Submitted by email from a cheer mom.
Middle aged, 2 kids, a minivan, house in the burbs and trying to plan for college. My husband has a great job and so do I... MOM! Seriously, the IRS should have an official tax bracket for full time MOM. Like most parents, I want the best opportunities and richest experiences I can give my kids so they can develop as people and find enjoyment and hopefully success in something they like. So off to football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics and cheerleading practice. Thank goodness for friends, carpools and a 16year old legal driving age.
When my son became really good at pitching in baseball things changed. Instead of doing a million different things, he specialized in pitching and baseball. His father became invested in learning and understanding more about the sport and the position. As parents, we naturally began to look into what his possible future could be. Let me go back a step, our son is really good at pitching. We got him into pitching camps, private lessons with pitching coaches and joined a highly competitive travel team. As the worrysome mom, I of course asked all the questions about pitch count and arm/shoulder injuries. I did the research and read the information about the dangers of pitching and overuse at the teenage level. We tired to protect and prepare our son for a future in a sport he loved.
Everything was going wonderful and right on track until one Sunday evening. My husband had just got home with our son from a baseball game and I with my daughter from a cheerleading competition. Their two days had gone about as opposite as could be. My son's team won their tournament and my son was named tournament MVP. On the other hand, my daughter's team finished 7th out of 9 teams and she touched down on her standing tumbling in the routine and her stunt group missed part of their sequence.
My son is a Junior in high school and my daughter is in the 8th grade. Typically, big brothers are either all in for lil sis or they look at her as the annoying sibbling they have to deal with occassionally. Jason, our son, is the all in type. So after all the hoopla about his success, he asks Jackie, our daughter, how her competition went. After hearing about her woes, he asked the simplest question... "can't youjust take some flipping lessons or something?" The thought was so natural from my son. If you want to be better at something, you have to train and practice at it.
Later that night, as I discussed private tumbling lessons with my husband, our conversation centered on the cost and additional time/transportation considerations given the closest gymnastics gym was 40 minutes away. Although we decided to get our daughter the privates, it wasonly because the time and travel was feasible. What I didn't realize at the time was that we were treating our daughter with a completely different set of rules because her sport was cheerleading.
That was over a year ago. Jackie is now a freshman in high school and is one of the very few freshman that has ever made the varsity team. While she is a good cheerleader, she is a better tumbler and base. She is throwing whip through to layout step out and is working a full... on the dead floor. I finally got the point that the same intensity and commitment we gave to our son's success, we should be putting towards our daughter's success in cheerleading. Why wouldn't we give her the private lessons and individual training she needs to be better at her sport. It was a simple question my son asked that night because it was a natural thought that she should take private lessons just as he did to improve at his sport.
I think the thing we as parents were guilty of is two fold. My husband and I viewed our daughter as a girl instead of an athlete. She is strong and athletic, but she is into facebook, shopping, jewelry, clothes and boys just like many girls her age. We just didn't assign the same inner drive, competitiveness and desire to win to our daughter because she was a girl. Little did we know, it's just as strong in her as in our son. She just doesn't spit, grunt and slide in the dirt so we didn't know it was there. Girls simply don't always manifest their interest in sports and their fierce desire to compete or be the best the same way boys do.
Our second problem is that we never took cheerleading seriously. The middle school team she was on competed, but we just never equivocated cheerleading to sports. It wasn't until Jackie was taking private gymnastics lessons and stunting lessons that we began to see her improvement and relate the training process to that of our son. When it was apparent the training led to skills that put her on Varsity as a freshman, the perspective was even clearer. Athletes train for their sport. It is our job as parents to support that process for our kids whatever the sport or interest.
As the end of the school year is in sight, my son has several scholarship offers to play college baseball. We couldn't be more proud of the athlete and young man he is turning out to be. While high school baseball is just about to get rolling, my daughter's very successful cheerleading season just finished. For my son, I see at least 4 more years of baseball, a free college education and maybe the pros from there. For my daugher, the reality is completely different. She is a base and that limits here ability to make a typical Div IA program which are usually coed. To my knowledge, there are no full ride scholarships for female bases at any Div IA programs. There are no significant cheerleading scholarships at all at the Div IA programs in our state that Jackie wants to apply to. We know she will be very good by time she is applying to colleges, but will there be an opportunity for her to continue the sport she loves?
