skycvg

Have any of you seen some of the cheer dads at some of these competitions?

For my daughter's years of cheering at TFMS and Dixie, fundraising was done by the girls to buy uniforms and the school KEPT all uniforms for subsequent teams to use. All uniforms had to be turned into the school. Senior year, the midriff uniforms were used for football until the new ones came in. My daughter had to sell sponsorships equal to $125 to pay for new uniforms. We had to turn in those and all uniforms as soon as the season was over. All new uniforms whether we paid for them, or the school, became property of the school. That may have changed since 2011. Uniforms have ALWAYS belonged to the school.

Per my wife, Coaches are credentialed and are the ones that are responsible for pretty much everything to do with the team. A lot goes on behind the scenes, especially in the warm up area prior to taking the floor. Names and info is required so far ahead of the competition to ensure ID's and such are correct. I have no idea when the ultimatum was issued, but probably too late to make any changes. As per keeping their jobs, I don't believe the pay (and someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) is very substantial. I'm not even sure if the Asst. coach receives anything pay wise. The HC was not a faculty member anyway.

The way I read Dixiecheer's explanation of the situation is that everything was set and ready to go. Principal signed off on the EEO forms, everything. She KNEW what was going on. Why the last second change? If she gave them enough rope they would hang themselves, and she would be able to fire them? From the prior post, the coach had gotten permission to compete as an independent. So, they fulfilled the so called requirement. Then the principal goes back on the agreement? I get the "If a boss tells you point blank "You can NOT do THIS IF....." and you then go ahead and do THAT you should be fired. " part, I do, but sometimes situations call for a little bending of the rules. This is not like they were setting out to intentionally go against the mandate. They believed everything to be handled. I would let the girls take the mat. It was about the team, not the principal changing the rules mid stream and at the last possible moment. It almost seems like she set up this catch-22, and either way, she would win. She would either beat them down by not competing or she would take away their coaches. They were punished by losing their coaches. It worked once, so when they tried to rebel at senior night, she threatened them again. Take the finalist t shirt off or you seniors will sit. Didn't work so well this time. The entire team thumbed their noses at her and sat with the students. The old adage, respect is earned....Well, what little respect the student body might have had for this principal just went totally out the window.

Ok...this started out as a cheerleading thread, but I think we have gotten way off course, and considering what has recently been brought out regarding academics... how about this? The districts earned the recognition under the first year of the Unbridled Learning: College and Career Readiness for All accountability system. To qualify as a District of Distinction, a district had to have an overall accountability score at the 95th percentile or higher (based on achievement, gap, growth, college and career readiness and graduation rate), meet its current year Annual Measurable Objective, a 95 percent participation rate, and not have a Focus or Priority School in the district. The achievement data is based on K-PREP testing in spring 2012. The Districts of Distinction for the 2011-12 school year are: • Anchorage Independent • Beechwood Independent • Boyle County • Corbin Independent • Ft. Thomas Independent • Murray Independent • Pikeville Independent • Walton-Verona Independent

If I remember correctly, it was told to us as some kind of new regulation for tax purposes, maybe? I can't remember. The wife and daughter did every single fundraiser. Bake sales, car washes, yard sales in horrible weather, basketball concessions, selling everything, you name it. After the fund paid for the coaches expenses, we had exactly $50 in "credit". We thought we had the FL fees for our daughter completely paid for. Not even close.

Not to get into an argument with anyone about this, but Dixie is ok, I would say the best of the three Kenton County schools. The smart and talented kids will rise to the top no matter what school they attend. But, in my particular experience, having had one graduate recently from Dixie, and having one currently at "another" school, the "other" school definitely wins out over Dixie. Too many particulars to get into on here, but it was our choice not to grace those hallways with another child. It was not a sports based decision as some would think, but putting another child through there was not going to happen, and I'll leave it at that. Dixie does everything that they are supposed to education wise, but the scores are just not there as compared to the BW's, the Cov Cath's, and the Highlands'. Plain and simple.

To be totally honest, I have no idea what happens in this instance. That is something the family in question would've taken up with the coaching staff in private and it would've been up to them as how they wanted to deal with it. At the All Star or Elite level, the number of fundraisers are endless. I know of a family that paid all of the expenses for TWO girls by working at the Reds and Bengals games, along with doing some of the other fundraising opportunities. It only took their time. In high school, that is different, at least it was at Dixie a couple of years ago. They went from putting fundraiser monies into individual "accounts" to everyone's going together and splitting it. Money from, say, a car wash. Say they raised $1000 and only 10 girls participated. Each girls would get a $100 "credit" to put towards clothing, fees or whatever. That money accumulates and you have paid for your year. It changed to everyone sharing in the proceeds. We had girls that did every single fundraiser and we had some that did not do a single one. But because it went into a common "fund", the non workers got credit for doing nothing whatsoever. That same $1000 is now split up between, say, 40 girls. The $100 credit for the actual workers went from $100 to $25. Instead of working one fundraiser, now you have to work three more to "earn" the same money.

