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My mom always told me that life is not fair– to which I usually responded “It’s a circus!” It seems like our modern society, however, does not understand this concept, and instead pushes for all sorts of things when it is their children:
Incoming freshman Wycoda Fischer was cut after tryouts were held for six positions on the squad. Seven girls tried out. The family contends that because an exception was made for the varsity cheer squad, nine girls were allowed on instead of the eight called for in the high school’s cheerleader constitution, that an exception should also be made for allowing Wycoda on the squad. The high school principal and cheerleading sponsor approved the expanded JV squad, but superintendent Deborah Kneese ordered tryouts.
I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid we had tryouts for all sorts of athletic competitions. If you weren’t good, you didn’t make the team– unless they were desperate for “warm bodies.” In the case of Miss Wycoda, just because they allowed more people on the varsity squad, it does not automatically say that you must have her join the JV squad.
In my day (and I feel old here) if you didn’t make the team, you found out why and you worked on the area that was necessary for improvement. I mean, if you couldn’t run fast enough for track, you dieted, exercised, and ran some more and tried to make it next year.
I’m no big fan of cheerleading as a sport because of what our young ladies wear in it and what it has come to associate them with, but still– there should be something this girl could work on– and that’s what she should do. Not take the school to court to try to force them to capitulate.
If anything, the extra girl on the varsity team will probably be cut so that the school can have a firm policy and not be dragged into court by every parent whose child didn’t make the team. What next? Will they sue if their child doesn’t get the grade the he/she wants?
Have you heard the Bucky Covington song, “A Different World”? He talks about this in verse 3. Here’s the whole song (he was spot on about the state of our world and how it used to be):
We were born to mothers who smoked and drank
Our cribs were covered in lead-based paint
No childproof lids
No seatbelts in cars
Rode bikes with no helmets
and still here we are
Still here we are
We got daddy’s belt when we misbehaved
Had three TV channels you got up to change
No video games and no satellite
All we had were friends and they were outside
Playing outside
It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world
School always started the same everyday
the pledge of allegiance, then someone would pray
not every kid made the team when they tried
We got disappointed but that was alright
We turned out alright
It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world
No bottled water
We’d drink from a garden hose
And every Sunday,
All the stores were closed.
It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world
You’re right, Amanda. Life will rarely let everyone who tries out win. We must learn how to handle disappointment in small things (whether it’s graciously loosing or trying to get better so that we can make the team the next time.
LOL, Amanda that is great! I’d love to hear the actual music!