You can imagine my exhiliration when my daughter's high school coach was telling a couple of us parents about a new acrobatics and tumbling team sport at one of the universities in the state. I had no idea. None of us did. Wow! Ka Boom! Bam! It was like fireworks going off right there in the room. I couldn't wait to get home and get to my computer. I read every word I could find on the internet about Acrobatics and Tumbling. Most importantly, I read every word I could find on the team at the university in my own state. This is exactly what my daughter wants. This validates every dollar spent, every 45 minute one way trip to gymnastics, every late night, every frustrating practice and so on. Not because there was no point to the sacrifice to date or because I think Jackie would make the team. It's all validated because for the first time in the history of college athletics, girls who have excelled in cheerleading can finally have the OPPORTUNITY to compete in their sport during college on a scholarship. This is about opportunity and choice that was never there before. My daughter has always wanted compete, not cheer. Now, just like every other high school athlete, either male or female, my daughter has an opportunity at the collegiate level.
Wouldn't it be a total dream if my son and daughter played their two sports at the same university? Perhaps your daughter will be team mates with mine.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
High Schools FOR acrobatics and tumbling
It makes logical sense that high school sports typically mirror the collegiate counterpart. Every athlete dreams of playing their sport in college or at a professional level. The progression from the high school level to the college level makes sense for the sports themselves, not just the athletes. High school sports rules are very similar if not identical to the college rules governing each sport. The growth of acrobatics and tumbling at the collegiate level will create hundreds of new scholarship and athletic opportunities for female athletes. As a direct result, it also makes sense for high schools to migrate competitive cheer towards acrobatics and tumbling.
Currently, about half of the 50 states recognize cheerleading as a sport. Of the 25 or so states that do, none govern or administer the sport the same way. There is no universal standard for the governance of competitive cheer as a sport at the high school level. Perhaps this a direct correlation to the lack of safety and resulting high injury rates in cheerleading. Another issue at the high school level is the blurred line between a team whose purpose is to support the school's athletic programs through crowd leading and the more demanding and intense focus on competing. The result is a hybrid team in the middle of a wide spectrum of types of cheer teams which are often disarrayed with their administration's expectations.
Acrobatics and tumbling is the answer to many of these issues. Once adopted by the NCAA as a sanctioned sport,the growth at the college level will inspire growth at the high school level. The automatic standardization and uniform governance of the sport that will be required by the NCAA will be mirrored at the high school level as well. In fact, acrobatics and tumbling requires a higher level of safety certification and professional accountability than the leading national cheerleading safety certification organization which works closely with the National Federation of High Schools to certify cheer coaches. Background checks of all coaches and officials are required in acrobatics and tumbling where it is only recommended or not even considered by the leading national safety certification. High schools following in the footsteps of acrobatics and tumbling's college model will undoubtedly provide a safer, regulated and properly governed environment for athletes to continue to develop in this sport.
By offering both an acrobatics and tumbling team at a school, athletes are now given another choice that was not previously available. Those who want to focus on the competitive sport and skill set can choose to join acrobatics and tumbling teams while athletes who prefer to focus on crowd leading and game-day cheerleading can join the traditional sideline team. Having both teams and even in different seasons can allow for athletes to do both. The benefit is that additional opportunities are being created that meet the interests of student athletes. More students can be involved on two teams than on one.
No matter which side you're on of the debate over cheerleading as a sport, acrobatics and tumbling essentially ends the discussion by removing all the reasons against the sport. Acrobatics and tumbling is the evolution of only the sport elements of competitive cheer. Take those elements and mold them into a format that meets all the same administrative and structural components in all other NCAA sports and there's no denying this is the true sport model cheer athletes have been needing to end the argument.
If the philosophy behind sports at high schools and universities is to provide opportunities to develop and enrich the athlete's lives and to do so through activities that interest those athletes, then acrobatics and tumbling is simply a great choice for high schools to explore. The sport answers the tremendous popularity and interest in the competitive aspects of cheerleading and offers schools the ability to preserve the traditional forms of cheerleading, engage competition focused interest and ultimately offer more opportunities and choices for athletes. This choice could be one that makes a dream of competing for a college team a reality.
Currently, about half of the 50 states recognize cheerleading as a sport. Of the 25 or so states that do, none govern or administer the sport the same way. There is no universal standard for the governance of competitive cheer as a sport at the high school level. Perhaps this a direct correlation to the lack of safety and resulting high injury rates in cheerleading. Another issue at the high school level is the blurred line between a team whose purpose is to support the school's athletic programs through crowd leading and the more demanding and intense focus on competing. The result is a hybrid team in the middle of a wide spectrum of types of cheer teams which are often disarrayed with their administration's expectations.
