[eagleclaw]

I've just finished reading this thread and felt I had an obligation to clear a few things up. First of all why did the competition squad come about? As stated before some of the girls want to just cheer games and not have to worry about putting in all the time required for competition, Many schools only have one squad that cheers boy's,girls,and competitions but, it is the philosophy of the JCHS administration that as many girls as possible should be allowed to participate.If there were only one squad many girls who wanted to cheer would not be able to.If there were two squads competing ,as in the past ,the girls would have no choice as is whether or not to compete.Also, the talent would be divided between two squads and the best "product"would not be on the floor.Title IX does not allow boys cheerleaders to be better than the girls or visa versa, so that is why the games are divided between the squads and there is no longer a boys or girls squad. At tryouts the girls could choose which squad they wanted to cheer for and if they wanted to be on the competition squad. 25 girls made the squad,but only 13 remain. I don't know why they quit, but they did quit. Also it was made clear at the beginning in the rules signed by both cheerleaders and parents that it was up to the coach to decide who cheers what game. If a girl has a higher tryout score and sticks out the 12+ hour per week practices shouldn't they be the ones allowed to cheer the districts and regionals.The competition squad cheered football playoffs and nothing was said. But of course this was before certain girls quit the competition squad. The cheer boosters spent a significant amount of money to have a routine choreographed for 25 girls and since these girls quit the routine had to be completely reworked. I don't think that was fair, but it just had to be dealt with. For any action you take you have to consider the consequences if the reason for quitting was justified or not ,sitting out the post season is one of them. I think that as parents we should be applauding rather than bashing the commitment that our school has for cheering .Ditto,for Ms Sturgill and Ms Green. They do an awesome job and deserve our support.