Why do coaches and gym owners put everything into their level 5 teams if their level 4 team is CLEARLY their best team. If you have a great level 4 team, and your level 5 isn't quite there, why not accentuate what you have? If you go to a competetion where crossovers are not allowed, and you have 5 or so, where do they get taken from? Have they ever taken from 5 and left them with 4? I don't think so. Most of the creative talent during the year is put toward making 5 better while other levels seem to get left behind. I don't know if it is ego with owners and coaches who think that they HAVE to have a great 5 team to be legit, but parents of lower level kids get kind of tired of getting left overs and being thought of as and afterthought after all is well with 5. Athletes on lower levels are what make up future 5 teams. If you do not show the same level of interest tothese teams, the parents will not always be there. I do appriciate gyms who do show that care to lower level teams, and there are many. But to the ones who don't, please show that you care about all of your athletes and their chance to succeed.
I don't think it's that they are forgetting the lower level teams but if their level 5 team is going for a bid to WORLDS then they will take more interest in them it's just how it is
I agree it's all about WORLDS it's the biggest thing in cheerleading
Thats just a silly statement. It takes all levels of teams to make a gym operate and to say it is "all about 5" is ridiculous. Gyms couldn't stay open with only a level 5 team and all levels should be given the same attention. Constantly taking girls from an established, accomplished team is unfair to the girls who are left to try to put a routine back together.
I agree it's all about WORLDS it's the biggest thing in cheerleading
Thats just a silly statement. It takes all levels of teams to make a gym operate and to say it is "all about 5" is ridiculous. Gyms couldn't stay open with only a level 5 team and all levels should be given the same attention. Constantly taking girls from an established, accomplished team is unfair to the girls who are left to try to put a routine back together.
You nailed it! It is about every athlete that comes through those doors and pays a gym to be the best cheerleader of a team, that they can be. Gyms can't survive with just level 5 teams. The posts on this site do lead towards the level 5 teams, and as well some gyms do to. But if the business side of these gyms would kick in, they would realize that the mega gym such as scv allstars whose best teams were not level 5, is why that gym has increased to the size that it has. That is why there needs to be 4.2 level and some of the levels that aren't the double fulls and such. Level 5 is amazing, but I have seen level 2,3 and 4 with veteran cheerleaders and great coaching look so beautiful that when they got done with the routine you were mesmerized by what you just saw. I think California Flyers is one that hides what they don't have, but when you watch them you don't think about what they don't have. I am not from either one of those gyms. Some gyms are beefing up because they are all about every team at every level. Something for all the business side of us to consider. Level 5 is fabulous, but level 5 by itself isn't good business. World's is a coaches dream, but reality is it doesn't always make the program the biggest and best. I will not name the gyms that I have watched take a hard hit, when they did not pay enough attention to their other level teams.
Why do coaches and gym owners put everything into their level 5 teams if their level 4 team is CLEARLY their best team. If you have a great level 4 team, and your level 5 isn't quite there, why not accentuate what you have? If you go to a competetion where crossovers are not allowed, and you have 5 or so, where do they get taken from? Have they ever taken from 5 and left them with 4? I don't think so. Most of the creative talent during the year is put toward making 5 better while other levels seem to get left behind. I don't know if it is ego with owners and coaches who think that they HAVE to have a great 5 team to be legit, but parents of lower level kids get kind of tired of getting left overs and being thought of as and afterthought after all is well with 5. Athletes on lower levels are what make up future 5 teams. If you do not show the same level of interest tothese teams, the parents will not always be there. I do appriciate gyms who do show that care to lower level teams, and there are many. But to the ones who don't, please show that you care about all of your athletes and their chance to succeed.
Keep in mind that alot of the crossovers from a level 4 / 5 team actually have the tumbling skills for the level 5 team and are double-teaming on 4 to help fill the squad. If a girl has level 5 skills, I dont think it is fair that she not be allowed to compete at Level 5 when crossovers are prohibited. As a parent that has put alot of money into tumbling lessons, i would be extremly upset if she were not able to compete at her rightful level just to maintain the Level 4 numbers.