You can't really compare cheerleading to any other sport as far as National championships go. It is impossible to narrow it down enough to decide on one team. The different categories are staggering as well as the different companies that hold competitions. Other sports have more finite numbers of teams. While a Super Bowl title is huge, a National title for a cheer team is just as huge to the participants as a Super bowl title is to the team that wins it. It means that all of their hard work, hundreds of hours practicing, injuries suffered have paid off. It isn't as big of a deal to those outside the sport. Some people hate football and will only support or watch baseball for example. To these, the super bowl is no big deal. But the World Series is what they live for. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say cheerleading is up there with NFL football or anything. I'm saying it's the sense of accomplishment and within the sport, it's a big deal.

The "had to have" stuff was just that. We had no choice but to purchase all of the t shirts, shorts, warm ups, hair bows, etc. Some of it was unnecessary and some was never worn. If she wanted to cheer, these were the costs. The clothing doesn't make the cheerleaders feel more important than others, not do they use it to put others down. I don't get where that comes from. They are worn during practice to make the team look more uniform, so that the eye is not drawn to one girl more than another. It is easier to see mistakes and who is out of sync if all the girls are dressed the same. They are worn to/from games to identify the girls as a team. Most HS football teams have certain practice uniforms that they wear. No difference, except that the school usually provides them. Of course organizers of competitions make money, it's a business. Every sporting event is designed to make money. That has nothing to do with it whatsoever. Soccer was obviously YOUR choice. Have I said anything negative about your choice to play soccer? No. If you had chosen to pay say, $300 /yr on soccer and I chose to pay only $30/yr, then it was your choice to pay that. But that would be YOUR decision. I mentioned gymnastics because there is a lot of time spent on teaching the tumbling skills in cheerleading as there is with gymnastics. I'm glad that your player was able to earn a full ride. Full rides with gymnastics are not easy to come by. But yet again, it was her parents choice to put a lot of money into the gymnastics hoping it may payoff in the end. It was our choice to allow our daughter to pursue a sport that she enjoyed whether or not she took it to the next level. Not everyone can do that, we were lucky to be able to. DoubleDeuce is correct in his assessment of educational value. You can't compare them. If I had it to do over, I would have done things differently, but hindsight is 20/20.

I never said that UCA was the one and only "National" competition. I stated that it is a national competition, in that, teams from across the nation compete. This weekend, in Atlanta, the largest cheer competition in the US is being held. Cheersport attracts over 900 TEAMS. We're talking thousands of cheerleaders. They have their own nationals, just like UCA does. I just don't think it would even be possible to hold a competition where every team, whether it be rec, elementary, middle, high school, or all star, competes. And on top of all that you have some that cheer not only for school, but all star as well. So, what's the big deal?

Different schools have different kind of teams. At UK, all of the girls are flyers and yes, 5'9 and 145 pounds would be too big. But, at Louisville, they have all girl teams and coed teams. All girl teams have girls in all positions, i.e., bases, back spots, and flyers. Maybe they should have researched UK better, and they would have known that the girls there only fly. Not everyone does a sport just to get a scholarship. You're right, not many do, but it isn't just about scholarships. Cheerleading keeps them in great physical condition, it's a team sport, so they learn teamwork. Do you think gymnasts just walk out onto the mat and start tumbling? No, they spend years learning the skills. Cheering was what MY daughter wanted to do, just like football is what MY son wants to play. If it's what they want to do, then I support them 100%. My daughter cheered on an elite cheer team for two years in high school and loved it. Elite teams do not actually cheer, they just compete. She met girls from just about every school in the area and has many lasting friendships because of it. One young lady moved here from Washington state, and was on an elite team out there. Both teams attended UCA's elite team competition in FL. They met up while down there and each team came out and supported the other while on the mat. It makes a big difference to have supporters yelling for you while you are doing your routine. My point is, cheering, whether high school, middle, recreational, or elite, was my daughter's choice. Some people spend money on cars. Some spend money on totally frivolous and useless stuff. Some parents spend money on private education. But that's THEIR choice. We chose cheerleading, it was OUR choice.

