Background info... PAC was bought out by a soccer company one month ago for some financial backing. Everything was supposed to be the same, just a little more organized and they were to deal with the money and gym stuff.
Today the level 5 coach from Pride Athletics Champions was fired. She wasn't given a reason, they just told her she was no longer needed... She has been my coach for the past two years (other girls up to 4 years) My entire team decided we will have no part of this gym if she is not involved, she has gotten us to worlds twice and no one else in our gym has her coaching/choreography skills....plus we are a family! Are we wrong to leave and possibly ruin Pride because of this one coach? Keep in mind they have NO reasoning...
She is thinking of opening up her own gym...eNVy Allstars possibly I don't know too much about it as of now but I will keep you posted .
What a mess, the whole gym is falling apart. This was suppose to be a powerhouse gym and now they are biting the hands that feed them. All of the old Pride girls AKA Cheer Cats Elite AKA Pride Athletics have been together for over 6 years. We are all a close family. Ever since the merger we got too big too fast. We went from a close family to a gym that you don't even know anyone anymore. The closeness we all felt for the last six years is now gone corporate. The original owners Daniel and Teney and all the rest of the coaches were best friends and cheered together in college. They brought their love of cheer and sportsmanship and made our children who we are today, the ones you all love to be with at competitions. The coach that was fired was one of our best coaches who took our girls to Worlds two years in a row and is very well loved by all. The ones that are left are not happy with the way Elements Coaches have come over and TAKEN over. You can see the agony in their faces when they come on the floor to coach. All the new coaches are from competive gyms one of which their is very bad blood. Their parents have made false accusations of our girls being pregnant, drunk, even called police and filed restraining orders against us. Their girls are nasty and refuse to talk to our girls at competitions even had very unsportsmanlike additudes, like writing nasty things on thier cars at competitons. Now they are in our gym like they are our best friends. We have done our best to accept them into our gym and become one, but now it is falling apart. They are expecting our coaches to change their WINNING ways and use their loosing ways. So now we are all waiting to see what our real Pride Coaches are going to do and who is going to follow them. SHAME SHAME SHAME
This sounds aweful! I would hate to be invoved in something like that. I feel really bad for the girls and the coaches because there's not much they can do since the money is controlling it all. I never thought a gym with 13-18 teams sounded too appealing. It's much more fun for the kids and parents when they all know each other. Hopefully the coaches will come to a solution that will fix this problem. Too bad the soccer company just ruined a good thing. Ehhh, what did they know?
I am so sorry to hear what is going on! It is really tough when a gym that you are committed to undergoes such dramatic change. We had a simmilar situation last year and rather than going with the gym that bought us out some parents opened a new gym. It is difficult when you go with a start up gym but I would do the same thing if I had to do it all over again. The animosity between the two gyms definitely intensified last cheer so expect that. People don't like it when you don't do what they had planned. But in my opinion my girls will learn more through their continued committment to the coaches they started with. I truly understand what you mean when you refer to the "family" that was created at your gym......we have the same atmosphere....and there is not a trophy big enough to replace that. Everyone at your gym will have to make the decision that is best for them so it will be difficult to see your program divided, but you also have to do what you think is best for you.
Yeah, this has just evolved into a big mess...why would you let go a multiple national/grand champion national winning coach with 2 worlds appearances under her belt? I have not found out yet... PAC was poised to become a POWERHOUSE gym! My kid is an "original member" of CCE, PA, and now PAC but it looks like we may be jumping ship with a BUNCH of other parents and kids...it is a damn shame.
