Mega Gym Putting Their Teams Up Against Each Other

[Cheerleading Is My Life]

We're part of a Mega gym (3 locations). It's unavoidable sometimes. They try to have the teams compete in separate divisions (i.e. Large and small) but sometimes our teams compete against each other. Even in our main location we have 2 M1 and 2 Y2 teams (plus our other 2 locations each have a M1 and Y2 team) so we can have 4 teams from our gym as a whole in each division if it's not broken up by A, AA, AAA divisions. Sometimes they're in the same division. We don't really have a say what division we get placed in. The EP tends to decide.

We've also had it where they announce awards and they don't announce the team name and we're left wondering who won. lol It's just part of being a mega gym. We don't really have any rivalry. We treat any of our teams as a win for the gym as a whole and don't focus on the individual team.

As for why we don't consolidate our teams. 2 of our gyms are 30min apart but during rush hour traffic it's longer. It's easier to travel to the gym closest to you because they're in different cities. Our 3rd gym is 5hrs away. Since our area has the larger comp's they come here 4 times a year for showcase, Nationals and 2 other large comp's.

I am a part of this same gym and have competed against other teams from different locations multiple times... At lease once a year for the past 5 years I'd say. It is somewhat upsetting to have come second to a team from our gym, but it still is a good feeling knowing that they won! This year, we have 2 world's teams in small senior and we are both going for bids this weekend. It will be really upsetting if the other team gets a bid and we do not, but I will be cheering them on at world's happily from home! It's all about the atmosphere/sense of community that your gym provides. You can clearly tell that CA handles this very well with the use of sister teams and such. "mega gyms" just needs to find a good balance between having healthy competition and being supportive of one another!

 

[CookieMomster]

I am a part of this same gym and have competed against other teams from different locations multiple times... At lease once a year for the past 5 years I'd say. It is somewhat upsetting to have come second to a team from our gym, but it still is a good feeling knowing that they won! This year, we have 2 world's teams in small senior and we are both going for bids this weekend. It will be really upsetting if the other team gets a bid and we do not, but I will be cheering them on at world's happily from home! It's all about the atmosphere/sense of community that your gym provides. You can clearly tell that CA handles this very well with the use of sister teams and such. "mega gyms" just needs to find a good balance between having healthy competition and being supportive of one another!

Good luck this weekend! We're cheering you guys on!!!!!!

 

[klynn64]

We are part of a mega gym. This never used to be a problem when we were smaller. When forming their teams the coaches would work together to avoid competing against each other. But as we grew larger it became unavoidable. Although we don't have any Worlds teams that compete against each other, we have had L3 teams that have competed against each other for the last few years. Their locations are about 90 minutes apart. I'm sure there are others as well. It is definitely potentially problematic. Some competitions both L3 teams attend but they also attend some separately. For instance we went to NCA and the other L3 is attending UCA. Initially there was some animus between the teams . Competing against the same gym was a new concept for the athletes. And they found themselves attending camp together. But, the athletes worked it out (most have anyway) and they've become friends. They cheer for each other and frequently communicate via social media. And I've seen parents from both teams down in front cheering on both teams at competition. One year at UCA both teams attended and competed against each other. They cheered for each other, met up, took pictures together and have remained in communication since. And at a recent competition they organized a dinner together. Again, not 100% of the athletes are interested in becoming friends with the competition, but most are. And thankfully I have never seen anybody (parent or athlete) from our gym cheering for us to lose or do poorly.

 

[MissCongeniality]

I don't have an issue with it. Honestly even with multiple programs in town ...friends and classmates go up against each other. They cheer each other on. Worlds teams may not be in the same division but when it comes to bids ... they are, in effect, competing against each other for the few bids handed out at each comp. When all is said and done...don't you want to know you won against the best...not some skillfully arranged situation where everyone goes to different comps (or divisions are divided) so you can all be "winners"?

I've said it before on here...my youngest was part of a very popular lacrosse program and they fielded multiple (more than a dozen) teams at each age group. When they weren't playing against other programs (and those programs still had classmates and friends as well) they were up against each other and that brought out the very best in their skills because the boys wanted that win even more. Some days one team won...others it was another. They ribbed each other and then headed out to lunch/dinner. There's a reason so many of those kids are headed to top name schools with lots of scholarship $...because at the end of the day those rivalries pushed them to be THE best players they could be. Being the winner because you were THE BEST is far more satisfying than taking those jackets with no challenge because you didn't want to compete against a friend.

 

[cheermuse]

Kinda unavoidable if you have multiple locations. The only way to cut down on this is if multiple locations dont ALL atttend the same comps.