It is a true "National" competition. Qualifiers are held throughout the US each year prior to Nationals. Squads have to score a certain amount of total points to qualify to compete in FL. If you do not earn enough points, you are done, or you can pay to try again at another competition. There are teams from all over the US, including some very good ones from Hawaii. Ryle, Cooper, Dixie, and Boone County represent NKY pretty much every year. The teams are divided up into divisions by size of team. Boone, I believe was in the small team division, which is 12 girls or less. Ryle and Dixie were in Medium, which is no more than 20, and Cooper may have been in Large and there is also a Super Large division. There were so many in the medium division that they were broken into two brackets. Unless the team is a top 5 finalist, they have to compete in Preliminaries hoping to place high enough to move onto Semi-Finals. Scoring high enough there puts them into Finals. Some teams will compete twice in one day. Some are able to skip straight to Finals. Some have made the trip only to compete once and the season is over.

As far as expenses go, you generally have (and these are estimates from 2011), $100-$150 for "camp" clothes, usually 2-3 T-shirts, 2-3 pair of shorts, socks, 2-3 bows. These are also worn throughout the year at practices. If they get a new backpack, that's additional, sports bra, additional. New uniforms were fund raised by selling t-shirts with sponsor names on the back. No sponsors, parents paid $125 and the SCHOOL does keep the uniforms. Add on school fee for the sport, another $30, plus insurance at the gym for another $30. Then we get to gym fees. I think we paid $45/ month times 11 months= $495. Choreograph fees were about $175 per girl to be taught the competition routine. We are already at around $1000. Add on entrance fees per competition and warm ups at say $75 each. Now comes National time. Airfare was $250 for wife and daughter. Package that included hotel, transportation, competition fee, and passes to get into parks to see competition depended on how many nights you stayed. For the wife and daughter together was another $1000. We are already at $2650 and you have to add on food, etc. The fund raisers in 2011 pretty much covered paying for the coaches' expenses and each girl had $50 to use. So, the coaches decided to use it on spirit wear for Florida..They HAD to have two more outfits to practice in, plus bows, and cute little outfits to wear around the parks to show off their school spirit. Our year was leggings and a t shirt, colored sunglasses designated by year, i.e. seniors wore blue and had a blue colonel on the leggings. Now, as a parent who has paid out all of this money and more, thinking that all the T's have been crossed and the I's dotted, would you really want to have the team pulled because of a misprint in the program? Would you want to look your daughter in the eye and tell her that they can't compete because the principal "changed" her mind and decided to put them in a catch-22 situation? After the countless hours of practice and enduring all of the bumps, bruises, strains, sprains, injuries and fatigue, there is no way in this world I would tell my daughter she couldn't take the mat. I applaud this team for sticking together and showing some unity that had been missing from this team for a few years. They were faced with a tough decision, especially for the seniors. They could deny their 8th place finish at Nationals, or they could stick up for themselves and make a pretty strong statement. For the entire team to sit the second half sent a strong statement and it reflected badly on the principal for being petty, and not on the girls. But that's my opinion.

Is this type of situation the BOE's way of saying "no overnight trips for anyone" and they use the lack of an administrator to excuse it? How can any board set up a rule like this without making the provisions for administrator to be available? Cheerleading competition dates are set up and announced a year or more ahead of time. Routines are choreographed during the summer, fund raisers started almost a year out, qualifiers are in the fall, and monies are due two to three months prior to the trip. Dixie is the only Kenton County school that attends Nationals in FL. There is no way that this was a surprise to anyone in administration. After all of the negative press lately, positive press is a necessity for the school. You cannot tell me that an administrator could not be found to accompany this group in the 10 months prior to this competition. I agree that telling them no from the start would've started a major backlash, but it would've given them more time to really research it with UCA and find a way to make it work, and being truthful up front would make it easier to swallow early, rather than destroying the girls hopes just before taking the mat. I'm really wondering if the principal knew all along that they wouldn't be able to compete as an independent (which I've never seen any team do in HS competitions) and decided to let them hang themselves by competing anyway. The NKYCCA's (NKY Cheerleading Coaches Assoc) competition is coming up. In order to compete, the teams competing must be member schools of the association. I doubt that they could enter as an independent, but it would be funny to see the Dixie team compete and not represent Dixie. I.E, not wear any uniform associated with Dixie, or anything with Dixie on it, but show up essentially "anonymous" and take the mat in protest.