20 minutes ago, 5-oh said:

I like what mbohman said above.  My original post was discussing the lack of cheerleaders and pep band at boy's home games specifically and general lack of student involvement at games.  With the exception of very few schools in the 9th Region, (CCH) most of the schools have really declined in cheerleader, pep band, and student section involvement.  We had several games where there were no cheerleaders on either side, no pep band, and very few students.  I agree with the Title 9 stuff and agree that it's stupid.  I was making the point that if I were in band or a cheerleader, I would want to participate at all home games, even girl's games.  That's their time to shine.  And, the District Tournament games I've seen so far have been well attended.  I can say that I've already seen how fan and student section attendance and involvement has assisted in pulling out wins in close games.  It's the experience the players deserve.  

I somewhat disagree...its the experience that the players, coaches, cheerleaders, bands and fans create, all of whom sacrifice their time and effort.  I'm sorry, but its not all about the players.  If and when it becomes so, few will support.  Most school activities are widely varied and certainly don't revolve around basketball or any sport. Cheerleading and bands are very competitive in their own right.  Kids and parents are busy.

Greetings,

I know this topic is a little aged, but I paid $20 so I could get involved in it. 

Everyone has made valid arguments as to why school spirit, and consequently attendance as sporting events, is down across the board. 

As to the original post about the absence of band and cheer at some of these games. I've been in the cheerleading industry for a near quarter century. As my friend, Mark Coleman, coach of the Morehead State cheerleading program, says: "Kentucky is a mecca for high school cheerleading."

There are more Kentucky  teams that attend the National High School Cheerleading Championship than any other state. The number usually approaches 90-110 depending on the year.

Our schedule usually looks like this: KHSAA cheer regional in early November (teams that are playing football into the playoffs typically have KHSAA regionals the morning after a football playoff), UCA nationals qualifier in mid-November, and KHSAA state in early December (around the first or second full week of basketball). That part of the season isn't very difficult to navigate. Then the fun begins. My kids run 4 practices a week, 2-3 basketball games a week, and exhibition/showcase performances on Saturdays for the month of January and week of February. We head off to NHSCC, and when we get back, it's district tournament time. 

We make it work, but I've got 30+ athletes (Probably 40 next year), and can put them on a rotation so they don't have to do all the games. Smaller schools with smaller rosters would probably really struggle to not miss some games. 

Welcome to BGP @cheercoachwes!

On 2/8/2023 at 3:46 PM, DragonFire said:

One thing that I've suggested to some in leadership before is that they make attendance of the games a loss leader.  Make your money on concessions and things like that, but make admission to the game free of charge - at the very least for your students.  I'd let anyone in for free that had a student I'd or was wearing a shirt for the home team.  You want supporters at the game, and that helps you build ties with the future generations.  It's too radical/scary an idea to those I've talked to about it.  But as you say, many are streaming the games and giving the product away for free to begin with.  So you're still not capturing their revenue, and you're not getting them there. 

I've always said that any elementary or middle school kid from a "feeder" school should get in free with a paid adult.  Have the players visit the elementary schools and hand out the passes.  

 

When you figure 2-4 games/wk the cost for families can get out of heir budget range.  

? Like a good neighbor ... 

Pike County Central Hawks for the win!

1 minute ago, Runcible Owl said:

? Like a good neighbor ... 

Pike County Central Hawks for the win!

That's awesome. 

Very large crowds for most 9th region games at nku, but not so many during regular season unless it was a huge rival game. I would say our band was at least there 75 per cent of the time. I remember when cheerleaders traveled to away games, don't see alot of that anymore. Numbers are down in many sports as well as fans. I recommend getting in line at 4 o'clock at Holy Cross when them and Holmes played. Just so much more to do now.

37 minutes ago, allsport71 said:

Very large crowds for most 9th region games at nku, but not so many during regular season unless it was a huge rival game. I would say our band was at least there 75 per cent of the time. I remember when cheerleaders traveled to away games, don't see alot of that anymore. Numbers are down in many sports as well as fans. I recommend getting in line at 4 o'clock at Holy Cross when them and Holmes played. Just so much more to do now.

We don’t travel to away games in an effort to save money in the athletic transportation budget.

I know of at least one school in the Western end of the state who’s cheerleaders are told they have to travel to away games, share the bus with the players (not a big deal except), and pay for half of the cost of the bus out of their money they fundraise while the athletic department pays for the players.

11 minutes ago, cheercoachwes said:

We don’t travel to away games in an effort to save money in the athletic transportation budget.

I know of at least one school in the Western end of the state who’s cheerleaders are told they have to travel to away games, share the bus with the players (not a big deal except), and pay for half of the cost of the bus out of their money they fundraise while the athletic department pays for the players.

