Which MCPS school has the best cheer squad?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Cheerleading has taken second fiddle to poms. In the last twenty years the less athletic have been on the cheerleading squad where the real performers now do poms.

Huh? The level is insane. The cheer squads have way more pressure on them during the fall season. Cheer has to learn sideline cheers and their competition cheer, plus cheer at all football games (home and away) during the one season. My DD’s team practices 15 hours a week in addition to the football games. Poms only performs at the home games and doesn’t do their competition dance until the winter season. I think you must have a very dated view of cheer.

Both are great forms of exercise and competitive, but saying that cheer is behind poms is ridiculous.

15 hours a week of practice is on par with what our Poms do. Also our Poms Squad performs for soccer and basketball. It isnt confined to football and is a true and active two season sport.

Fact is that these sports are very different. They have different rules and require different skills. One is not better than the other in terms of the sport but one might be more popular than the other in a particular school and hence train more and engage in more complicated routines. But that is about the school culture not the intrinsic nature of the sport. Both require a lot of practice, time and dedication.

if schools put this kind of effort into academics, they win national Olympiads!

Exactly. That’s the reason I hesitate to let my DD try out poms.

I think you learn different things from being part of a team. Like academics, you learn about commitment, but you also learn about teamwork and sportsmanship. You learn about being a good winner and a good loser. You learn a lot about time management. In addition, you often feel a greater part of the community. This is not saying that you can’t get all of this without high school sports, it just means that it can be a nice complement for a kid’s schedule. I am glad that my child is on a team even on the crazy weeks! But each family has to decide whether the commitment is worth it, because it is a huge one.

Maybe but 15 hours of poms per week vs. 2 hours on some academic team suggests bad priorities.

Actually opposite. At our MCPS high school all athletes have to maintain a 3.2 GPA and have zero unexcused absences and less than 3 class tardies for the week, The AD and coaches are dead set on this and they check weekly. Cheerleaders and poms who don't meet this are not able to perform or cheer for the game or perform at a competition that week. They set these kids at a high standard and expect them to figure out how to prioritize both academics and their sport. That means less time on their phones, no hanging out with friends after school, etc. My daughter has a 3.8 GPA in the midst of this crazy fall football season while doing all star cheer. Her life is literally academics and cheer.

True of sports in general. Being a 3 season runner really helped my kid stay focused on academics, too.

Absolutely. The kids who love doing their sport tend to be great in the classroom too because they have to do well in order to play or participate in their sport.

[Anonymous]

Sherwood got third in state last year

QO and Churchill here finalists