Godmom.

Since late February meetings, the girls have been told that the tryout for 7th/8th starts at 6:00 pm.

LAST NIGHT my BFF/Cousin (her mother) called me saying that G-daughter got into the car after clinics and was freaking out.

Because after about a month of the tryout being at 6:00 pm, the MS cheer advisor announced (at the end of that day's clinic) that in order to accommodate the HS tryout time (both programs are using the HS gym) the MS tryout would be MOVED UP TO 3:30.

(Before anyone asks, yes I asked her if she hadn't accidentally had the time wrong from the beginning. She didn't. This was new information and she was not the only freaked out kid with an irritated mom.)

So that meant that instead of going home, getting ready, and relaxing, she now has to leave school at 2:40 at go straight to the tryout. Her mom can't even drop her off now, due to work. Her dad has to leave work to run her to tryouts.

I'm sure other parents are being inconvenienced by this as well (What if you are a kid who for some reason can't even try out now because there is no one at home to bring you to the tryout at 3:3o on short notice?)

BFF/Cousin has no cheer background and she was not sure if this was typical of MS (as her only comparison is the rec tryouts) so she called me.

In summary, who does that? Seriously.

What time does the school let out? In my experience tryouts are always directly after school. 6pm sounds odd to me. If this is after school I don't see the big deal? Since its current 6th and 7th graders only, they should all already be on campus. I also don't see why mom or dad taking her is important. This is all assuming that this time is directly following school. If it's a non school day a ride at that time could be inconvenient. However if a kid wants to tryout and her parents are committed then they'll find a way. If they can't get to tryouts, do you think they'll make it to away games?

On another note I don't think it's uncommon for middle school sports to get bumped for high school. Sounds like bad planning/a miscommunication, but if the high school wants their own gym around here whoever else had it will get bumped out, even if they booked first.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

So is she having to check out of school early? That HAS to violate some kind of policy.


I'm asking this question hoping that they aren't upset because the kid suddenly has to ride the bus to her tryout if they can't pick her up.

To be on time, yes.

Their school does not bus. She normally walks. The tryout is at the high school which is not an "I can just walk" distance.

The issue has more to do with:

*People have lives. Going from 6 to 3 presents logistical challenges when the average person cannot rearrange schedules with less than a day.

*It went from "Plenty of time" to "now you have to practically leave school early to be there."

 

[acecheermom]

Are you allowed to check her out at 4? That extra 5 minutes make all the world in our school parking lot!!

Our school allows no check outs after 3:40. But honestly even 3:40 is a nightmare due to the ridiculous car line at this school. I do not pick her up in the car rider line because if you aren't there to line up by 3 you will sit in that line until like 4:30.

So we kind of cheated the system last week for tryouts. She leaves school as a walker at 4:05 walks about 1/4 mile from the school where I pick her up just inside of a neighborhood. This was helping to get her into the car by 4:10 so we could make the tryouts by 4:30. Generally that put us in the lot of the high school around 4:20-4:25.