Dollar wise, what would be the amount for 1/2 the bus, average trip?

8 hours ago, 4 Quarters said:

Dollar wise, what would be the amount for 1/2 the bus, average trip?

Some quick math in my head tells me in our region it would be about $45/game. Assuming 10 home games and 10 away games my budget would be 75% gone on transportation alone.

I attended the 9th Region boys tournament, all games.  I was amazed at the number of band members schools like Cooper had and how awesome they played and got the energy up in the arena.  Newport, conversely, had 6 - 8 total members in their pep band.  It was "not good" to say the least, akin to a kazoo band.  However, it was awesome to see that a school like Newport, with limited numbers, put the effort into making the trip and playing at their highest level at the tournament.  I thought their participation said a lot about their band program, kids, and school.  Kudos.  Conversely, some schools, like Beechwood, didn't even have a pep band in attendance.  To me that's 100 % weird.   

I wasn't aware of all of the KHSAA Regionals, UCA Nationals, exhibitions / showcases, and NHSCC events for cheerleading.  I thought school cheerleading was for supporting other sports, like football and basketball.  (boy's and girl's)  My understanding was that cheerleading was a sport, and their "game day" was during these school events.  Your information of all the other events makes total sense to me now that it's explained. 

The Martin Co. / Pike Co. Central colab is one of the coolest things I've heard in a long time.  That's one thing, IMO, that the Eastern, Southeastern, & Western schools have over the more populated areas of the State of KY - taking care of one another.  I love to hear of schools / kids coming together to get this done.  Amazing.  

1 hour ago, 5-oh said:

I attended the 9th Region boys tournament, all games.  I was amazed at the number of band members schools like Cooper had and how awesome they played and got the energy up in the arena.  Newport, conversely, had 6 - 8 total members in their pep band.  It was "not good" to say the least, akin to a kazoo band.  However, it was awesome to see that a school like Newport, with limited numbers, put the effort into making the trip and playing at their highest level at the tournament.  I thought their participation said a lot about their band program, kids, and school.  Kudos.  Conversely, some schools, like Beechwood, didn't even have a pep band in attendance.  To me that's 100 % weird.   

I wasn't aware of all of the KHSAA Regionals, UCA Nationals, exhibitions / showcases, and NHSCC events for cheerleading.  I thought school cheerleading was for supporting other sports, like football and basketball.  (boy's and girl's)  My understanding was that cheerleading was a sport, and their "game day" was during these school events.  Your information of all the other events makes total sense to me now that it's explained. 

The Martin Co. / Pike Co. Central colab is one of the coolest things I've heard in a long time.  That's one thing, IMO, that the Eastern, Southeastern, & Western schools have over the more populated areas of the State of KY - taking care of one another.  I love to hear of schools / kids coming together to get this done.  Amazing.  

To your point about school cheerleading is for supporting other sports. That's the approach we take at Apollo. Somewhere in my pre-season parent meeting every season we discuss our "Mission" which is basically 3 parts: "Priority 1A - Serve to represent our school as a support group for our football and basketball programs. Priority 1B - Serve to represent our school in interscholastic competitions at the local, regional, and national level. Priority 2 - Serve to represent our school in public appearances as requested."

In the case of a game in which we would normally be in attendance, but have a need to be absent for competitive purposes, I will generally personally send an email to the athletic director and head coach of that team with an explanation. 

When I was in high school doing this 25 years ago, we did all football games, all basketball games (home and away), and the national competition. My goal is to allow my athletes to have the most/best possible experiences while also allowing them the opportunity to focus on their list of priorities 1) God/Family, 2) Academics 3) Cheerleading/Other Varsity athletics (I support multi-sport athletes in whatever way I possibly can).

SO Again, in these current times, the bands and cheerleaders DO NOT exist today to support basketball and football.  They are all competitive individually.  Be thankful that they take their own time to support their high school teams.  Both band and cheerleading are big time at many schools.  Cheerleading and band competitions are serious and well attended.  Do the basketball and football teams invest any or much of their time to support band and cheerleading competitions?  Uh, mostly not a chance.

15 hours ago, cheercoachwes said:

We don’t travel to away games in an effort to save money in the athletic transportation budget.

I know of at least one school in the Western end of the state who’s cheerleaders are told they have to travel to away games, share the bus with the players (not a big deal except), and pay for half of the cost of the bus out of their money they fundraise while the athletic department pays for the players.

That is absolutely crazy, someone should be fired over that. 

5 minutes ago, theguru said:

That is absolutely crazy, someone should be fired over that. 

Totally agree, but surely it’s not true.