I hope that I can help out a bit here. I'll answer this as if it were happening within our gym.

The first thing I would do is tell the parent to not compare their child with others. There are many problems with this, mainly the fact that each child is different and contributes to a team in different ways. Perhaps one child may not have the obvious tumbling skills as the level team they are on, but that athlete did something at tryouts to make enough of an impression to be there. Maybe the coach see's potential, maybe they are an incredibly strong stunter and the team is low on bases...whatever the reason its best not to compare.

Secondly I would give the person an option. I would let them know if they can get a certain skill by a specific date then I would reconsider.

Lastly and most important I would sit down with the parent and child and explain two very important things; my vision of the team the athlete was placed on and what my expectations are of that child from that team. Too many times programs put a lot of emphasis on their "varsity" teams and leave other teams with little or nothing. With Motions one of the big steps we took last year was keeping the focus on our teams equal, and because of that I can safely say that each team this year will get the same amount of attention.

The bottom line is you have to open up the communication with the coach. I would strongly suggest hearing what the coach's plans are for your child and your child's team and see if it fits your expectations.

Best of luck.

Nelson de Dios
Gym Director
Motions Cheerleading Gym

My coach right before our season ended last year told us that he would rather take someone who is willing to listen, work, and learn over someone who has amazing tumbling, stunting, or jumps who doesn't want to work. Maybe at try outs the coaches saw that the girls on that team really busted their butts off and the coaches knew being put on a higher team they would be able to step it up a knotch and work their butts off on that team adn make it better. Now referring to my first sentence in no way am i staiting that your kid does not work hard or want to work, maybe these kids work harder or have special assets that the team needed. I know we pulled up people who didn't belong on our team to base. They had no tumbling skill their jumps were ok and they were on a level 5 team because they were strong bases. And i agree with Nelson never compare your kid with someone elses.

My daughter was on a level 2 team last year and they did great. I also felt a little offended by your comments. This year she will be moving up due to the hard work she did last year to improve her skills. So much is said about the higher level teams especially about the level 5 teams, that I think the junior teams are getting overlooked. Everyone needs to start somewhere and these girls should be commended for the great job they do not made to feel like they are less because they are only level 2. Maybe the coaches feel her skills are not good enough yet. Maybe you need to trust thier judgement a little more. If you really feel they are wrong you need to speak with them instead of posting a message on the message board.

wording wrote:

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Mad Momma,
I understand your frustration, however, it is degrading and unfair for you to say that the level 2's are "stagnant". There are a lot of girls out there who have only level 2 skills and are excited to be allowed to compete at all. Please don't put one group down only to make your daughter look better.

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I completely agree. What is this big knock on Level 2. I think in California we look at Level 1-4 as a negative. If you look at other powerhouse programs, they have squad double backhandsprings from a standing position as a level 2 requirement. Now I haven't seen any level 2 team out here do that. I think that we should push the progression of skills because it will make all the cheerleaders much better. Also at most gyms, all the coaches work with the teams, so its not like your child is getting cheated out of a "better" coach. I would look at it as an opportunity to grow and look forward to the year. She has the rest of her cheer career to be on the "older" team.

I agree with you California Coach... if after team placements your child doesn't feel like they fit, hopefully they won't 1) be stuck in a contract they cannot get out of, and/or 2) have no place else to go because other gyms are no longer taking new kids. We found ourselves in this situation years ago, and fortunately we found a gym to go to that we are very happy with.

I hope everything works out after you talk to the coach. I agree on the posts about level 2; we had some very talented girls on our level 2 team who were able to grow and feel comfortable in their skills during the entire season last year. Most have now moved up to level 3 for this coming season. Developing your skills properly and feeling comfortable performing them in competitions takes time.

Agree wrote:

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I agree with you California Coach... if after team placements your child doesn't feel like they fit, hopefully they won't 1) be stuck in a contract they cannot get out of, and/or 2) have no place else to go because other gyms are no longer taking new kids. We found ourselves in this situation years ago, and fortunately we found a gym to go to that we are very happy with.

I hope everything works out after you talk to the coach. I agree on the posts about level 2; we had some very talented girls on our level 2 team who were able to grow and feel comfortable in their skills during the entire season last year. Most have now moved up to level 3 for this coming season. Developing your skills properly and feeling comfortable performing them in competitions takes time.

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So to put it bluntly if your not on the team "you think" your child should be on, the you want to switch. I thought all star cheerleading was about training and going to a program that your child likes. To me as a parent, if there is even one thought that went through the coaches head for my child to be on a specific team, then I should be on that team. It wouldn't feel the same to be put on a team only because I complained. Usually those are the kids who won't measure up in some area or another. Also what is the rest of the team & coaches going to think about you. Just because you are placed on a level 2 team , doesn't mean you can't work on level 3 skills. I think parents really need to watch a Nationals video and see what a true level 5 team should look like. Squad standing tucks is barely even laughable these days. You need triple toe backs, lots of fulls, doubles out of all stunts, and to just put kids on these teams because they think their missing out is not really right in the long run.

