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How do cheer/dance competitions work

Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:18 pm
Posted by BrohemAlem11
Ratchet City, LA
Member since Oct 2014
13510 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:18 pm
It seems like every high school and college won a national championship this year...they hand these out like frickin candy
Posted by W2NOMO
Member since Jul 2025
2118 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:20 pm to
It’s all pay to play and win. The more $$$ involved the more organizations the more winners.
Posted by Jim Rockford
Member since May 2011
104608 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:21 pm to
We want to be sure Brylee gets equal time while Jaxxton chases his travel ball dream.
Posted by tgrmeat
Member since Sep 2020
5778 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:21 pm to
It’s the female version of championship rings for the silver bracket
Posted by greygoose
Member since Aug 2013
14615 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:39 pm to
How many trophies did the milkmen at TAM get?
Posted by Tarps99
Lafourche Parish
Member since Apr 2017
11992 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:39 pm to
quote:

It seems like every high school and college won a national championship this year...they hand these out like frickin candy


They do this by either having multiple national championships in various locations by different names and at different times, and they create so many smaller high school classifications.


Think of the LHSAA’s division system, but multiply that by 10 or more. So you may have 40 divisions, and if they do a public/private split 80 championships.


Most of these championships are junket trips to Disney or Universal. So the school buys a package for minimum number kids and covers food, lodging, and park tickets. The school’s extra cost may be transportation to the site and around the competition and park visits.


I remember going on a Band trip like this to Orlando in 1998, we went via a chartered bus, back then the OT standard of $350 was the cost. We left on a Friday night and got there in the morning. The concert band performed in the auditorium of a large Orlando high school that had a nice quad area that looked like a Spanish mission. It might have been University High School.

After the performance we went eat at Morrison’s cafeteria, before Piccadilly bought them. Then went to the back entrance of an attraction at Universal where they announced the winners. We came out first place or got all superiors. We then went our hotel which was by the airport.


The next day we got to visit the Magic Kingdom, and the following day we got to visit Universal. They gave us food coupons to eat the park and a calling card with 10 minutes of long distance to call home to say we were on our way back (a year before cellular roaming was pretty standardized and not obscene where you paid a day rate to roam and a dollar a minute and cell phones shrunk in size).

After Universal we hopped back on the bus and arrived at 7 the next morning. Luckily, it was the Easter holiday break.

Later that month that award winning performance at nationals fell flat at the Louisiana State Music Festival where we got 3’s and 4’s.
This post was edited on 2/5/26 at 8:19 pm
Posted by theRealJesseD
Member since Nov 2021
4665 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:41 pm to
Idk but it’s a horrendous experience for dads

I put on a smile and tell my daughter ‘great job’ though
Posted by Triple Bogey
19th Green
Member since May 2017
6600 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:45 pm to
quote:

I put on a smile and tell my daughter ‘great job’ though


Only if she actually did a great job. I’ll be in the car criticizing the toe touches.
Posted by dblwall
Member since Jul 2017
1299 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:47 pm to


Posted by Tarps99
Lafourche Parish
Member since Apr 2017
11992 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 8:22 pm to
quote:




Directors/coordinators/coaches get a free trip for them and their spouses, and event organizers probably throw in a few freebies for them.
Posted by theRealJesseD
Member since Nov 2021
4665 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 8:28 pm to
quote:

Only if she actually did a great job. I’ll be in the car criticizing the toe touches.


Posted by Kafka
I am the moral conscience of TD
Member since Jul 2007
155217 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 8:30 pm to
quote:

we went eat at Morrison’s cafeteria, before Piccadilly bought them
I miss Morrison's fried shrimp
Posted by Darth_Vader
A galaxy far, far away
Member since Dec 2011
72683 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 8:36 pm to
Father of a HS cheerleader checking in. She’s finishing up her senior year right now. As for how these cheer competitions work. Here’s what I know.

