re: How do cheer/dance competitions work

I, unfortunately, spend a lot of time at dance team competitions. Teenage daughter. However, you should google LSUs dance team from Nationals dancing to the Michael Jackson song. It’s pretty impressive.

Also…between high school and her studio….12 competition weekends in the next 5 months. FML.

If any of you other dads will be in Tahoe for studio nationals in July…meet me for a beer. Please. For the love of god…please. Get me out of that auditorium.

I figured it out.


Disney/Universal owns all the cheer completions.

They then send you to regionals in Orlando.

They send my daughter’s team and we hadn’t even competed yet.


You won, go to Disneyland. 500 a night.

Screw that. Now she swims.

My GF's 16 year old wants to do school cheer in a rural suburb of Houston. $1700 a year, multiple uniforms, $170 cheer backpacks, etc. The average household of that town is probably around $75k

Katy ISD is $700, average household income maybe $150k. Stupefying.

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Idk but it’s a horrendous experience for dads I put on a smile and tell my daughter ‘great job’ though

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This. Who wants to take a 3 day trip to Indianapolis, Atlanta and/or Houston to hang around their convention centers with a bunch of tools wearing wigs and cheer dad merch, followed by trip to Disney to loiter around the ESPN complex and drink $9 beers.

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do a state cheer competition here every year. School in our district finished 8th I think there but won a national title at the NCA nonsense. I looked it up and there were like 50 divisions. Theirs had 2 teams in it. It’s all a joke.

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Watched an episode or 2 of that cheer show w my wife revolving around some junior college.... they had like 50 national championships snd made the woman out to be the nick Saban of cheer.... good to know that was all bullshite

Like Louisiana High School football has 8 state champions each year.

This right here is the best advice! As an all girl Dad of 3 amazing grown young ladies and 4 awesome granddaughters I feel like this is the correct answer. Well done.

It's all a pay for play scam. My daughter does competitive cheer and had a competition last weekend in Biloxi where they was no other teams in her division, so they were the "Grand Champions". Load of shite.

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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.

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I know man, the cost is insane. My other kid does horse back riding, which is no joke either. I tried moving her to a cheaper dance studio, but we decided against that when we saw how bad the kids were at the those studios compared to the one she’s at.

I spend so much because she’s in around 9 classes. She goes to dance around 3 hours per day M-F. And she absolutely loves it. She begged us to do it.

I view it as an investment in my kid. Both my girls are busy as hell almost everyday. They don’t have time to hang out with the naughty kids of the neighborhood or sit on an iPad.

But yes, it hurts to spend so much money on something that I may never get monetary return on. It’s hard to say no to your little girl when she’s begging you to do something like this.

If they become exceptional young ladies that are driven and not running around town trying to date some tattooed loser named Q Dog, then I guess that will be the return on my investment.

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My GF's 16 year old wants to do school cheer in a rural suburb of Houston. $1700 a year, multiple uniforms, $170 cheer backpacks, etc. The average household of that town is probably around $75k Katy ISD is $700, average household income maybe $150k. Stupefying.

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This actually tracks. Have gone to Washington Mardi Gras a couple times (hear me out- it’s related). At the ball, festival queens from across Louisiana are presented. There’s a saying I’ve heard a few times about that- the bigger the crown, the smaller the town. Or maybe it was the smaller the town, the bigger the crown. Either way, there’s truth there. The smaller the town or community, the more important things seem to residents. Festival queen- big deal, she needs a huge crown. And she will forever be known as Miss Paper Festival. Kids sports- hugely important. They are a source of entertainment for the community as well as a hope for their kids to be recognized by others. So much money is spent in the pursuit of these endeavors.

In more affluent, larger areas, there are more things to attend to so these activities are generally less important. Generally- that doesn’t mean there isn’t a core of people for whom Kayleigh’s dance team or Brayden’s travel ball team is the most important thing on their life. But they are, relatively speaking, a small group compared to those in smaller communities.