To Hmmm, you made a big assumption there -- what I said was "if your child doesn't feel like they fit". I said nothing about levels or ages. In our case, our child did not fit in because of the age group. She was extremely unhappy. We needed to make a change, and it was the best thing we did; we've been with the same organization for years now, she loves it. We lost a bit of money (but not a full year's worth). We had already purchased the uniform, and signed up for camp, before she was officially placed. Also in our case it had to do with numbers too -- this organization didn't have enough girls to put them on the appropriate teams (based on their true skills and ages).

Hope that clears things up a little.

1) When you tryout for an all star program, that is what you are actually doing....trying out for a PROGRAM. The program offers a cheerleading service in which you choose to be a part of (emphasizing the word “choose”). Programs may list requirements and age restrictions, but in the end, the final team placement decisions are up to the Owner/Manager/Coaching Staff....and them only!!!

2) As a customer (or potential customer) of a program, you are paying for a service. The service you are paying for is a quality program to help make your child the best cheerleader that he or she can be, along with hopefully offering some skills that can lead them through their lives in the future. By signing a contract (usually after finding out which team you've made), you have agreed that you accept all of the decisions made by the program management. Would you ever go to a department store and complain of the quality or types of clothes that store sells or their prices? No...You would find another place that offered more of what you like or what fit your price range. You also have the CHOICE of starting your own "department store".

3) After finding out what team your child is placed on and not liking the placement, ask yourself the following question before you get upset at the coaches/owners - What does my child have to offer that team? Too many people like to jump off the handle and get upset immediately, rather than thinking the entire situation through. Can your child do ALL of the skills that are required of making that team that you're not happy with, or do they do that horrible bent arm, bent leg, back handspring that they can't stand up from, which makes you think they should be on a Level 3 team instead of the Level 2 team? There is more than just a basic tumbling skill that goes into placing a child on a TEAM. You have to have bases, you have to have fliers, you have to have tumblers, and you have to have certain numbers based upon whether the coaches want large or small teams. One person does not make up a team and most likely will not make the biggest change in regards to improving a team.

4) After you've asked the above question, ask yourself this...Could I, as the parent, be the reason my child is placed on this team? Sometimes it may not even be the kid's skills that place them on the team they are on. Sometimes, it may be that overbearing parent that drives the coaches/owners CRAZY and create this situation:
- The parent that pushes their kids too hard and forces them to get better faster than what the coaches have planned for that child.
- The parent that is always bad mouthing the program, but is "sweet as pie" to the coaches when walking past them or trying to create "fake" conversation to act as if they're content with the program (but will always complain to other parents).
- The parent that always create excuses as to why their child isn't progressing..."it's everyone else's fault why my child is being held back or isn't getting better - not my child's laziness or lack of self motivation".
- The parent that isn't active in their child's success/failures and doesn’t communicate with the coaches/owners on how to HELP the situation.

5) Why is it that any child should be placed on a "higher" level team based a 2 hour try-out with 60-100 other kids in the room? How precise of an evaluation can each child get to be properly placed on the "correct" team? Too many people have crammed in private lessons and classes two weeks prior to tryouts to "chuck" a skill at tryouts. They're placed on a higher team for "attempting" that skill (being given the benefit of the doubt by the coaches), and then never show the coaches that skill (or even improve at all) for the remainder of the season, thus not living up to the potential they showed in that one, 2 hour session. I like the thought of "proving" yourself over a period of time. This shows how hard each individual is really trying to work on improving or not improving their skills. It shows if that individual is dedicated to the program and is there for the right reasons. If they work hard at every practice, they can only help to get better and achieve the skills they really want to be on the more "advanced" or "prestigious" teams. If that individual doesn't improve, then it may be a sign of lack of motivation, willingness to work hard, or lack of gross motor skills. But given that time to evaluate each individual properly, the coaches can see this happen and hopefully prevent this or change the direction on how to coach that individual.

The one thing that we all need to remember is that ALL teams are great, whether they are level 1 or level 5. Every kid works really hard at every level, and also has room to improve. If a kid has the maximum level of skills (in all areas of cheerleading) on say....a Level 2 team, the coaches may want that child to be an example of what they want the Level 2 team to achieve or be like. Isn't that having the child be a role model or example to his/her peers? Isn't that a good thing? Isn't that helping build that child's self esteem and confidence? It doesn't sound like punishment to the child. There is a reason for everything and everything happens for a reason. We may not find out the reason immediately, but if we wait long enough and are humble about our successes and failures, the reason will reveal itself soon enough! Isn't that what growing up is all about?

Derick
Program Director/Coach
PYRAMIDS Cheerleading Gym

One thing I really like about ACE is that "tryouts" are called "auditions". It's pointed out that the athletes aren't ranked 1-350 by skills and then the top 35 placed on 1 team, the next 35 on another, etc. Each team is a production that has to have several different types of skills. The team combination is put together to give each team the most potential for success during the season.

Whether it is advertised as such, I'm confident that most gyms put teams together in a similar fashion.