silly kids

Date: Sun Sep 17 8:21 PM, 2006

RE: silly kids

Date: Sun Sep 17 10:09 PM, 2006

I think what he means by showing them the door is that hey this is a team that wants to work if you are not going to work and and just goof off all the time then I don't want you on this team. They can go to another team in the gym. By another team I mean a lower level one cause kids tend to goof off more and more as the levels go down. If that's not what they want then they have two choices left. 1 is clean up their act and 2 is to find something that they would enjoy and can goof around in. I really doubt any sport will keep a goof off. When I played football the people who didn't make the cut where mostly people who just messed around. Messing around leads to injury. I would rather kick someone off a team then someone get injured.

Date: Sun Sep 17 10:32 PM, 2006

But he specifically said he did not mean kicking someone off of his team. So I'm wondering too what he meant. Sounds like he meant stay on the team, but don't bother practicing if you're not going to take it seriously, which makes no sense. I'm sure he'll clarify.

Date: Mon Sep 18 6:45 AM, 2006

you know, show them the door! That's what's wrong with "some" kids these days. If my daughter was shown the door at practice she would be in big trouble. Obviously, if she is shown the door it must be an ongoing problem and the problem would stop with me as her parent. So to sum it up, we must blame the parents for the "silly" kids at practice. Parents raised them to go to practice and be disrepectful, waste "expense" coaching time taken away from others, & cause undue frustration from the cheerleaders who take this seriously and want to see their team succeed.
Coaches need to make some phone calls and just give parents a head's up if there is a problem.

Date: Mon Sep 18 7:06 AM, 2006

The problem with making kids leave practice if they misbehave is that you are punishing the entire team along with it because now maybe a particular flyer doesn't have a base, or maybe that was your flyer and bases have nobody to work with. Doing it once to give them the message, that I can sort of understand. But if you had to do it more than that, it's time to replace them with someone else for the team's sake.

One punishment I hate that I will never understand the logic of is when you make your entire team run laps or do some other stuff because one member is goofing off. Maybe in the old days this used to work (something about peer pressure I guess) but it doesn't work these days -- you end up with someone who still goofs off (because they never took it seriously to begin with), and a very tired team who wonders why they were punished for good behavior.

Date: Mon Sep 18 7:58 AM, 2006

Let's keep in mind that cheerleading is very different than other sports like football and baseball, etc... where you have players who are "benched". You just don't have that in cheer -- everybody has a specific task they have to perform on your team, everybody has a place. When you take that away, there's an empty spot that needs filling, and there are no cheerleaders sitting on a bench waiting to be called in. So when you have continuing problems with certain cheerleaders, they must be replaced, and the sooner the better.

Date: Mon Sep 18 8:19 AM, 2006

I've seen kids at our gym sit out at a competition for various discipline reasons.

Date: Mon Sep 18 8:50 AM, 2006

At our gym, we utilize every single person, and you could not simply have someone sit out of a competition. If there is a problem, it is recognized early and dealt with in time to have that person replaced. WE have had cases of illness right before a competition, which is always unfortunate. In that case if we're missing someone, we have to adjust the routine in the hours before we go on. But it would be ridiculously unfair to adjust a routine because you are disciplining another cheerleader. Or to plop someone in temporarily in their place because of bad behaviour. You simply can't do that easily as in other sports where an entire team will practice together, but only a small subset of that team is used (as in football, baseball, basketball). I completely agree with the post by "the problem".

Date: Mon Sep 18 8:52 AM, 2006

I meant I completely agree with the post by "different sport", but also agree with "the problem" too, same basic ideas.

Date: Mon Sep 18 9:26 AM, 2006

Oh boo hoo yall get over it! Parents are bigger babies than the kids. Your choices are behave or get out. KISS (if you remember what that means, you Clinton soccer moms!) PS Im a parent.