Acrobatics and tumbling is the answer to many of these issues. Once adopted by the NCAA as a sanctioned sport,the growth at the college level will inspire growth at the high school level. The automatic standardization and uniform governance of the sport that will be required by the NCAA will be mirrored at the high school level as well. In fact, acrobatics and tumbling requires a higher level of safety certification and professional accountability than the leading national cheerleading safety certification organization which works closely with the National Federation of High Schools to certify cheer coaches. Background checks of all coaches and officials are required in acrobatics and tumbling where it is only recommended or not even considered by the leading national safety certification. High schools following in the footsteps of acrobatics and tumbling's college model will undoubtedly provide a safer, regulated and properly governed environment for athletes to continue to develop in this sport.
By offering both an acrobatics and tumbling team at a school, athletes are now given another choice that was not previously available. Those who want to focus on the competitive sport and skill set can choose to join acrobatics and tumbling teams while athletes who prefer to focus on crowd leading and game-day cheerleading can join the traditional sideline team. Having both teams and even in different seasons can allow for athletes to do both. The benefit is that additional opportunities are being created that meet the interests of student athletes. More students can be involved on two teams than on one.
No matter which side you're on of the debate over cheerleading as a sport, acrobatics and tumbling essentially ends the discussion by removing all the reasons against the sport. Acrobatics and tumbling is the evolution of only the sport elements of competitive cheer. Take those elements and mold them into a format that meets all the same administrative and structural components in all other NCAA sports and there's no denying this is the true sport model cheer athletes have been needing to end the argument.
If the philosophy behind sports at high schools and universities is to provide opportunities to develop and enrich the athlete's lives and to do so through activities that interest those athletes, then acrobatics and tumbling is simply a great choice for high schools to explore. The sport answers the tremendous popularity and interest in the competitive aspects of cheerleading and offers schools the ability to preserve the traditional forms of cheerleading, engage competition focused interest and ultimately offer more opportunities and choices for athletes. This choice could be one that makes a dream of competing for a college team a reality.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
2012... Cheer or STUNT?
It's coming. Before you know it, spring is hear and the end of the 2010-2011 college cheerleading season will be here. Some students with graduate, some will retire and some will just take a few weeks before they gear up for teaching summer camps or even practicing for summer camp. It's the same story year after year. What will be different in 2011-2012 is that all the club teams and competitive sideline teams participating in STUNT will most likely have to choose and the choice is not turning out to be a great choice.
Are you a STUNT team or are you a Cheer team?
Since USA Cheer and Varsity Brands say they are trying to make STUNT an NCAA emerging sport, then one of the important things they should probably start conforming to are NCAA rules and regulations. Even though STUNT is not an NCAA sport (probably won't succeed against Acro and Tumbling), STUNT should begin to walk and talk like a real NCAA sport. In other words, teams should begin to follow a standardized set of rules for eligibility and competition. If STUNT seeks NCAA status, then it should be operating as other NCAA sports. My point is that the Quinnipiac case shows us that teams need to abide by several concepts to be considered an NCAA/Title IX compliant teams.
First, teams should compete against same type teams. Baseball teams don't compete against softball teams. So why are club teams competing agaist sideline teams? NCAA sport teams are bound to compete under the same set of rules all season. Yet teams competing in STUNT attend CheerSport, NCA, UCA, JamFest and other competitions that all have varying rules. In addition, a real sport should be competing under the same scoring system all season. In the cheelreading world, that's definately no a current possibility because everyone does scoring their own way. The NCAA places restrictions on eligibility, practice times and even limits on gifts, benefits and financial assistance or jobs for its athletes. That is non existent with teams competing in STUNT. It already seem pretty clear that STUNT isn't doing much with its standards to mirror what the NCAA expects of a sport.
It might lead one to believe that STUNT's purpose is not truly to acheive emerging sport status with the NCAA. But here's where that choice comes in. Are you a cheer team or are you a STUNT team. Perhaps USA Cheer and Varsity Brands intended this season to be a trial and next season is when the more rigid structure of the sport is put in place. If that is the case, then next season, cheer teams can't compete in STUNT because of the "similar type" rules. That only leaves club teams to compete in STUNT against other club teams. But as a club team, USA Cheer is going to ban you from competing in other traditional 2.5 minute routine competitions because you can't compete under varying rules and scoring systems. You have to be STUNT 100% of the time. This all play into Jeff Webb's hands very nicely as he has stated that club teams confuse and complicate traditional cheerleading. It is not coincidence that UCA doesn't allow club teams to compete at nationals given this thought process. STUNT fits everyone nicely into an order and place that can be easily controlled. Club teams compete in STUNT separate from cheerleading teams. Sideline cheerleading teams compete in traditional 2.5 minute competitions and are considered an activity, not a sport.
