I recently witnessed a strong recruiting campaign at a regional competition. It wasn't the coaches talking to the cheerleaders. It was parents running around in the crowd talking to other parents. It was quite strange. It seemed sincere at first with the old "hey, haven't seen you in so long, how are the kids?" to a quick change of discussion to "you should come to this new gym. its so much fun and the owner is so nice."
There was a huge effort going on. How would you parents feel if someone approached you in the audience?
WOW! Why are you trying to start a feud between cheer gyms? I think if parents want to engage in contact with one another than so be it! Are you worried about the communication? How do you know this has not started with your gym? It takes too much energy to keep updated with all the gossip, I am glad you have the time!
I recently witnessed a strong recruiting campaign at a regional competition. It wasn't the coaches talking to the cheerleaders. It was parents running around in the crowd talking to other parents. It was quite strange. It seemed sincere at first with the old "hey, haven't seen you in so long, how are the kids?" to a quick change of discussion to "you should come to this new gym. its so much fun and the owner is so nice."
There was a huge effort going on. How would you parents feel if someone approached you in the audience?
It's annoying but you just have to realize it goes with cheer. Every gym has had it happen, it never ceases. The rivalry with not only coaches, but parents is crazy. And the ones that do it, justify it.
I recently witnessed a strong recruiting campaign at a regional competition. It wasn't the coaches talking to the cheerleaders. It was parents running around in the crowd talking to other parents. It was quite strange. It seemed sincere at first with the old "hey, haven't seen you in so long, how are the kids?" to a quick change of discussion to "you should come to this new gym. its so much fun and the owner is so nice."
There was a huge effort going on. How would you parents feel if someone approached you in the audience?
It's annoying but you just have to realize it goes with cheer. Every gym has had it happen, it never ceases. The rivalry with not only coaches, but parents is crazy. And the ones that do it, justify it.
This type of thing does happen. It happens a lot. All everyone can do is understand that cheerleading is a business. There are going to be times that these businesses have recruiting incentives to make their gyms grow with more cheerleaders. I have no doubt that this happens in every gym in every city, state and country. It's just the nature of the beast. It's definitely not easy to watch this stuff happen when you are a coach or a gym owner. The best thing anyone can do is hope that everything stays professional and gives the common courtesy of some sort of privacy at the scheduled competitions.
i think showing off your skills at a competition is recruiting. by showing that youve got crazzyy skills, cheerleaders will automatically want to join next season. as for parents "recruiting",i would think much of this. as long as they aren't standing outside with flyers or a big ole banner that says come to gym xyz its fine. parents will always talk, gossip, brag, or whatever.
If you search this site under recruiting I am sure you will find many threads with many different opinions about it, what constitutes recruiting and what does not, is it ethical, the business side vs the sportmanship side, etc. Regadless of opinion you will never stop people from talking either good or bad. Gossip or rumors never cease but how you handle them makes all the difference in the world.