1. They take FOREVER. Having a fully charged phone with ear buds is a lifesaver, especially during football season.

2. Half of the time the judges aren’t even watching.

3. Even after attending more competitions than I care to remember, I still have no idea what constitutes doing good or bad. Just smile and clap.

4. As the dad, our job is to (1) be there, (2) tell your daughter she’s pretty, she did great, and you’re very proud of her, and (3) pay for things like tickets, concessions, Starbucks, and whatever merch (yes, all of these competitions sell merch) she wants.

5. Pay attention when she’s doing her cheer. And yes, you have to cheer with her. They’ll know it if you don’t.
Posted by LemmyLives
Texas
Member since Mar 2019
14239 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 8:37 pm to
quote:

Idk but it’s a horrendous experience for dads

I was lucky, and almost always had to bring my son to something Lacrosse related. I went to 2 dance competitions last year, and the dejection on the straight dad's faces is real. And it's always so loud. Your Apple Watch will give you hearing warnings non stop, it's like being at a nightclub. Dads look like creeps looking for our daughters, who are in such heavy makeup, I can't tell which one is my daughter except by looking for the tallest one on the team.

Dance will change schedules last minute, so when I drive to Galveston to see my daughter at 11, whoops, they moved their slot to 9:15 that morning. They also love keeping you there all day like baseball, because there is always at least one ensemble at 5:30PM, when the first dance was at 9, the second at 1. FUUUUUU to hell!

-9/10. Some of the competitions are streamed on Twitch, which think is another level of creepy, but at least I don't have to drive an hour, park, etc. You rarely see your kid anyway during the day, except when they want food, because they're changing, rehearsing, having team meetings, etc.
Posted by BigBinBR
Baton Rouge
Member since Mar 2023
9676 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 8:42 pm to
That “Cheer” show that was on Netflix with the school that would always win the national championship…

Yeah, there was only one other team in their entire division.So they would either be a “national champion” or 2nd place.
Posted by LemmyLives
Texas
Member since Mar 2019
14239 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 9:00 pm to
Navarro.
Posted by jafari rastaman
Member since Nov 2015
2572 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 9:13 pm to
quote:

How do cheer/dance competitions work


The results of the competition are very objective. Each team leads a cheer and the judges use an Integrating Sound Level Meter to determine the equivalent continuous and maximum decibels that the crowd produces. An award is given for each of the two categories.

If your kid is in the competition, you better be ready to cheer your arse off for as loud and as long as you can when they are leading the cheer.
Posted by AuBeerStud
Michigan
Member since Feb 2013
490 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 9:20 pm to
Dance dad here

My 9 year old does competitive dance. $1200 a month plus competition fees’s, travel, hotel, costumes. Figure I’m paying about $2,000 a month.

It’s F’N hell. Go stick your head in a sub woofer at 7am and you’ll understand.

Sometimes they’ll be a pub within walking distance of the venue. It’s the only thing that eases the pain.

Oh yes, and everybody gets an award. Drives me nuts!
This post was edited on 2/5/26 at 9:21 pm
Posted by BrohemAlem11
Ratchet City, LA
Member since Oct 2014
13510 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 9:28 pm to
Man this thread has been illuminating. Sorry for your suffering dance dads
Posted by BR Tiger
Baton Rouge
Member since Mar 2004
4542 posts
Posted on 2/5/26 at 9:28 pm to
quote:

My 9 year old does competitive dance. $1200 a month plus competition fees’s, travel, hotel, costumes. Figure I’m paying about $2,000 a month.


I say this with all the respect I can. You are an idiot. 2K per month for a 9 year old’s dance classes? At that rate there has to be a payoff. There’s not one here. By the time she graduates HS you are looking at $216K. Gone. Put her in cheaper dance classes and invest the difference for her. By the time she graduates HS you will have a nice chunk of change. That money can be used to pay for college, buy a house, or have a hell of a headway on a retirement account.
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