Continuing Saga of the Cheer Coach

[DianaB]

For those of you who haven't read about our Cheer Coach problems here's a link to my other discussion about our problems.

http://www.4womentalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2528

I have absolutely had it with our Cheer Coach! She is nothing but a trouble-maker. Thursday afternoon and evening our high school had a volleyball and football scrimmage (which is where we have a game but we just play ourself. No other teams.) So the cheerleaders were divided in half so each side would have it's own cheerleaders. (Now, let me explain a little bit about our cheerleading squad, we have 6 cheerleaders who were on the squad last year and 6 cheerleaders who are new to the squad.) The cheerleading squad was divided up with the experienced cheerleaders on one side (and it was where most of the crowd and pep club sat) and the new cheerleaders on the other side (where hardly anyone sat).

Before the game started the captain and co-captain of the team switched back and forth between the squads but when the game actually started they were both on the same side. The new cheerleaders were left with no leader, even the coach sat with the experienced cheerleaders. The girls really struggled with doing the cheers, since they don't have them memorized as well as the other girls, but they did the best they could. My daughter and a friend of hers took over as leaders, but still they didn't look as good doing their cheers as the more experienced girls.

The coach's reasoning for dividing them up this way was because "you never know when the captain, co-captain, and the more experienced girls will be gone and you'll have to cheer without them." The girls were really embarassed at being out there with no leader and the coach did it to them on purpose!! I've already talked to the athletic director and he says that the girls need to talk to her on their own, but she has threatened and intimidated them until they're scared of her. If there's any more stuff like this that goes on I'm going to pull her out of cheer. It has been a whole summer of stuff like this and I'm tired of it. Thanks for letting me vent!!!!

[Emmsmom]

From one cheer mom to another.. ((HUGS)) I feel your pain becuase I have had to deal with a really bad cheer coach myself. I was just lucky she quit on her own after so many complaints. Hope things get better SOON! HUGS,

[AngieDoogles]

Aww, Diana! I'm sorry this is still going on. That must be so frustrating for both you and your daughter when it should be a fun experience. I'm sorry the coach is making things difficult. *hugs* I hope it all works out soon!

[DianaB]

It was my daughter's first time to actually cheer in front of a crowd and I know that she was disappointed in herself for not doing better. Considering it was her first time and they didn't have any leadership I thought that they did a wonderful job. It's just that they knew that they weren't performing as well as the more experienced cheerleaders.

I thought that cheer was suppose to be fun but this certainly hasn't been. If there's any more problems my daughter has decided to quit and I agree with her.

I'm not a mom who causes trouble at the schools. In fact after 4 kids going through the schools this is the first time that I have been in the office to complain, but I've had enough. There is so much more that I could tell you about, but it would take too much time to write and read.

[DianaB]

Michelle, how did you deal with it? It's hard because I'm not suppose to talk directly to the coach. My daughter has to talk to her if she has a problem but they've all been threatened that if there's a lot of complaining then the school will do away with the cheer program. When I talked to the athletics director about this he said that this had been talked about it but there's no plans to actually do it unless things turn really bad. Anyway the girls are afraid to talk to her even if the athletics director is there with them. They're scared of her so she gets away with everything! A lot of the moms don't even know (or care) about the way that she treats our girls because they just want their daughter to be a cheerleader. I care about how MY daughter is treated!

Did you have problems like this? How did you handle it? Did you go to the school board?

[AngieDoogles]

Diana, I don't know what to tell you! It sounds like you are in such a bad spot right now. Hopefully someone will have some good advice for you...