As a former owner of Pride Athletics Champions I understand everyone is frustrated with the changes that are taking place within the program. Know that our decision to go in this direction was a long tough decision for each of us but we made it because we knew it would be better for each and every member of the PAC family. You as parents entrust us with the safe keeping and teaching of you children and that is in part was we are doing with the new company. we have faith that they are going to keep our baby safe and keep it strong over time. It is tough to go from 40-60 kids and instantly move up to 150+ kids and keep that family feeling within a program. I feel that we still do have that family and we are comtinuing on that feeling. Everyone who is on staff is committed to making every athlete who enters those doors feel welcome. Many of you know what I myself endured at the beginning of last year with the emails and papers going around, but I have made terms with it and have let it become water under the bridge. This sport is not big enough to hold grudges or to have bitterness toward someone else because of what of where they came from. The point is they are now part of the family that everyone speaks so highly of. The PAC family. With that being said sure families fight and squabble. Parts of the family come and parts of the family go. Its been that way forever. If everyone who has been part was still part, you'd have programs with 4000 to 5000 athletes. I understand everyone is upset that the decision was made to let a coach go, but at the same time it was not a family decision. It was a business decision. The only people who may ever know are the people who make those decisions and that is something we must live with. I ask you though, people come and people go in each of our lives, whether it be in our personal lives, our professional lives, our school lives, or even in our sport lives. We continue to push on even though it may hurt deep inside to see them leave but also because we know that they have touched our lives and have taught us the skills we will continue to use. In my cheer career I have have multiple coaches. Some are still with me and I continue to learn from them and some I may never see again for various reasons. Each has touched my life and each is still special to me but I didn't just stop because of it. I push forward each day and prove why they should be proud that they coached me. I know alot of rumors are going to be flying around but know we are still here for you and your families. We are still the PAC family. I hope that when you make you decisions on the course of action you are deciding to take, that you make your decision not based on emotion because we are all hurting the same way, but you make an informed unbiased decision.
We are the PAC Family and will always be a family.
Larry R. Hartman Coach Pride Athletics Champions
-- Edited by Vegas Cheer on Thursday 28th of May 2009 10:34:15 AM
Business decisions rarely take emotions, commitment, and loyalty into consideration. Its all about business. How sad is that? I hope everyone makes the choice that is right for them, and not necessarily for "the business".
Business decisions rarely take emotions, commitment, and loyalty into consideration. Its all about business. How sad is that? I hope everyone makes the choice that is right for them, and not necessarily for "the business".
Though I am sorry to hear of this gyms problems . . . Without business decisions there is no business.
Elements gym has always been a large family, just like the one the PAC family has within thier gym. We were very sorry to hear about your coach being let go. We think she has done an amazing job building the program and getting the kids to reach their ultimate goal...Worlds! As far as the bad sportsmanship goes, it is unfare to label an entire program based on a few bad apples. Every program has some...even PAC. All we can do is appologize for thier actions let you know as a gym we do not condone the actions that have been listed above. As far as pointing the finger and saying that the Elements coaches and athletes that joined your program have ruined it... thats a pretty bold statement. Your new decision makers were the ones who brought them into your gym... that needs to be discussed with them. They obviously felt that those coaches and athletes would help you create the mega gym that they wanted. That has everything to do with them, and has absolutely nothing to do with the Elements gym or those athletes who remain with the Elements program.
We wish you the best of luck again this year and hope that what is happening with your gym works itself out. In the meantime, please leave Elements out of your issue. We just want to have a successful year for all of our teams as we are sure you want for yours.
Please do not judge Elements based on past events and contrived stories, because some of the worst aspects of Elements are now gone, heavily recruited to your gym by your new manangement. I want to say that what you are talking about was done by, like you said the very people who are there right now, pretending to be your friends. So, we have been cleansed, but they did not represent the wholesome program we have grown to love at Elements. As parents, we feel bad that they are causing trouble at your gym now, but again look to your management for doing such a good job recruiting some of the worst we had. Although most just followed their friends over, there are some really good Elements there too that we warmly welcome back. Elements should not be judged by the few bad apples, as posted before. We are supportive of Coach Christi and think what they did to her was just terribly wrong. That's business for you and why many of us knew that a soccer company could never effectively run a cheer gym. They ruined a good thing by trying to become too big. Everyone know that the smaller family run gyms are the best. The best of Elements is still intact and coming back strong! Please show us the respect we deserve and judge us on our members now not the ones that left. Signed, A parent who decided to stick with Elements because the program is "family" like you talk about. Good Luck to all involved.
