High School JV Alternates Game ideas?

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Love this!!!!!!! You definitely left a lasting positive impact on your athletes!

I can't take credit for any of these ideas, they were all the JV coach. If you re-read, I was speaking from the perspective of her having a small JV talent pool and suggesting things she did that may help. She put a lot of time into them (giving them opportunities to perform for small crowds, other sports, etc.) They were a feeder for my team. The point - you don't even know if you don't even let them try. It's literally JV.

 

[Keep_Believing]

I can't take credit for any of these ideas, they were all the JV coach. If you re-read, I was speaking from the perspective of her talent pool. She put a lot of time into them (giving them opportunities to perform for small crowds, other sports, etc.) They were a feeder for my kids.

Gotcha! I still love it! Coaches teach so much more than a set of athletic skills. They can build self-esteem, confidence, be a source of encouragement, etc.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Gotcha! I still love it! Coaches teach so much more than a set of athletic skills. They can build self-esteem, confidence, be a source of encouragement, etc.

I edited my post above to clarify but also added that this is literally JV. It's not UCA college nationals or even UCA HS JV nationals or NCA Daytona. What is harm in letting them try?

 

[CoachTamara]

I think the thing to ask yourself is what do you lose by allowing them to go out and try? They were put on the team, and they are at least attending practices and trying.

There is NO harm in allowing them to participate. If anything, it may motivate them. Putting them on a bench or leaving them out is doing nothing but making the situation worse. It's JV. It took me a long time to realize this as a coach, but I can promise you that especially on a JV team, NOBODY CARES. Nobody is losing their job over a team that is not coordinated. Parents are proud of their kids no matter what.

I have a kid currently on Varsity comp cheer that as a freshman I didn't think had any hope for progressing. She couldn't do anything-her feet could barely leave the ground in a toe touch. She is now a leader, has level jumps and is absolutely one of my favorite cheerleaders because we gave her the chance to work and improve and encouraged her. They will never get better if you shut them out-they will get better if you help and encourage them.

 

[mamamarcie]

Just from reading a few of these posts, it made me wonder: Do pep clubs/cheer blocks still exist? If so, this would be a great way for your alternates to still be cheer leaders without being a cheerleader. Just a thought from an old, old cheerleader (and former pep club president). :)

 

[retiredl5cheer]

Just from reading a few of these posts, it made me wonder: Do pep clubs/cheer blocks still exist? If so, this would be a great way for your alternates to still be cheer leaders without being a cheerleader. Just a thought from an old, old cheerleader (and former pep club president). :)

It's definitely not a thing near me, but maybe in the bigger cheer states? I think my cousin in TX participated in something like that.

 

[ct_dad]

I coach a high school team as well and when we have the numbers to support it we have both Varsity and JV teams. During football season the JV squad cheers all home JV and Freshman games. We would also include them for the second half of the Varsity homecoming game and the final varsity home game of the season. In basketball season we only cheer at home games and we alternate games between Varsity and JV since we often have multiple games in a week. That all said, we choose our top scoring kids for the Varsity squad and anyone else who tries out is offered a spot on JV. I prefer to not make cuts there unless we absolutely have to because it's an environment where we can grow those athletes. We don't do alternates for our supportive squads ever, only for our competition team. This gives us plenty of opportunity to work with the kids who don't have experience or aren't quite ready for varsity yet and I'd rather give them real experience than having them sitting and watching.

 

[CjD]

Hi! I’m a new high school cheer coach and have established a Varsity and JV team (first JV team in over a decade). The team had never had cuts at tryouts and while I didn’t want to completely change the culture, I am a believer in curs when needed. However, since it was mid-season (long story - there wasn’t even one cheer team because of no coach so I stepped in) I wanted to ease them in and give everyone a chance. Well, there are four I made as alternates who really should have been cut. They show up to practices and work hard sometimes but their skill set is just not where it should be. If they aren’t cheering at the game, what are some things they can do besides sit there? They’ll be in uniform and I don’t want them feeling to down about not cheering.

At my high school, we do this thing called split the pot, it's where we sell tickets to people, and then during halftime, we call a random ticket number and whoever has that number on their ticket receives the money we earned from selling tickets.

You could also have them doing crowd cheers, my high school does a few and they get the crowd going and I believe it pushes the boys/girls ( I cheer for boys basketball) to work even harder.