POWER

Date: Mon Mar 24 7:45 AM, 2008

RE: POWER

Date: Mon Mar 24 8:33 AM, 2008

After reading all these responses here is my opinion. I understand what POWER is trying to do and I foresee a lot of problems. When tryouts come around and little Suzie who is currently on POWER Senior 4( and is really close to her full) gets placed on Senior 4 again, because now POWER has 10 other girls from other programs that now have filled little Suzies potential spot. How is Suzie going to feel knowing she was this close? Will she have the option to try for Worlds on another team in the area, because from the way this is looking, all that is being focused on is Level 5 Athletes. I have had a lot of respect for POWER as a program over the years but with this it really changes my perception of what is really important. For some gyms once you make it to Worlds your focus changes. At this age how your peers treat you is really important and girls at this age can be really hurtful. I understand Morton and Dannys All American program welcomed these girls in to the Cheergyms.com family had camp together and have shirts and truly care about one another. With the way things will be done at POWER this year I dont think it is healthy for the kids. If my daughter wanted to cheer on a Level 5 team, I would have to leave our current program since we dont have a Level 5 team and take her to another program. I know the girls she cheers with now would miss her but things would be okay. Now if she wanted to do our current gym and POWER it causes problems and I would not allow it.

Over the years we have had many teams in the same divisions as POWER and sometimes they win sometimes we win. If Sally is on Athletic Perfection Junior 4 and also POWER Senior 5 and POWER also has a Junior 4 team and beats Athletic Perfection time and time again should Sally be happy her POWER team beat her own Junior 4 team? Of course she should because she is also part of the POWER family correct? So how do her peers feel about that? It just comes down to loyalty for me I guess. You cannot serve to masters or in this case 2 programs. How do other gyms in the area that POWER is in feel about this. It seems like these gyms will now be turned in to feeder programs for POWER. POWER has made a great name for themselves and are an excellent program. I understand this is a practice that has gone on for many years in California an other parts of the country and I find it hard to understand why someone who was so against this two years ago and spoke how highly they valued their Level 5 athletes and would not share them with other programs and how they were a family ect. Now decides it is okay because it is POWER doing it. Why should other programs share their athletes with POWER. When Morton and Danny decided to do this it was not okay with POWER and people from POWER were very vocal about it. Now remember this is MY OPINION only. I know the below posts are from a different subject but both touch on the subject of sharing athletes.

John Hebert
Date: Tue Feb 21 11:40 AM, 2006
Views: 686

RE: Unwated coaching tactics in California

I agree 100% with Morton.

I too have been approached by several programs to share kids. My response each time has been, NO THANK YOU!

My program is my program each and every kid, family, and staff member. We stick together through the good and bad times, as we are a FAMILY. If you have competed anywhere we are at you can see this by the support our fans give to all of the POWER teams, even those that their own child is not on.

I too hope the USASF will deal with this type of situation and soon! A simple certification of all cheerleaders and ID number would prevent most of this type of problem. I know it is something being talked about, but now maybe the USASF will be more proactive in this matter. There are many people in the industry that willing to help in getting this type of thing going.

Good Luck to all!

Cheers

JOHN HEBERT
Owner POWER Lisa Deeter
Date: Tue Feb 21 5:43 PM, 2006
Views: 439 RE: Unwated coaching tactics in California

I can tell you as the coach of both POWER small senior and large senior teams that there NEVER was any talk to join up with any other team. We have 20 on small and 35 on Large. We will be competing with those girls that have been on those teams the entire year through the good and the bad. I love them all !!!!

I really think that each gym has to do what is best for THEM. If they feel comfortable bringing on kids at the last minute, by all means do it. I know for us at POWER, we do not feel comfortable with it. It is all about what each team feels comfortable doing.

I really hope that everyone at GSSA hits and the best teams goes and represents California. D,D,And M- you guys rock and I wish you nothing but the best. ( fantasy baseball excluded)

Date: Mon Mar 24 8:46 AM, 2008

Anonymous wrote:

You know what I have noticed....POWER's teams are made of equal skill level.- or so they make it seem. Every girl on their teams does the skill required of the skill level. Also, they don't highlight their cheerleaders.

Some teams have teh same kids in the front all the time and they highlight some of their cheerleaders-- i can even picture kids from other teams because they are all i see!!!

Oh ya, NCE doesn't have squad fulls, fyi

I believe the only northern cali team that has full squad fulls is POWER.

Date: Mon Mar 24 9:52 AM, 2008

WOW...I update our website before Easter weekend and I get back to see 4 pages worth the stuff LOL. I have spent all morning reading these posts.