Date: Mon Sep 18 10:01 AM, 2006

KISS, who is your post directed towards? (I wouldn't have guessed you were a parent)

Date: Mon Sep 18 1:32 PM, 2006

KISS...thank you. Kids need to understand that if you can't be apart of the team then its time for you to find something else to do. If a kid acts up in school, they're sent to the office, if a kid is goofing off at basketball practice, they are benched. In cheerleadinger, yeah you can't bench so thats why it is so important for the kid to understand goofing off might be fun for them but is causing the whole team to get upset. If a kid can't understand and take seriously the word practice (as a team) then the kid needs to seek other sports. Possibly gymnastics or something where they are considered an individual. I have a feeling some of the parents who are getting upset don't attend there kids practices. Up downs don't work for every child. Telling a kid that theres the door and if you can't behave then you can leave is letting the kid know, thats your last straw. Just a side note, I don't say that the first time they start goofing off. Its only if they are continuously goofing off over a period of time. I do have other methods such as telling them to go sit out if they can behave on the floor with others. I also make them run around the gym until I feel they can come back. The last straw is the door. Parents, get some back bone. If the child continues to act out after I said there the door (WHICH NEVER HAS HAPPENED) then I'll contact there parents and have a discussion with both parents and child about there behavior. Most likely we will discuss the child being on probation.

Date: Mon Sep 18 1:51 PM, 2006

I don't think there is as much difference in opinion as you guys think. Here's what I'm reading: a coach says he shows the kids the door when they misbehave. The same coach also says he doesn't mean he kicks the kids off of a team when he shows them the door. This coach has not addressed any of the other issues brought up. Nobody is saying misbehaving kids who are continously causing issues should stay. Not sure where the "parents get some backbone" even comes from. What is being said here, and please read this carefully coach, if you're showing kids the door, it's time to give them the ultimate choice -- behave, or leave the team. Not behave or I'll keep showing you the door. Now who is the one who needs more backbone??

Date: Mon Sep 18 3:06 PM, 2006

Maybe one point a couple parents are making is that this issue can be resolved quickly and calmly. I think the key is to have procedures in place for situations like this; usually it is layed out in the pamplets handed out at parent meetings. It usually states right there in black and white that children will be asked to leave if there are issues. You want to let them know what their choice is (behave, or go to another gym). Yelling at them to get out, putting them on probation, having them sit in the corner while the rest of the team tries to practice without them, and whatever else has been mentioned ... it just seems like there is no need for all that stress. Correct the problem fast and early enough in the season to find a replacement if needed; makes perfect sense, doesn't it? I guarantee if you call a parent and tell them the situation, one of two things will happen -- the child will behave, or the child will be gone. Win win situation.

Date: Mon Sep 18 8:27 PM, 2006

Ok this is a little off topic so sorry, but we have been talking about kids who are always goofing off, what about parents. I go to many cheer camps to coach alongside my friend. We have came by a lot of gyms who have crazy parents. When I say crazy I mean they need help. I've seen parents beat their kids because they didn't do something how the parent thought it should be. I've seen parents run into the room screaming at their child for asking a question. I have no idea what could be done in that situation. I mean the kid didn't do anything wrong so you can't say sorry you can no longer cheer here cause your mom is pyschotic. And if you ban the mother from attending functions and practices they will most likely pull the kid out. I could never pull my kid out of cheer. He loves it way to much and if he was kicked out because of me he would be devastated. So I want to know what other people would do in a case like this.

Date: Mon Sep 18 8:31 PM, 2006

We have a parent like that, and no parents are allowed to watch practice because of it. But that parent didn't pull the kid AND the kid is happier and more attentive at practice because her parent isn't there.

Date: Mon Sep 18 8:34 PM, 2006

We *have* removed families from our program due to poor behavior from a parent. More than once, actually.

Date: Mon Sep 18 9:41 PM, 2006

We have also removed familes from our program because of the the parents. Sometimes its the only way to solve the problem.

Date: Tue Sep 19 4:18 AM, 2006

I haven't removed anyone due to their parents yet, but I think there are a couple that we might have to. Some parents are just very caddy with remarks to their child and just seem to always display poor behavior.

Date: Tue Sep 19 9:51 AM, 2006

What's worse. Losing one or two kids.... or having a parent who bad mouthes everything, brings ALL of your parents down, then bad mouths your gym cause they can't be satisfied. Trust me, if they go somewhere else, they will do the same and the other gym will find out that it wasn't your gym but that parent with the problem.