The upcoming "off seson" will be very interesting and tell tale. Either STUNT will force choices upon teams and limit them from doing whatever activities and competitions they want or STUNT will continue as is. If it remains the status quo, then a conclusion might be drawn that there is NO true intent to reach emerging sport status. If choices are forced....why would a team let USA Cheer limit their activities or dictate what they can or can't do with their own season.
Things are getting complicated fast because USA Cheer slopped together STUNT after the NCATA took the first original steps to make competitive cheer a sport. Now USA Cheer's model is using the monopolistic control of Varsity Brands over many college teams to force or buy teams' participation in STUNT and forbid their choice to participate in certain other events. The last time I checked, my boss's name is not spelled, V A R S I T Y.
One more thing to keep in mind. Most of the teams competing in STUNT are just sideline teams, competitive cheer teams or club teams that have been at their universities for a number of years. Many of these teams have talked with thier athletic administrators about becoming a varsity sport, but to no avail. Maryland made competitive cheer a sport in 2003. If these universities were remotely interested in making their teams varsity sports teams, why haven't they done it by now?
Whether you are forced to choose to play cheerleading or forced to choose to play STUNT next season, the bottom line is that teams will still just be playing. But not playing an NCAA sport.
Are you a STUNT team or are you a Cheer team?
Since USA Cheer and Varsity Brands say they are trying to make STUNT an NCAA emerging sport, then one of the important things they should probably start conforming to are NCAA rules and regulations. Even though STUNT is not an NCAA sport (probably won't succeed against Acro and Tumbling), STUNT should begin to walk and talk like a real NCAA sport. In other words, teams should begin to follow a standardized set of rules for eligibility and competition. If STUNT seeks NCAA status, then it should be operating as other NCAA sports. My point is that the Quinnipiac case shows us that teams need to abide by several concepts to be considered an NCAA/Title IX compliant teams.
First, teams should compete against same type teams. Baseball teams don't compete against softball teams. So why are club teams competing agaist sideline teams? NCAA sport teams are bound to compete under the same set of rules all season. Yet teams competing in STUNT attend CheerSport, NCA, UCA, JamFest and other competitions that all have varying rules. In addition, a real sport should be competing under the same scoring system all season. In the cheelreading world, that's definately no a current possibility because everyone does scoring their own way. The NCAA places restrictions on eligibility, practice times and even limits on gifts, benefits and financial assistance or jobs for its athletes. That is non existent with teams competing in STUNT. It already seem pretty clear that STUNT isn't doing much with its standards to mirror what the NCAA expects of a sport.
It might lead one to believe that STUNT's purpose is not truly to acheive emerging sport status with the NCAA. But here's where that choice comes in. Are you a cheer team or are you a STUNT team. Perhaps USA Cheer and Varsity Brands intended this season to be a trial and next season is when the more rigid structure of the sport is put in place. If that is the case, then next season, cheer teams can't compete in STUNT because of the "similar type" rules. That only leaves club teams to compete in STUNT against other club teams. But as a club team, USA Cheer is going to ban you from competing in other traditional 2.5 minute routine competitions because you can't compete under varying rules and scoring systems. You have to be STUNT 100% of the time. This all play into Jeff Webb's hands very nicely as he has stated that club teams confuse and complicate traditional cheerleading. It is not coincidence that UCA doesn't allow club teams to compete at nationals given this thought process. STUNT fits everyone nicely into an order and place that can be easily controlled. Club teams compete in STUNT separate from cheerleading teams. Sideline cheerleading teams compete in traditional 2.5 minute competitions and are considered an activity, not a sport.
The upcoming "off seson" will be very interesting and tell tale. Either STUNT will force choices upon teams and limit them from doing whatever activities and competitions they want or STUNT will continue as is. If it remains the status quo, then a conclusion might be drawn that there is NO true intent to reach emerging sport status. If choices are forced....why would a team let USA Cheer limit their activities or dictate what they can or can't do with their own season.
Things are getting complicated fast because USA Cheer slopped together STUNT after the NCATA took the first original steps to make competitive cheer a sport. Now USA Cheer's model is using the monopolistic control of Varsity Brands over many college teams to force or buy teams' participation in STUNT and forbid their choice to participate in certain other events. The last time I checked, my boss's name is not spelled, V A R S I T Y.
One more thing to keep in mind. Most of the teams competing in STUNT are just sideline teams, competitive cheer teams or club teams that have been at their universities for a number of years. Many of these teams have talked with thier athletic administrators about becoming a varsity sport, but to no avail. Maryland made competitive cheer a sport in 2003. If these universities were remotely interested in making their teams varsity sports teams, why haven't they done it by now?
Whether you are forced to choose to play cheerleading or forced to choose to play STUNT next season, the bottom line is that teams will still just be playing. But not playing an NCAA sport.
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