Here are some reasons why we have changed our Level 5 program

In the past two years we have had members join our program who live a long distance away from the POWER gyms (Gilroy, Danville, Vacaville, and Fairfield). These families drive long distances to be apart of our program which currently is 3 days a week for 2 HRS. By us modifying our practice schedule to two days a week for 3 HRS we get in the same amount of practice time as before. This will allow more people who are interested in POWER that live a far distance the opportunity to be a part of our program since they would only have to make the commute 1 time during the week.
I have been approached by several gyms to allow their athletes to cheer for our level 5 program and still be apart of their program. They knew they could not offer a level 5 team for their one or two girls, yet wanted to help them push their skills. These kids were not going to be leaving the gym(s) they are currently at, but wanted to present this opportunity to them. I decided I would not make this option available to just a few gyms but instead I would offer the same option to anyone that wanted to do it.
It has been a chore these past years working with High School cheer and scheduling. By practicing one night less a week, it will ease most of the conflicts, thus allowing more members in our program to do High School and POWER.

Here are some misconceptions that I read on this topic that I will clear up for you all.

1. I did NOT do this because we are aging out a ton of kids. Actually we are only aging out 3. Yes only 3 cannot do a traditional age senior team (11 years - 18 years) next year provided a few others don't go off to college some where.

2. The post about Suzie who is currently on a POWER senior 4 team that "almost has her full" getting her spot taken by these new cheerleaders from other places coming to POWER. Well if you take a look at our teams and how we set them up, we try and put everyone on skill appropriate teams. An "almost full" is not level 5. However we do place some members on teams higher than their individual skill level because they can bring something to the team IE Leadership, basing, flying, etc. We have also added 52 more Level 5 spots for next year. POWER currently has 56 Level 5 positions, next year we are offering up to 108. So Suzie will have the same opportunity next year to make level 5 as she did this year. If she has the skill she will make level 5. This same philosophy is the way we approach all of our levels. We try and create teams that can be competitive in each division / level with the opportunity to win those divisions and not just field teams to have a team compete.

3. Competition conflicts IE a POWER team in a division and another gyms team that a member of our Level 5 team is on. This is no different than two POWER teams being in the same division or pyramids and motions (Junior 3 2007/2008). When you field multiple teams from different locations the odds of having two teams in the same division greatly increase. We will do our best to avoid the situation, but only time will tell.

4. The previous post where the poster cut and pasted comments Lisa and I made in 2006. That was pasted so it appeared to be referring to what is currently being discussed, so let me put it back into context. Those statements were referring to a gym going to a competition and adding additional members to their team from another gym specifically for that competition ONLY. (Super Six 2006) Those additional members would not have been a part of the team for the entire year, would not have attended all practices, competitions, and team functions. That is completely different that someone being on a team the entire year like everyone else on the team. .

I hope this allows everyone to get a better understanding of why and how we plan to do things. If you have direct questions you can email me or call me.

Cheers

JOHN

Date: Tue Mar 25 8:40 AM, 2008

Anonymous wrote:

how can nce only have 8 "true" level 5 cheerleaders if their whole tumbling is all fulls. and they don't recycle in their sequence. If they made it to worlds they obivously know how to work it with what they have to complete "true" level 5 teams.

I don't know which team you're talking about, but I've watched the coed and the small senior teams more than once, and neither have tumbling that is all fulls. Maybe they didn't throw them that day, but I have yet to see the whole team throw fulls.

Date: Tue Mar 25 9:13 AM, 2008

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

how can nce only have 8 "true" level 5 cheerleaders if their whole tumbling is all fulls. and they don't recycle in their sequence. If they made it to worlds they obivously know how to work it with what they have to complete "true" level 5 teams.

I don't know which team you're talking about, but I've watched the coed and the small senior teams more than once, and neither have tumbling that is all fulls. Maybe they didn't throw them that day, but I have yet to see the whole team throw fulls.

NCE does not have full squad fulls. I believe they were stating that the entire tumbling section is fulls. This is true. Not only 8 fulls as the previous poster had implied. They do have some doubles as well. But no, they do not have a full team of fulls and do not claim to.

Good luck to all competing at the different venues this weekend. Safe travels.

Date: Tue Mar 25 3:34 PM, 2008

Geez folks...Chill out on poor POWER...If you don't agree with the opportunity John has made available, then don't make it an option for your kids.

John used the example of someone cheering at another program and wanting to cheer with their friends, but also having level 5 skills and wanting to compete them...This is the perfect opportunity for them to do both while allowing them to still compete with their original program. He has chosen to open his doors to all programs not just a select few like Cheergyms...This doesn't make it right or wrong, just different :)

This is nothing more than an OPPORTUNITY...Gym owners and coaches, if you don't think it's a good idea then don't allow your athletes to do it..if you do, then great!

Honestly, regardless of how you feel about John he has done great things for the Nor Cal Cheerleading industry and along with a handful of others. An opportunity such as this, as well as the NCAA is an example of improving the cheerleading industry for the athlete. How about giving John some props for once...

Date: Tue Mar 25 4:14 PM, 2008

I agree with the last post. John is an amazing guy and the entire POWER staff is simply incredible. If anyone has the opportunity to be on a team at POWER it would be an awesome experience for them. Good luck to all the POWER teams attending Jamfest this weekend and also to the Senior 5 teams attending World's. Congratulations on another amazing season John!!!

monitor7 · Member

Anonymous wrote:

Geez folks...Chill out on poor POWER...If you don't agree with the opportunity John has made available, then don't make it an option for your kids.

Good call, and why don't we stop this right here...