All-Star Switching Team Names

[CheerFITnow]

Here is a thought... what if some of your favorite teams switched their names with other teams from within the gym....

Like World Cup Shooting Stars became Galaxy?
or Cheer Athletics Panthers became Cougars?
Stingray Steel became Stingray Navy?

for instance, if at tryouts you know that a gym has a great level 4/5 team called "Supercells" from the previous seasons and this year you made the same 4/5 team but they called it "Rain" instead (Which was not very successful last season) would you leave because of TEAM NAME based on the previous season or stay because of the skill of the team regardless of the name?

would your impression on them change? do you think when selecting a name for a team its important to look at the age/skill level of the team and their personality?

curious to know your thoughts?

 

[KPep]

I'm not sure I totally get it, but I'll give it a try...

What's most important to me is the way I feel in the gym, with my team and my coaches. The name on the uniform doesn't matter. It only matters to remind us that we are a TEAM, because we all wear the same name and uniform.

 

[MzLyn23]

Thats almost the same as dropping a level which happened on my daughter's team... Level 3 was the team's original level (always same name) and right before first comp they dropped to level 2 for legit reasons, some girls left and tumbling skills were not on par with level 3 (my own CP doesn't have a tuck).... She stayed so did the rest of the team although I think it was a bit of a hit for their ego but it was done for the right reasons... They could not compete with level 3.... Tumbling especially wasn't on point and why risk girls getting injured etc... so as for the name its still the same name but I think even if the name changed, its in part the whole gym, the same thing the poster above me said, its the way you feel in the gym and how you feel about the other athletes on that team specifically... you could be be Aliens one season and Stars the next season, question is do you like the gym your co-athletes, do u get a long, do u feel close and do u respect each other... Is there a feeling of bondness or family or whatever, supportiveness etc.... a name is just a few letters to distinguish your team from other teams.... if not all teams would be called one general name... think about it... .

 

[CheerBank]

Cp's junior team from the past 2 seasons moved from being a level 3 to a level 4 this season. Their name moved with them. It essentially was the same team and as many of the girls are aging out after this season, and I think they would have felt sad if they were given a different name. That being said, cp's gym has renamed a few teams over the years, and after a minute of getting used to the new name no one really thought about it any longer.

 

[njallday]

GBE did this with Lime. Lime was junior 5 (still one of my favorite worlds performances. they were such little beasts!) the name aged up with them and Pink (their former Senior 5) got rotated down to the beginning and is now a tiny or mini 1. i like that the kids keep the name if a big chunk of them stay together throughout the age or level ranks.

 

[mamabear]

GBE did this with Lime. Lime was junior 5 (still one of my favorite worlds performances. they were such little beasts!) the name aged up with them and Pink (their former Senior 5) got rotated down to the beginning and is now a tiny or mini 1. i like that the kids keep the name if a big chunk of them stay together throughout the age or level ranks.

That is cool!

 

[Official OWECheer]

Here is a thought... what if some of your favorite teams switched their names with other teams from within the gym....

Like World Cup Shooting Stars became Galaxy?
or Cheer Athletics Panthers became Cougars?
Stingray Steel became Stingray Navy?

for instance, if at tryouts you know that a gym has a great level 4/5 team called "Supercells" from the previous seasons and this year you made the same 4/5 team but they called it "Rain" instead (Which was not very successful last season) would you leave because of TEAM NAME based on the previous season or stay because of the skill of the team regardless of the name?

would your impression on them change? do you think when selecting a name for a team its important to look at the age/skill level of the team and their personality?

curious to know your thoughts?

Well... how would you feel if Beyonce were to change her name to Khia?

No insult intended toward the unsuccessful teams you named, but it would just feel... wrong.

 

[ilovetocheer10]

Well... how would you feel if Beyonce were to change her name to Khia?

No insult intended toward the unsuccessful teams you named, but it would just feel... wrong.

:wham:

A gym I used to cheer at changed the name of one of the senior teams because "nobody wanted to be on that team because it wasnt as succesful and they didnt want that stigma attached to it". Well the new name was terrible & the team still was the team coaches threatened to demote you to if you didnt do xyz. The name change didnt mean anything. It was still the "losing team" of the gym.

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

Here is a thought... what if some of your favorite teams switched their names with other teams from within the gym....

Like World Cup Shooting Stars became Galaxy?
or Cheer Athletics Panthers became Cougars?
Stingray Steel became Stingray Navy?

for instance, if at tryouts you know that a gym has a great level 4/5 team called "Supercells" from the previous seasons and this year you made the same 4/5 team but they called it "Rain" instead (Which was not very successful last season) would you leave because of TEAM NAME based on the previous season or stay because of the skill of the team regardless of the name?

would your impression on them change? do you think when selecting a name for a team its important to look at the age/skill level of the team and their personality?

curious to know your thoughts?

