Control Freak Sponsors

[carnation]

Has anyone ever had to deal with a club sponsor--Greek or otherwise--who was a total control freak?

We're trying to deal with a high school cheerleading sponsor who wants to control what activities the cheerleaders are involved in out of school, even if they don't affect her squad in any way. She tried to throw 6 girls off the squad who were on an all-star team although there was no time or other conflict; luckily, the principal finally stopped that. The old witch has been doing this forever; I know women in their forties whom she screwed over in cheerleading over 20 years ago!

I once heard of a Birmingham high school whose sponsor required the cheerleaders to have hair no longer then eartip length and this was in the seventies--there were no competitions and everyone else had long straight hair back then, so what was the reason? Come to think of it, our high school drill team sponsor was a control freak too; you could get demerits for chewing gum away from school, among other things.

Control freak stories, anyone?

[James]

Can you get a new sponsor?

Originally posted by carnation
Has anyone ever had to deal with a club sponsor--Greek or otherwise--who was a total control freak?

We're trying to deal with a high school cheerleading sponsor who wants to control what activities the cheerleaders are involved in out of school, even if they don't affect her squad in any way. She tried to throw 6 girls off the squad who were on an all-star team although there was no time or other conflict; luckily, the principal finally stopped that. The old witch has been doing this forever; I know women in their forties whom she screwed over in cheerleading over 20 years ago!

I once heard of a Birmingham high school whose sponsor required the cheerleaders to have hair no longer then eartip length and this was in the seventies--there were no competitions and everyone else had long straight hair back then, so what was the reason? Come to think of it, our high school drill team sponsor was a control freak too; you could get demerits for chewing gum away from school, among other things.

Control freak stories, anyone?

[KillarneyRose]

My high school tennis coach always made us wear our skirts during matches no matter how cold it got. (We're talking November in Pennsylvania here) The other teams would all have sweats on but nooooo, not us! We'd be freezing our legs off just so our coach could gawk at us! Old pervert...

[carnation]

James--

I wish we could get a new sponsor but if attempts to do that have failed after 30+ years, I don't think we'll luck out until the evil woman retires. Three years ago, several of us had documented, witnessed examples of various abuses by the woman and the principal ignored every complaint. Ditto the superintendent. This sponsor ignores the district rules of one fundraiser per year and has 4 (have you ever tried to sell $10 raffle tickets?) and has required June practices in open violation of the Georgia High School Athletic Association's rule of no practices until the last week of July.

Last week, though, she blew it in public--leaped at 3 of the girls at a basketball game, screaming threats and insults at them, and now that she's done that, we hope she'll be put out to pasture.

[TrojanGirl]

Document everything you can and get a group of parrents together at the next school board meeting. They are more likely to take care of it when there are witnesses (especially when those witnesses are the media!) good luck

Trojan Girl

[James]

I am probably being dense but what exactly is a "sponsor's" relationship to the team (I also know this isn't quite where you were intending the thread to go). Usually around here a sponsor just doles out some cash and maybe makes sure there is a coach etc. This lady sounds she like she is team owner, generl manager, and coach all rolled into one! She can't be the only soucr of money in the state lol. Well good luck.

Originally posted by carnation
James--

I wish we could get a new sponsor but if attempts to do that have failed after 30+ years, I don't think we'll luck out until the evil woman retires. Three years ago, several of us had documented, witnessed examples of various abuses by the woman and the principal ignored every complaint. Ditto the superintendent. This sponsor ignores the district rules of one fundraiser per year and has 4 (have you ever tried to sell $10 raffle tickets?) and has required June practices in open violation of the Georgia High School Athletic Association's rule of no practices until the last week of July.

Last week, though, she blew it in public--leaped at 3 of the girls at a basketball game, screaming threats and insults at them, and now that she's done that, we hope she'll be put out to pasture.

[AchtungBaby80]

I don't know much about other sports, but cheerleading sponsors DO own the squad, in a way. (My sister cheered for years, so I saw it all.) They are the head honchos, and you don't argue with them. When I was on a pee-wee squad in elementary school (I know, I know, but this is my only first-hand experience), our sponsors were also our coaches. They were the ones who ran our practices, which were 2 hrs. twice during the week and then 4 hrs. on Saturday, and they also basically ran the squad. I can only imagine how much more difficult it is when you have the school to deal with, too. One of my best friends cheered in high school, and her squad's sponsor was really bitchy. My friend showed up for a game one time decked out in her uniform and the sponsor screamed at her that she looked like s**t! Now I remember why I didn't continue with that sport...

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I've been reading this thread, and I am having flashbacks galore. When I was in the sixth grade, I was on the softball team, and we had a control freak psycho coach. We were eleven to thirteen years old and not very talented, but this coach thought that we should be the Yankees. She was verbally abusive and terribly insulting. When we lost another game, she screamed at us that we were driving her crazy. Believe me it was not a far drive! She quit as our coach. We were still pretty young so we were crying, but it was the best thing in the world that could have happened to us. One of my teammates said let's ask someone else to be our coach. We found a new coach who was really supportive and encouraging. She even took us out for ice cream after the games! At that age, ice cream is still a priority. We even wound up winning a few games.