Apperently I am a bad mom

[Lurking Sockpuppet]

Who would have thunk it... I found out today that the Pop Warner competitive cheer squad my daughter is on has it's priority's wrong. We should not have been stressing out and practicing like crazy to win at competition. According to the "ass"ociation's president our primary function was to support the football team. Cheering at every football game was not good enough. We should have known all the players names, made supportive posters (we did) and know the score and what was going on in the game at all times. I guess I need to take my shoes off too and go fix some dinner after I clean the house.

I should add that these are 8 to 11 year old girls of whom most are first time cheerleaders. They took first place in city competition. None of the football players showed up to support them.

Sockpuppet

[Sheldonrs]

And three guesses which school activity has the most injuries.

CHEERLEADING!!

Tell the Ass' Prez he can suck a goal post.

[telecom_goddess]

wow....getting a little ridiculous I think.

[zombiequeen]

And this is why mum wouldn't let me go back into cheer after I was homeschooled. Cheerleaders are seen as an accessory to the players, even though we worked just as hard as they did!

In my highschool, you are accepted/rejected for the team based on whether or not you will sleep with the players. I'm serious, they don't care if you have multiple piercings (I wasn't a flyer in elementary because I had pierced ears) or your weight or disability, just that one factor. I have one friend who was in cheer that wouldn't sleep with anyone, she was kicked off of the team when the cheer coach found out.

[MoonCat]

I was kind of thinking maybe the players had a point (a small one) until I read this:

I should add that these are 8 to 11 year old girls of whom most are first time cheerleaders. They took first place in city competition. None of the football players showed up to support them.

Initially I thought you were talking about high school. But now I think if 8-11 yr olds can win first place in a city contest, they're already representing the school quite well, thank you, and the football players ought to show up in support. Support goes both ways, boys!

And zombiequeen, all I can think is, oh HELL no!

[Lurking Sockpuppet]

I was kind of thinking maybe the players had a point (a small one) until I read this:



Initially I thought you were talking about high school. But now I think if 8-11 yr olds can win first place in a city contest, they're already representing the school quite well, thank you, and the football players ought to show up in support. Support goes both ways, boys!

This isn't a school. Pop Warner is "A national youth football and cheerleading organization that houses cheerleading squads with members ranging in ages from 5-15. The squads compete at district, regional, state and a national competition to be named the Pop Warner National Champion in each division."

This is a link to their website: http://www.popwarner.com/aboutus/pop.asp

And Zombiequeen I would not allow my daughter to participate either if that is the case.

[zombiequeen]

Well yeah, I didn't find that out until cheer tryouts. Mum went and talked to the coach, asked the right questions, and then we left. She explained it to me in the car on the way home. I didn't even know, I guess that's why the football and basketball coaches were at tryouts though.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Zombie - couldn't you just not wear earrings?

My cousin's daughter (now a HS freshman) was on a championship cheer team last year (not sure if it was school or other). She's not a flyer, either...she's too tall

[zombiequeen]

Sadly, I was told a month earlier I would be able to be a flyer, so I had just gotten my ears pierced when cheer started. Couldn't remove them.

[jedimaster91]

Yet another reason for me to despise cheerleading.

Although, I will admit, the tumbling is impressive.

[Treasure]

wow in my hs the running "joke" was that our Dance, Drill and Cheer teams all sucked... and we heard most of the girls swallowed too.....


I've never had that actually confirmed by the COACHES who aren't supposed to be supporting that kind of behavior much less encouraging and rewarding it!

quoth Hellcats (guilty pleasure tv show):

"We spend 20 hours a week in practice, run a 7 minute mile, bench press twice our body weight, perform with broken thumbs and twisted ankles - Smiling through the pain, we are ATHLETES!"


I was never a cheerleader, never really wanted to be one, didn't like most of the ones I knew.... but that doesn't mean they should be relegated to the roll of "football groupie" as though its their only purpose.

[Eisa]

From what I saw of the cheerleaders, they worked their ASSES off. It looked hard as fuck. I remember one time there was a girl who I think was a flyer...they like dropped her or something, and she broke her ankle. Ow.

My sister was on the dance team, but at least they got support as more than just football groupies or whatever. They did awesome, they won all sorts of trophies.

[42_42_42]

In my highschool, you are accepted/rejected for the team based on whether or not you will sleep with the players. I'm serious, they don't care if you have multiple piercings (I wasn't a flyer in elementary because I had pierced ears) or your weight or disability, just that one factor. I have one friend who was in cheer that wouldn't sleep with anyone, she was kicked off of the team when the cheer coach found out.

So the cheer coach was basically a pimp? That's disgusting.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

In my highschool, you are accepted/rejected for the team based on whether or not you will sleep with the players. I'm serious, they don't care if you have multiple piercings (I wasn't a flyer in elementary because I had pierced ears) or your weight or disability, just that one factor. I have one friend who was in cheer that wouldn't sleep with anyone, she was kicked off of the team when the cheer coach found out.

And nobody went running to the school administration, school board, and/or the media to tell them the cheer coach is mandating statutory rape to be a member of the cheer squad because....?

[Seshat]

... it's "normal". It's "the way things are". They don't want to be a whistleblower and be ostracised.

If you DO that, you end up in nine kinds of hell.