I just want to start out by saying that we have not been in the cheer world for very long but what I can say this past season I have seen some of the rudiest kids and parents from PAC. Now I am not saying that all parents and kids are rude from PAC but when we walk by them at competitions in our team shirt and try and smile at them the give us dirty looks from the parents so when the kids did it too I wasn't surprise. I was not at Elements last season but I can tell you that from the outside looking in Elements did seem like that family PAC was talking about but never have I seen PAC act like a family they always seem like big bullies. Again this is me on the outside looking in. I would never allow my child to go to PAC only because I don't like how Josh speaks to the kids I would never talk to my child that way and I will be damn to allow a coach to talk to her that way. He too seems like a bigger bully!! He is alll about that trophey!!! I think that you guys were extremely harsh on Elements, I have recently signed my daughter up there and she is loving everything that Elements has to offer her. Never have I ever heard any of the coaches or the owner speak ill of PAC...or the kids and I know that it was a hard day when the other two coaches left but they moved on and they are concentrating on the upcoming season rather than sitting around bashing on PAC. That is one of my main reasons for coming to Elements because they seem to me to worry about what is going on in their gym rather than bashing the gyms in Las Vegas. I know that every gym will have their drama.. I do feel that everyone has their choice in a gym and if you guys do follow Kristy I wish yo all the best of luck!! The level 5 team all girl team was a great team and your choice of staying together I can't say I blame you I would follow your coach as well!!! Good luck this season!!!
I said nothing about the OWNER of Elements, in fact I have no gripes about the OWNER of Elements or her program. Nicki has a wonderful cheer program. It is just the few "bad apples" as you stated, which it seems like you are happy to get rid of, right, do you agree?
Also, as you stated the ones we have had bad blood with ARE the ones in our gym pretending to be our friends, less than five of them, not your whole gym which I NEVER stated. It is hard to forgive and forget what they have done. In fact one of your girls lived 4 houses down and knew my Daughter was on PAC and she had her football friends from Eldorado HS take our trash and dump it out down the road, but I didn't call you and tell you that you have a bad apple nor does that reflect on your program that she was so childish and immature. BAD BLOOD. I have no problems with any of the other Element girls or their families, in fact my Daughter is friends with several of the Elements girls and have cheered with them since she started over 9 years ago. WE ALL know who I am talking about and what they have done. Some of the Element girls that came over are very nice and I have also met their parents and families.
And nowhere in my statement did I state that Element Coaches and their athletes have ruined our program. I stated that the coaches took over!!! Our coaches have proven that their coaching style win trophys and Worlds bids, so why should they have to stand aside and let someone else take over, then get fired when they protest. That IS what is happening I saw that with my own eyes!! We were told that nothing was going to change as far as the coaching staff and they are letting our coachs go on a daily basis and new coaches are in thier place. As for the girls there are many wonderful athletes from Elements. I am only talking about the ones that I can count on one hand. YOU KNOW THAT SINCE YOU HAD THEM.
I didn't mean to insult you or your program, if I did I owe you my sincere apology I didn't mean to come across that way.
Elements gym has always been a large family, just like the one the PAC family has within thier gym. We were very sorry to hear about your coach being let go. We think she has done an amazing job building the program and getting the kids to reach their ultimate goal...Worlds! As far as the bad sportsmanship goes, it is unfare to label an entire program based on a few bad apples. Every program has some...even PAC. All we can do is appologize for thier actions let you know as a gym we do not condone the actions that have been listed above. As far as pointing the finger and saying that the Elements coaches and athletes that joined your program have ruined it... thats a pretty bold statement. Your new decision makers were the ones who brought them into your gym... that needs to be discussed with them. They obviously felt that those coaches and athletes would help you create the mega gym that they wanted. That has everything to do with them, and has absolutely nothing to do with the Elements gym or those athletes who remain with the Elements program.
We wish you the best of luck again this year and hope that what is happening with your gym works itself out. In the meantime, please leave Elements out of your issue. We just want to have a successful year for all of our teams as we are sure you want for yours.
LoVE Always!!!
I didn't see where they said Elements bought out PAC. They said a soccer company bought it out. Right? So are you saying PAC and Elements have merged and now they will be Envy? And if so, didn't Elements just have a merge a year or so ago? Where does the soccer company come in to this? I am so confused
I said nothing about the OWNER of Elements, in fact I have no gripes about the OWNER of Elements or her program. Nicki has a wonderful cheer program. It is just the few "bad apples" as you stated, which it seems like you are happy to get rid of, right, do you agree?
