hated explained.

Ok. Last week was not the smoothest. As much as I would love to indulge myself and go into great depth and detail explaining why, I must exercise my self control. Trust me, it is better for everyone when I exercise my self control. In order to shed a small bit of light on the situation, please let me share with you a PORTION of ONE of the emails I received regarding a situation with cheerleading a grades. I have removed the name of the person as well as the school they work at so as not to get myself sued.


"Hi Amber,
My name is ******* ***** I have been a cheer advisor for 10 years and also drill team, softball coach and diving coach all for ***** High. I was talking to one of my friends about your regulations of grades. I can't believe you would put a girl on probation or kick a girl off the cheer squad for this.

I don't know if you understand this and being a teacher for 21 years I know that I do. I am a very strict cheer coach with very high standards for my teams however, my rules that I set for my athletes have to be in line with the guide lines set by the school district. This could be a law suit waiting to happen. I know of not one school that judges grades the way you do. If a mother looked into this and got others involved it could be a bad choice for you.

Cheerkleading is a sport just like basketball, volleyball etc., you should talk to the others who coach and find out their standing on this rule you have implemented into your program.

I know you are the coach and you decide what is in your disclosure but
as one coach to another I would look into this part of it because it
could get you into trouble and being a coach is hard enough dealing with
parents but when rules don't make sense then it causes you more grief
than you need.

I hope you will think about this and maybe next year you could see how
this hurts your squad instead of helping them..."

Please remember that this was only a portion of the email, and I received NUMEROUS emails just like it from other advisors across the state of Utah. Allow me to point out some false statements in the email... this will only take a minute or two.

1- "I don't know if you understand this..." No my dear I don't know if YOU understand this. Cheer regulations differ from school to school, and junior high is different from high school as well since we don't fall under the High School Athletic Association. By the way, I don't really care if you have taught for 21 years. So has the teacher down the hall from me and all they do in class is watch movies. Your years of service don't mean anything to me.

2- "Cheerleading is a sport just like basketball, volleyball, etc..." WRONG. Where were you this summer when the Athletic Association ruled that cheerleading WAS NOT A SPORT? If it were a sport "just like" those others, then why do those athletes only have to have a 2.0 when cheerleaders are required to get a 3.0 GPA? Just saying... oh and I hope you don't mind my removing the "K" from the word cheerleader as you tended to include it throughout the course of your email. Next time, check your grammar and spelling before you send me an email. 'Preciate it.

3- "You decide what is in your disclosure..." I COULD ONLY WISH! The school has a constitution for cheerleading that was written up by the administration and voted on when the school opened. I had no say. If I wanted to make suggestions on changes I could, but in order for those changes to happen a vote takes place among the administration, school council, and the current cheerleaders and a 2/3 vote is required to implement the change.

4- "...see how this hurts your squad instead of helping them..." Oh I thought that removing responsibility or not holding them accountable was hurting them. My bad. Oh wait, are you saying that when they get to the real world they won't be held responsible when they don't follow through with something? I must not have learned that lesson yet since I have only taught for one year and not 21. Hopefully one day I can be as wise as you are.

I have never felt so attacked as I did last week. Maybe its the hormones causing me excess stress, but really?? I never lost my fire or desire to do my job well last week, but I am getting scared because lately I have felt myself fighting the battle of "what is the point?" Why go beyond my job description (or even within it for that matter) if all it is doing is "hurting my squad?" I don't do things for the praise, but when I feel like I'm busting my butt being at the school at 5:45 for practices that I don't even have to attend and I don't even deserve common courtesy I question things a little. Don't get me wrong, I'm not "advisor of the year" material or anything, but normal humans aren't quite so vicious... are they?

I love my cheerleaders. I love my job. I don't love feeling unappreciated or attacked. I think it is a good thing for everyone that this baby will be here in 4 weeks and in that time period the inmates can run the assylum. Ok... enough of the suckfest. Next post please.