All-Star Jam Brands Has Merged With Varsity

[Official OWECheer]

Additionally, this sport do not have the scholarships or the promising future that justify the sacrifice of time and money for a family... I wonder, where on my daughter's college applications she can write about her achievements in AS cheerleading?... Yes, she can write about the great friends she made and experiences she had, but I am sure, she could have made these same great friends and experiences at a cheaper cost with more money saved for college, since she will not get a full scholarship from this sport...

To be honest, no sport does.

 

[AScheer]

What's next? GK, Rebel, a music label or two?

A music label could solve all of our copyright issues though! ;)

 

[cheerguy100]

Ew...I'm so tired of seeing the Varsity label on everything.

 

[FaithOverFear!]

To be honest, no sport does.

Football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, etc. Lots of high school sports do have scholarships available.


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[quitthedrama]

Football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, etc. Lots of high school sports do have scholarships available.


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You are right, but color me shocked when I found out how many players on CPs SEC Div 1 college football team don't have scholarships. I assumed if you played, you had a full boat. This is not at all true. Same for every other sport at said college, and I would imagine most colleges are the same.
I have no idea what the statistics are, but a scholarship isn't a given in any sort.

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[Mndl]

You are right, but color me shocked when I found out how many players on CPs SEC Div 1 college football team don't have scholarships. I assumed if you played, you had a full boat. This is not at all true. Same for every other sport at said college, and I would imagine most colleges are the same.
I have no idea what the statistics are, but a scholarship isn't a given in any sort.

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Not at all! Plus many sports don't give out full scholarships but will split their allotted amount in partial scholarships. No one should go into any sport thinking it will get them a full ride through college.

 

[CheerBank]

Not at all! Plus many sports don't give out full scholarships but will split their allotted amount in partial scholarships. No one should go into any sport thinking it will get them a full ride through college.

That is exactly why it is kind of important to stay on top of your academics. You might not get an outright scholarship but there may be other perks involved especially when you have high academics for the school plus the sport, such as in-state tuition (if it is a public school) or having your travel expenses covered.

 

[catlady]

A music label could solve all of our copyright issues though! ;)

Honestly, I can't tell if you are jesting or not but, with the recent (Sept. 2015) Sharebeast federal lawsuit NOTICE if small music mixers can't afford to stay in the business or clients can't afford their product, Varsity going into the music mixing business isn't far fetched. People say they don't like the timing of Varsity and USASF's announcements but, the federal/state/local government doesn't care about our All Star schedule. People don't like these mergers and takeovers but, it is usually because the small guy can't afford to stay in business and THEY approach the big corporation.

 

[CharlotteASMom]

Doing any sport for the scholarship is silly because in almost all cases the money spent playing youth sports would have been equal to or greater than the college costs anyway. However I will also say that sports scholarships are more widely available then everyone is being led to believe BUT not always at big, popular, or the most competitive schools. Heck my daughter has been offered opportunities at small private schools to play soccer on scholarship and she's not even on the most elite team at her club (unfortunately for me she wants a BIG school experience and isn't good enough to play at one of those schools). It does make it easier though to justify spending $5000-$10,000 a year on a youth sport knowing your child has a strong chance of earning college money later, but that should never be the main reason to participate.

I am also not saying kids should get out of cheer because there aren't a wide variety of scholarships. I'm a firm believer in making opportunities for your children that you feel are important regardless of a specific dollar value later. We sent my daughter on a summer experience this year equal to the yearly cost of most youth sports. It was important to her and we felt that the cost was "worth it" even though others would think we were crazy to spend that kind of money. There are certainly no significant scholarships available to kids that backpacked through Wyoming for the summer!!

We as parents only know how much is "too much" and what that number is differs for every family. To get back to the original point, the cost of cheer will only come down when the majority of cheer parents hit a cost that is too much for their family and they then start pulling their kids from the sport. Many families are willing to keep paying the cost right now whether that means cutting back expenses, getting second jobs, or pulling from retirement accounts. Only each family can determine when it's too much for what is being given back, whether that be just for the experience or for the scholarship.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, etc. Lots of high school sports do have scholarships available.


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Sorry, didn't read her post correctly.

I didn't mean to say that there were none available; I meant that no sport has easily attainable scholarships (I read her comment thinking that she meant that since the likelihood of getting a college cheer scholarship is so slim, that there is no use in chasing one. Whoops!).

 

[Official OWECheer]

Doing any sport for the scholarship is silly because in almost all cases the money spent playing youth sports would have been equal to or greater than the college costs anyway. However I will also say that sports scholarships are more widely available then everyone is being led to believe BUT not always at big, popular, or the most competitive schools. Heck my daughter has been offered opportunities at small private schools to play soccer on scholarship and she's not even on the most elite team at her club (unfortunately for me she wants a BIG school experience and isn't good enough to play at one of those schools). It does make it easier though to justify spending $5000-$10,000 a year on a youth sport knowing your child has a strong chance of earning college money later, but that should never be the main reason to participate.

I am also not saying kids should get out of cheer because there aren't a wide variety of scholarships. I'm a firm believer in making opportunities for your children that you feel are important regardless of a specific dollar value later. We sent my daughter on a summer experience this year equal to the yearly cost of most youth sports. It was important to her and we felt that the cost was "worth it" even though others would think we were crazy to spend that kind of money. There are certainly no significant scholarships available to kids that backpacked through Wyoming for the summer!!

We as parents only know how much is "too much" and what that number is differs for every family. To get back to the original point, the cost of cheer will only come down when the majority of cheer parents hit a cost that is too much for their family and they then start pulling their kids from the sport. Many families are willing to keep paying the cost right now whether that means cutting back expenses, getting second jobs, or pulling from retirement accounts. Only each family can determine when it's too much for what is being given back, whether that be just for the experience or for the scholarship.

Which is why I get extremely annoyed when people say, "cheerleading? That's not going to get your kid a college scholarship, or a professional sports career, or get them into the Olympics!"

Yes, because participating in any sport is only worth it if one of those 3 things happen (of course, they don't make this remark to people whose kids do other sports).

 

[AngelsMum24]

I'm curious as to whether you pay for all star cheer. I just did a quick calculation of my costs this year. About $2,500 will go directly to my gym for tuition, practicewear, choreography, camp, etc. I consider this extremely reasonable. However, about $6,250 will go to competition fees and travel. This is strictly the athlete comp fees and travel expenses for her and one adult. No extras, minimal food, and does not include the expense for Worlds, so if they get a bid it could increase by $500-$1,200 depending on what type of bid is received. That is $8-10k for one athlete. I have a good job, I fundraise, and CP and I work a second job, and it is still a struggle. The sad part is the gym only gets 20-25% of the amount that is costs for my CP to cheer.
Granted CP's team may travel more than some other gyms, but I can definitely see why people are getting priced out of cheer.

But you do realize a significant amount of the practice wear, choreography, music, music, make-up, bows, uniforms, etc. is not actually going to your gym, right?

 

[quitthedrama]

But you do realize a significant amount of the practice wear, choreography, music, music, make-up, bows, uniforms, etc. is not actually going to your gym, right?

yes, but all of those items have a mark-up (which is justified) so the gym does profit to some degree. I think our competition fees are pretty close to actual when you add in coaches pay and travel. I'm not sure even with the Varsity rebate the gym makes much if anything on the competition fee that I pay.

 

[uhhlyssa01]

People are leaving their first jobs right about now and heading to their second jobs - the ones they work so they can afford cheer. Cut them some slack.

I want to believe in this but I am skeptical. This sounds like a reaction to the situation more than anything. Like an idea that was worked out overnight and then quickly published in the midst of the commotion. It's like Varsity has strategically moved their queen, put everyone's Kings in check, and Rebel has frantically moved their queen in harms way in a state of panic, rather than taking the time to think about all the options available left in play.

The frantic do not win at Chess. But I am interested to see how this game will play out.

Then I'd say they didn't do their research to release such an "important announcement" at a time that would reach their customer base. But I completely agree with your statement that it doesn't seem like they took enough time to carefully assess the situation and put together a plan of action, more like it was thrown out there just for the sake of throwing it out there. I still haven't seen a clear picture of what this alliance is planning to do long term..

 

[gofriars610]

Additionally, this sport do not have the scholarships or the promising future that justify the sacrifice of time and money for a family...

Per USA Hockey, in 2013-2014 there were 519,417 registered (amateur) hockey players in the USA. Of those, 25,321 were males aged 17-18--the age that would be targeted for college hockey.

There are 60 Division 1 schools that offer men's ice hockey. Each school is allowed a maximum of 18 scholarships. Even if every school offered the full 18 scholarships (which they don't--the Ivy League does not do athletic scholarships, nor do D3 institutions that "play up" to the D1 level in hockey, like Union or RIT), that means there are a maximum of 1,080 scholarships available for men's ice hockey players. Assuming they are distributed evenly by year (they're not, but we're talking in hypotheticals here), that means that there are a maximum of 270 scholarships that are able to be divided up among the entire graduating class of 2019.

Considering that most schools have players from foreign countries on their team (who are almost certainly getting a full ride) in addition to the Americans on the roster, that means that the chance of getting a full-boat scholarship are basically nil.

Does this mean nobody should play? (I use hockey as an example as I played in my youth and my brother played from age 4 through high school.)

It is foolish to base a child's activities on the prospect of them getting some kind of scholarship or reward in the future. If your child loves something, and it is financially feasible to allow them to partake in said activity, it shouldn't matter whether it is something "promising" or not. I was a competitive clogger growing up--and I loved it! Now I sit at a desk all day and write things. Did I get a dance scholarship? No way. Was it worth it? I'd say yes.