Also, as you stated the ones we have had bad blood with ARE the ones in our gym pretending to be our friends, less than five of them, not your whole gym which I NEVER stated. It is hard to forgive and forget what they have done. In fact one of your girls lived 4 houses down and knew my Daughter was on PAC and she had her football friends from Eldorado HS take our trash and dump it out down the road, but I didn't call you and tell you that you have a bad apple nor does that reflect on your program that she was so childish and immature. BAD BLOOD. I have no problems with any of the other Element girls or their families, in fact my Daughter is friends with several of the Elements girls and have cheered with them since she started over 9 years ago. WE ALL know who I am talking about and what they have done. Some of the Element girls that came over are very nice and I have also met their parents and families.
And nowhere in my statement did I state that Element Coaches and their athletes have ruined our program. I stated that the coaches took over!!! Our coaches have proven that their coaching style win trophys and Worlds bids, so why should they have to stand aside and let someone else take over, then get fired when they protest. That IS what is happening I saw that with my own eyes!! We were told that nothing was going to change as far as the coaching staff and they are letting our coachs go on a daily basis and new coaches are in thier place. As for the girls there are many wonderful athletes from Elements. I am only talking about the ones that I can count on one hand. YOU KNOW THAT SINCE YOU HAD THEM.
I didn't mean to insult you or your program, if I did I owe you my sincere apology I didn't mean to come across that way.
Whoa! What goes on in Vegas sure isn't staying in Vegas. That girl you're talking about above sounds aweful. I'd hate to have her in our cheeeer family. Good luck to the new Vegas gym in taming that one.
That's some sure drama you got going on over there
To Puma Power, You sound like you have a great outlook and thank you for saying you apologize if you offended anyone. That is great sportsmanship. I don't think you offended us, I think some of us feel like we are on the defense and have to defend the program our girls are in, that we know is a great one. It sounds like we are on the same page as far as wanting our children to be in a clean program. I know we are and it sounds like you are wanting out of the mess that Neusport has created. We support you and your fresh new start. We are also looking forward to a fresh start with the bad apples gone. I agree that it is just a few and mainly one. Good Luck to you! Have a great night!
Whoa! What goes on in Vegas sure isn't staying in Vegas. That girl you're talking about above sounds aweful. I'd hate to have her in our cheeeer family. Good luck to the new Vegas gym in taming that one.
That's some sure drama you got going on over there
Thanks for making me laugh... you said it right... isn't it "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?" Hah... Maybe we should all live by that saying in this matter.
I said nothing about the OWNER of Elements, in fact I have no gripes about the OWNER of Elements or her program. Nicki has a wonderful cheer program. It is just the few "bad apples" as you stated, which it seems like you are happy to get rid of, right, do you agree?
Also, as you stated the ones we have had bad blood with ARE the ones in our gym pretending to be our friends, less than five of them, not your whole gym which I NEVER stated. It is hard to forgive and forget what they have done. In fact one of your girls lived 4 houses down and knew my Daughter was on PAC and she had her football friends from Eldorado HS take our trash and dump it out down the road, but I didn't call you and tell you that you have a bad apple nor does that reflect on your program that she was so childish and immature. BAD BLOOD. I have no problems with any of the other Element girls or their families, in fact my Daughter is friends with several of the Elements girls and have cheered with them since she started over 9 years ago. WE ALL know who I am talking about and what they have done. Some of the Element girls that came over are very nice and I have also met their parents and families.
And nowhere in my statement did I state that Element Coaches and their athletes have ruined our program. I stated that the coaches took over!!! Our coaches have proven that their coaching style win trophys and Worlds bids, so why should they have to stand aside and let someone else take over, then get fired when they protest. That IS what is happening I saw that with my own eyes!! We were told that nothing was going to change as far as the coaching staff and they are letting our coachs go on a daily basis and new coaches are in thier place. As for the girls there are many wonderful athletes from Elements. I am only talking about the ones that I can count on one hand. YOU KNOW THAT SINCE YOU HAD THEM.
I didn't mean to insult you or your program, if I did I owe you my sincere apology I didn't mean to come across that way.
No apology needed. I honestly think you have some valid points. I simply wanted to make sure everyone knew that the program as a whole does not condone the negativity or trash talking. You have built a great program and we wish you well.