High School Last Minute Much?

[MissBee]

I do a lot of choreography, consulting and routine critique in the local high schools. I was contacted today by a middle school team. They are a new team (their first year having cheer at their school) and wanted to know how to go about competing and if I could get them ready for a competition this season. Hi, it's Feb 1. The season is WELL underway, in fact at the school level-Nationals are next weekend. There are a couple local comps left this month, but at most that gives you 3 weeks to learn a routine. I love these clueless coaches that think we can wave a magic wand and Bring it On happens!

 

[Just-a-Mom]

Funny ! My daughter started on a new Varsity team this year. They're definitely a city squad, and this is only the second year they've even had cheerleading at the school--they only practice twice a week for an hour. So they keep asking her to teach them stunts. They kept saying "Well, in the video we saw a cool one like this..." and "In the video we were watching we saw how to do one like that". She's thinking it's one of those Learn to Cheer DVD's you can buy, so she finally asks them "OK...where is this video so I can see what you're talking about?" Yeah, you guessed it. It was "Bring it On"--the one with the "Roller Coaster" stunt, and that's the one they wanted her to teach them.

And now they keep finding stunts on youtube and asking her if they can start learning them for next year. Which would be ok except they're finding like college videos, and super advanced Level 5 stunts. My daughter is like "Um...my old team trains year-round, 6-9 hours a week and we couldn't TOUCH those girls. Maybe we could start a little smaller?"

Did you tell the coach you could maybe help them for NEXT year? Or are you giving it a shot for this year? good luck whichever they end up doing!

 

[Ashley]

I do a lot of choreography, consulting and routine critique in the local high schools. I was contacted today by a middle school team. They are a new team (their first year having cheer at their school) and wanted to know how to go about competing and if I could get them ready for a competition this season. Hi, it's Feb 1. The season is WELL underway, in fact at the school level-Nationals are next weekend. There are a couple local comps left this month, but at most that gives you 3 weeks to learn a routine. I love these clueless coaches that think we can wave a magic wand and Bring it On happens!

My state has two competition seasons - in the fall and in the winter. They're definitely starting late for the winter even, but those high school nationals are probably from the fall season, no? In Mass, invitationals are just starting, league competitions start in a bout 2 weeks, regionals are in march probably, and then states after that. But that's high school, and every state might be different.

Maybe see what you can come up with for the latest invitational you can get? So they can do a basic routine at least once this season?

 

[cheerforeverever]

Do you know the ability levels of the girls?
If they're allstar kids mostly they could prob pick up a novice routine in 3 weeks with practice every day.....even with sponsors as "coaches". Now if they can't even build a prep clean and dont know what a cartwheel is, that's a stretch. Make them a calender of competitions/ another local school's competition cheer year calender so they know when to get choreo, when to have tryouts, when be ready for competition, how many practices per week and how long their competitors practice to help them understand the process more. That way they can be aware that 3 weeks or less = crash and burn routine most likely and have them give you a call in august for next season.

 

[MissBee]

These are children who have never cheered before in their lives. They also don't have a cheer coach, just a faculty advisor. They've never stunted because they don't have someone to teach them. League championships around here were this past weekend or the weekend before this one.

I basically told the coach that the girls need to go ATTEND a comp to see what the expectation level is for their division, and then give me a call in June. They are an inner city team, so they can't afford camp or to even bring in staff. I'm not sure if I have the patience to teach them to stunt, or if they have the discipline to learn to stunt. After I see them, I may suggest they got he hip hop team route.