So yes, if the girls are crossovers from 4/5 and they can compete level 5 skills, I think the gym SHOULD have them compete as a level 5 cheerleader.
I think most gyms strive for the level 5 even if they aren't quite ready in order to attract and retain cheerleaders. Of course you can't ignore the lower level teams because that's the future of the gym - that's not fair to those teams and just bad business overall. I also think the young cheerleaders who are interested in staying with cheer look up to that level 5 team and it gives them something to strive and work toward. And if you don't offer a level 5 team or aren't working towards one, you end up losing cheerleaders to another gym once they acquire level 5 skills or once they even get close to acquiring those skills. And . . . the only way to perfect a level 5 team is by practicing at it. You might not be very good the first year or two out, but practice makes perfect. It's a learning and growing experience for both the cheerleaders and the coaches.
Why do coaches and gym owners put everything into their level 5 teams if their level 4 team is CLEARLY their best team. If you have a great level 4 team, and your level 5 isn't quite there, why not accentuate what you have? If you go to a competetion where crossovers are not allowed, and you have 5 or so, where do they get taken from? Have they ever taken from 5 and left them with 4? I don't think so. Most of the creative talent during the year is put toward making 5 better while other levels seem to get left behind. I don't know if it is ego with owners and coaches who think that they HAVE to have a great 5 team to be legit, but parents of lower level kids get kind of tired of getting left overs and being thought of as and afterthought after all is well with 5. Athletes on lower levels are what make up future 5 teams. If you do not show the same level of interest tothese teams, the parents will not always be there. I do appriciate gyms who do show that care to lower level teams, and there are many. But to the ones who don't, please show that you care about all of your athletes and their chance to succeed.
Keep in mind that alot of the crossovers from a level 4 / 5 team actually have the tumbling skills for the level 5 team and are double-teaming on 4 to help fill the squad. If a girl has level 5 skills, I dont think it is fair that she not be allowed to compete at Level 5 when crossovers are prohibited. As a parent that has put alot of money into tumbling lessons, i would be extremly upset if she were not able to compete at her rightful level just to maintain the Level 4 numbers.
So yes, if the girls are crossovers from 4/5 and they can compete level 5 skills, I think the gym SHOULD have them compete as a level 5 cheerleader.
But what if they are on a 5 team with 4 skills just to fill the 5 team? Do you still feel that way?
Honestly, I don't feel the same way about that scenario. It does bother me that a level 5 squad is SUPPOSED to have minimum tumbling requirements and if they don't have at least 2 out of 3 of those skills then they really shouldn't be on that squad. However, the gym really should have done their research to realize that crossovers were not permitted and this whole scenario wouldn't even had been a problem. Why not just take one of the teams or not have crossovers at all?!?!
This has got me thinking........if you are so upset about Level 4 crossovers to L5, what about girlst that are on the L4 squad that should be THERE?????? Should they get put on Level 3 cuz they can't do all of the tumbling requirements? Where would that leave your level 4 team????
Funny that this topic should come up. My daughters team is a real life example of what gyms need to do to keep good talent and develop talent within the gym. The team was originally formed because there were a few younger girls (not eligible for Sr 5) with fulls that needed to have the oppurtunity to use them. Everyone said at the start of the year "they would make a great L4 team" but they are not really L5. Granted, they have had their struggles thoughout the year... but I think the gym owner and coaches were vidicated this weekend at GSSA Super Six when this L5 Sm Jr team had the third highest two day point total out of ALL teams, outscoring 9 other L5 teams including a pair of L5 Int'l and 5 of the 6 Sr L5 teams.
A gym owner needs a reasonably sucessful L5 team for two reasons: 1) Keep their best talent from going to another gym. 2) Give the lower level athletes something to look forward to and to strive for.
This is true of any sports program. Consistently high performing programs (at the highest level) will continue to attract the best talent (everyone wants to be part of a great program). Programs that fail to develop talent at the highest level and retain it, will eventually lose whatever talent is being developed.
cheerwatcher79 wrote:
