High School Homecoming Ideas

[Official OWECheer]

Our tradition was the road signs, but they didn't get made this year. Our homecoming is a regular Friday night game and was a few weeks ago.

We are usually in basketball by Thanksgiving--depending on how far we get in football playoffs. State championships are usually the first week of December.

I completely get the "not appreciated" part. Only one of the football players routinely thanks the cheerleaders for the treats. But, the girls hear about it if they don't have anything for the football team!

That's my problem with a lot of cheer traditions. That basically teaches the players that they are owed certain things, and that they can be ungrateful.

 

[Onfire381]

Our tradition was the road signs, but they didn't get made this year. Our homecoming is a regular Friday night game and was a few weeks ago.

We are usually in basketball by Thanksgiving--depending on how far we get in football playoffs. State championships are usually the first week of December.

I completely get the "not appreciated" part. Only one of the football players routinely thanks the cheerleaders for the treats. But, the girls hear about it if they don't have anything for the football team!

Yes exactly, I think last year when they stopped, a couple of the football players questioned it, but the coach and a couple of the senior girls said that they never got even a thank you for doing it, and nothing more was ever mentioned I guess it was too hard to actually thank someone.....geesh!

 

[Official OWECheer]

Yes exactly, I think last year when they stopped, a couple of the football players questioned it, but the coach and a couple of the senior girls said that they never got even a thank you for doing it, and nothing more was ever mentioned I guess it was too hard to actually thank someone.....geesh!

Ugh.

How does one go about getting them to express more gratitude? Do you email their coach?

 

[CheerBank]

That's my problem with a lot of cheer traditions. That basically teaches the players that they are owed certain things, and that they can be ungrateful.

This is true. When former cp was on varsity, one of the football moms actually complained that her son's locker was not as decorated as some others.

Cp is decorating 2 lockers, one of which is her good friend's (which she wanted to do). He's actually apologized to her several times that she has to spend $ for it and he keeps offering to pay her back.

 

[Official OWECheer]

This is true. When former cp was on varsity, one of the football moms actually complained that her son's locker was not as decorated as some others.

Cp is decorating 2 lockers, one of which is her good friend's (which she wanted to do). He's actually apologized to her several times that she has to spend $ for it and he keeps offering to pay her back.

That's nice. I'd rather decorate for a friend than for a stranger.

But that mom is annoying. And the entitlement attitude often continues into college and the professional leagues. The worst part is, in many cases, everyone around them gasses them up to the point at which they feel like demi-gods. Then combine that with academic fraud, and well...

 

[Ems]

Kinda gonna derail the thread here, sorry, but I completely agree with the entitlement stuff. Over the summer my family hosted a collegiate baseball player for a summer league and it was amazing to see how spoon-fed and spoiled these guys were... And how their egos grew from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. And it was baseball, which does not nearly get as much hype as football does in high school and college.
I'm glad we never had to decorate lockers or anything in my years of cheering, just the main hallway for two spirit weeks. I get it's the cheerleaders jobs to support the teams, but I feel in a lot of cases it's taken for granted and/or under appreciated.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Kinda gonna derail the thread here, sorry, but I completely agree with the entitlement stuff. Over the summer my family hosted a collegiate baseball player for a summer league and it was amazing to see how spoon-fed and spoiled these guys were... And how their egos grew from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. And it was baseball, which does not nearly get as much hype as football does in high school and college.
I'm glad we never had to decorate lockers or anything in my years of cheering, just the main hallway for two spirit weeks. I get it's the cheerleaders jobs to support the teams, but I feel in a lot of cases it's taken for granted and/or under appreciated.

Could you elaborate on the ways in which he acted? This is interesting.

 

[Ems]

Could you elaborate on the ways in which he acted? This is interesting.

It's not like he's a bad guy, nor was incredibly rude, but you could see the change. First it's important to know that the entire baseball club runs off of donations and volunteers. They never cleaned the grandstands, they never helped with putting away merchandise, they had an Xbox in their locker room when half the team wouldn't even play the game (bullpen and second string players). I got roped in to playing music at the games (walk up songs, in between innings) and never got a thank you, not even from the player living with us. They were constantly told how great they are by the people in charge and how they have a real shot at making it to the majors. Every Friday night the team would get burritos donated by a local restaurant, but the volunteers got nothing. They were constantly having team dinners where our player would come home at 1am after drinking lots of alcohol on game nights (he was over 21 at least). And I think the thing that most bugged me, is at the end of the season "thank you volunteers" lunch banquet, the team got a posh pancake breakfast beforehand, and then when it came time to eat, all of the players got up and were the first ones in line for food. They did not let a single host family or volunteer go before them.
I don't think the players paid for anything besides maybe a few meals when they had away games. They never paid for a hotel nor their uniforms nor their many team dinners. They had free memberships to the local, posh health club. And it was so frustrating as a former college cheerleader who had to pay for everything and fight for everything we got, fight for every ounce of respect, and that was cheering for a school! This is just a summer league for these guys to have fun with, maybe have a scout come out. It's not like they're playing for scholarships or anything. And let's be honest, there is an incredibly slim chance that they would make it to the majors. (None of them played for any school that has an outstanding baseball team, just all average or even bad) MAYBE one player might make it, but he's definitely not going to be the next Derek Jeter or Madison Bumgarner.
You could just see how at the beginning of the season they were fine, but as they kept getting free food, free gym membership, constant praise, and started winning and were treated like kings, they started acting like them.

 

[Official OWECheer]

It's not like he's a bad guy, nor was incredibly rude, but you could see the change. First it's important to know that the entire baseball club runs off of donations and volunteers. They never cleaned the grandstands, they never helped with putting away merchandise, they had an Xbox in their locker room when half the team wouldn't even play the game (bullpen and second string players). I got roped in to playing music at the games (walk up songs, in between innings) and never got a thank you, not even from the player living with us. They were constantly told how great they are by the people in charge and how they have a real shot at making it to the majors. Every Friday night the team would get burritos donated by a local restaurant, but the volunteers got nothing. They were constantly having team dinners where our player would come home at 1am after drinking lots of alcohol on game nights (he was over 21 at least). And I think the thing that most bugged me, is at the end of the season "thank you volunteers" lunch banquet, the team got a posh pancake breakfast beforehand, and then when it came time to eat, all of the players got up and were the first ones in line for food. They did not let a single host family or volunteer go before them.
I don't think the players paid for anything besides maybe a few meals when they had away games. They never paid for a hotel nor their uniforms nor their many team dinners. They had free memberships to the local, posh health club. And it was so frustrating as a former college cheerleader who had to pay for everything and fight for everything we got, fight for every ounce of respect, and that was cheering for a school! This is just a summer league for these guys to have fun with, maybe have a scout come out. It's not like they're playing for scholarships or anything. And let's be honest, there is an incredibly slim chance that they would make it to the majors. (None of them played for any school that has an outstanding baseball team, just all average or even bad) MAYBE one player might make it, but he's definitely not going to be the next Derek Jeter or Madison Bumgarner.
You could just see how at the beginning of the season they were fine, but as they kept getting free food, free gym membership, constant praise, and started winning and were treated like kings, they started acting like them.

That pisses me off. I feel like a lot of coaches just gas the kids and parents up so that they'll continue training with him/her and make him/her more money.

 

[AScheer]

We too got tired of spending money & time decorating lockers and giving treats. We got a few thank you's but mostly heard complaints or nothing at all. The complaints really got to me... like we're going out of our way to do something nice for you and you're going to complain for stupid reasons. It took a lot of time to decorate, especially since our football team back then had about 80 players (coaches didn't cut. If you didn't cut yourself through hell summer practices then you made the team.)

A couple of seasons ago though, we started charging to decorate. You can either buy a full season, or purchase a game individually, and we'll decorate your locker. Turned into a great fundraiser for us, and it makes the time & money into it worth it.

 

[Ems]

That pisses me off. I feel like a lot of coaches just gas the kids and parents up so that they'll continue training with him/her and make him/her more money.

