I never updated with results of my tryout.
I now have a squad of 26 with 4 alternates who will not compete. (Weird number I know.)
It is usually more like 27 + 3 or 4 but there was a clear break in scores at that point.
I had 46 try out. So obviously 16 did not make Varsity this year.
Of those 16, 10 of them went on to try out for Blue squad again (JV, does not compete) and make it. They were not awful but were just not ready for Varsity yet (needed a 2nd year of JV and a tumbling class, really.)
That leaves 4 who are on no team.
One is actually a returner who had a rough come back from an injury last year and is just not who she used to be. That was hard.
The other 3 could probably have been on Blue squad but refuse because it is "lame." They were 2 years on Blue and were of the "I quit if I'm not on Gold this year" group.
One of those three had a parent email me 5 minutes after I emailed the results link out saying:
Salty Blue Squad Parent: "I am concerned at how hard it is for Blue squad girls to make Gold. They do not have the competitive experiences of the Gold girls. Becky is a great gameday cheerleader and I feel as though the tryout did not favor her due to having been on Blue for 2 years."
Me: "Good evening. Of the athletes who made Gold this year, 5 are former Blue squad athletes. 2 have been on Blue for 2 years along with Becky. Statistics indicate that it is definitely possible to make Gold with two years of Blue squad experience. I am open to discussing Becky's scoresheet and suggesting possible areas of improvement."
No response and that was almost 2 weeks ago.
You do not want feedback. You just want to complain.
I should note that me and the other two captains were 4 year vets. Our underclassmen had tremendous respect for us. We had suffered through psycho juniors/seniors our freshman and sophomore years and a coach that allowed it. I think the girls who were more brutal were the girls that lived and died about the cheerleader status. For some, cheer was their only accomplishment from HS and afforded some status in the school. Graduating really meant they weren't as sparkly as more.
Cheer is a "popular student activity" here. I will fully admit that my cheerleaders make up a significant portion of Homecoming Court, Winter Ball Court, Prom Court, Student Council. However, I am lucky in that most of the girls this year are involved in something other than cheer, so that cheer is not life for them. Ex: Honor Societies, Cotillions, Tour Guides, Quiz Bowl, Church things, etc.
I can tell you that the years I have the MOST DRAMA is when I have girls with nothing else to do except cheer and be popular.
I had a junior group that was a "cheer, have drama over football players, post to social media about it, repeat" a few years back. They targeted a freshman Varsity cheerleader who went to a dance with one of their boyfriends. I sat them down and told them they were done cheering if I heard about one more tweet. That bad.
I pretty much told them to either