- Jan 5, 2011
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Someone said something in another thread that made me think of this. I'm "just a mom" so I'm genuinely asking because I'm curious how coaches and cheerleaders feel about this (and of course other parents can feel free to weigh in!) because I'm torn--am I only seeing this through my "Mommy glasses"?
Our first gym was a small, non-profit gym. The coaches were volunteers--mostly moms of other cheerleaders. I won't lie--we weren't that great. We mostly went to small, local comps and only competed against usually 1 or 2 other teams at a time. Having 5 teams in our division was AMAZING to us when it happened. Towards the end of the season, we were headed to one of those "larger" comps where we would be competing with about 4-5 teams in each division. I asked my cp if she was excited or scared about finally having some competition, and she replied "Well, Coach SuzieQ said there's no way we are going to win anyway because there are so many teams, so I'm just excited to go."
I was horrified when she said this. I thought WHY would a coach tell them this??? And if she feels this way, WHY are they even going? Now, my feelings on this woman are a whole separate issue, so maybe I'm just being unfair because I loathe her with a fiery passion (for many reasons before and after this). Maybe she genuinely just didn't want them to get their little Mini hopes up only to have their little feelings crushed (although I don't think their feelings ever got crushed by not winning...). But shouldn't a coach be building up their confidence before comp?
How do you guys feel about this? Do you tell your teams when you think they don't stand a chance with the teams they are up against? Cheerleaders--would this help you or hurt you if your coach told you that you weren't going to win? I think it's OK to say "Hmmm...we're up against some really awesome teams this time! Well, let's go do our best..." but to just outright say "You're not going to win this one" I think is horrible. Thoughts?
***For the record, they got SECOND place out of those 5 teams.
Our first gym was a small, non-profit gym. The coaches were volunteers--mostly moms of other cheerleaders. I won't lie--we weren't that great. We mostly went to small, local comps and only competed against usually 1 or 2 other teams at a time. Having 5 teams in our division was AMAZING to us when it happened. Towards the end of the season, we were headed to one of those "larger" comps where we would be competing with about 4-5 teams in each division. I asked my cp if she was excited or scared about finally having some competition, and she replied "Well, Coach SuzieQ said there's no way we are going to win anyway because there are so many teams, so I'm just excited to go."
I was horrified when she said this. I thought WHY would a coach tell them this??? And if she feels this way, WHY are they even going? Now, my feelings on this woman are a whole separate issue, so maybe I'm just being unfair because I loathe her with a fiery passion (for many reasons before and after this). Maybe she genuinely just didn't want them to get their little Mini hopes up only to have their little feelings crushed (although I don't think their feelings ever got crushed by not winning...). But shouldn't a coach be building up their confidence before comp?
How do you guys feel about this? Do you tell your teams when you think they don't stand a chance with the teams they are up against? Cheerleaders--would this help you or hurt you if your coach told you that you weren't going to win? I think it's OK to say "Hmmm...we're up against some really awesome teams this time! Well, let's go do our best..." but to just outright say "You're not going to win this one" I think is horrible. Thoughts?
***For the record, they got SECOND place out of those 5 teams.