I guess I don't understand what you're getting at. Those teams you mentioned are basically "sub brands" and they probably won't ever change names. It'd be silly to change them because they have the reputation they have. That's like saying "Hershey is going to change their Kisses sub brand to be called Choco-Drops." Gyms probably make more money off of those high caliber teams solely from exposure and bringing people in.

The trend I've seen with bigger gyms, and I'm talking about the ones you've mentioned above - extremely well known and high caliber teams, is that those teams, no matter what division they're in will keep the same name unless there's a specific reason to change. Orange always has been Stingray's premier girl senior team even though they change divisions, same with Panthers, Stars, F5, etc. Sure other teams are created that are also in the same level at those programs but for the most part these team names will remain no matter what division. Losing the Shooting Stars name would really hurt the WC brand and the legacy.

Obviously there's exceptions - Stingrays has had many different names for their premier coed teams but those all had reasons. Purple was the combined team with all the GA All Star athletes, Smoke used to be their coed team name in both small and medium Coed but once Trinity closed and Rays got all their athletes, they changed to Steel. But in the spirit of the "premier senior coed sub brand" they stuck with the "grey-name" (both smoke and steel are types of grey while orange and peach are both types of orange-ish color - which are both names of their premier all girl teams). Stingrays is not the only gym who has done this even though I used them as the primary example. They're just easy to use because their brand is really strong and they follow it. Cheer Athletics does the same for the most part.

Would it effect my thinking of the team? No, team make ups change every year. No two Orange team are the exact same. But it would really hurt their brand, especially with the people who aren't as invested in cheer as we are.

 

[AllstarObsession]

My team changed names like 700 times this season. We were lady phoenix, then lady karma, then lady phoenix again, and now we're elegance. I was really really sad to see the "lady Phoenix" go because it felt like it was more "iconic", but I wouldn't leave the team for just that reason.

 

[coldasICE]

Cheer Athletics' Large Coed team used to be known as Wildcats back in the day (until 2008) and they did have a team called Cheetahs but I believe they weren't in the Large Coed division. In 2009 when they created one IOC5 (the year before they had Pumas and Junglecats in Small and Large IOC5, respectively) - they called IOC5 Wildcats. Cheetahs were created as a Small Coed in 2010 and then went Semi-Lmtd./Large in 2011. Anybody from CA feel free to correct me on this if I'm wrong!

Also, in 2008 Stingrays Large Limited Coed was known as Peach I believe? they became smoke the next year i want to say.

 

[BlueCat]

Cheer Athletics' Large Coed team used to be known as Wildcats back in the day (until 2008) and they did have a team called Cheetahs but I believe they weren't in the Large Coed division. In 2009 when they created one IOC5 (the year before they had Pumas and Junglecats in Small and Large IOC5, respectively) - they called IOC5 Wildcats. Cheetahs were created as a Small Coed in 2010 and then went Semi-Lmtd./Large in 2011. Anybody from CA feel free to correct me on this if I'm wrong!

Also, in 2008 Stingrays Large Limited Coed was known as Peach I believe? they became smoke the next year i want to say.

This is essentially correct. Cheetahs had been the equivalent of Open Coed 6 for several years in the early 2000s, but wasn't being used at the time. 2009-ish, the large coed (Wildcats) transitioned to an international age group. (The # of males was unlimited & you basically needed 24 strong HS males to be competitive in Large Coed - no thank you.)

After a couple of years, we started getting interest from HS aged males again, so we started a small coed team (Cheetahs). That grew into the current Cheetahs. Switching the names back now would seem silly as those teams have established their "brands" in the new divisions.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Cheer Athletics' Large Coed team used to be known as Wildcats back in the day (until 2008) and they did have a team called Cheetahs but I believe they weren't in the Large Coed division. In 2009 when they created one IOC5 (the year before they had Pumas and Junglecats in Small and Large IOC5, respectively) - they called IOC5 Wildcats. Cheetahs were created as a Small Coed in 2010 and then went Semi-Lmtd./Large in 2011. Anybody from CA feel free to correct me on this if I'm wrong!

Also, in 2008 Stingrays Large Limited Coed was known as Peach I believe? they became smoke the next year i want to say.

I believe Smoke existed in 2007, Peach was originally large all girl in 2008 and then they added one boy like halfway through the season, but didn't change the name back to smoke until the next season. Thats why it made sense to me when they brought large all girl back that it was named Peach. Green also went large senior all girl that year (2008). Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Worst thing is changing names and having to order new custom practice wear with the team name on it...