It was hardly even the coach though. The coach was probably the most honest with them, being brutally honest about getting drafted and being in the minors and saying that they probably WON'T make it. I'm pretty sure the coach was getting paid, but it definitely wasn't exorbitant.
It was mainly the parents of the two local boys that were on the team saying how great everyone was and how players are definitely going to make it. It kind of gave me the impression that they're hoping the team will give their own kid a better shot at making it so they try to get money/volunteers however they can (within reason). I just think the players could have helped out a lot more. Every game they did raffles, and they would have gotten so much more money if they just got a player who wouldn't be in the game and made them walk around for the raffle, instead of just shooting the breeze with the bullpen during the game. They don't realize how good they actually have it. It was definitely an eye-opening experience into the world of baseball and now I totally understand how you can have these huge, inflated egos in professional sports.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

That's my problem with a lot of cheer traditions. That basically teaches the players that they are owed certain things, and that they can be ungrateful.

Or that cheer exists solely to decorate/buy snacks/etc. for boys. There is a fine line between supporting teams/promoting spirit and basically becoming the football fan club.

We actually have a student group (called Spirit Club) that does all the signs, decorations, etc. for teams along with student council, which is great because if I had to (for example) waste warm up time making goody bags for boys I would probably claw out my own eyeballs.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Or that cheer exists solely to decorate/buy snacks/etc. for boys. There is a fine line between supporting teams/promoting spirit and basically becoming the football fan club.

We actually have a student group (called Spirit Club) that does all the signs, decorations, etc. for teams along with student council, which is great because if I had to (for example) waste warm up time making goody bags for boys I would probably claw out my own eyeballs.

THANK YOU. And to the parents... like, why should a cheerleader have to bake for your son and make signs for him? Shouldn't that be YOUR job? Shouldn't YOU be your kid's biggest cheerleader?

 

[CheerBank]

The girls are on the way home now (11pm) after decorating 4 houses per car of 4 cheerleaders. They were at the school at 6:30 am this morning and had classes, a pep rally, practice and then a team dinner at one of the senior cheerleader's houses to which we all contributed dishes. Tomorrow they have to be at the school at 7:45 am for practice, then bagel breakfast with the football players, then the parade, and kickoff at 2:30 pm. I don't see how they are going to make it through the day without collapsing with exhaustion! Oh and last night they decorated lockers.

Know what? Cp is loving every minute of it (she only cheered the winter season last year so missed all of this). JV decorated their lockers, they've had great team bonding, and she'll sleep well tomorrow night.

While it is frustrating that cheer plays such a supporting role during football season, our boys are for the most part appreciative. I love the idea of a season pass for decorating lockers as a fundraiser, it's brilliant!!

ETA: Two out of four of the boys whose houses they decorated texted cp after she got home thanking her so much. A third came out and helped them because he felt bad for them and he was tall, and at the last house the parents gave them snacks.

 

[Official OWECheer]

The girls are on the way home now (11pm) after decorating 4 houses per car of 4 cheerleaders. They were at the school at 6:30 am this morning and had classes, a pep rally, practice and then a team dinner at one of the senior cheerleader's houses to which we all contributed dishes. Tomorrow they have to be at the school at 7:45 am for practice, then bagel breakfast with the football players, then the parade, and kickoff at 2:30 pm. I don't see how they are going to make it through the day without collapsing with exhaustion! Oh and last night they decorated lockers.

Know what? Cp is loving every minute of it (she only cheered the winter season last year so missed all of this). JV decorated their lockers, they've had great team bonding, and she'll sleep well tomorrow night.

While it is frustrating that cheer plays such a supporting role during football season, our boys are for the most part appreciative. I love the idea of a season pass for decorating lockers as a fundraiser, it's brilliant!!

ETA: Two out of four of the boys whose houses they decorated texted cp after she got home thanking her so much. A third came out and helped them because he felt bad for them and he was tall, and at the last house the parents gave them snacks.

That's nice! High school cheer is definitely taxing, but worth it if you are at a spirited school with a strong program!