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| Alyssa
February 16, 2007
2:28:04 PM
Entry #: 1936545
| National Pop Warner Association
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing this letter on behalf of my daughter, Alyssa, a Monroe Wolverines Cheerleader. As you already know, your board turned down our plea to have all of our town cheerleaders be able to cheer for your organization. We don’t have more football teams then cheer teams in our organization. Why should that matter? If a girl wants to cheer, why can’t she? This is the year 2007, and the rule that Pop Warner has about cheerleading is a very sexist rule.
I believe that Pop Warner is sending out mixed messages to people in stating “Pop Warner programs have no tryouts or cutting of rosters. Everyone participates.” (quotes taken from your Pop Warner web page) This information right here is wrong. You are basically lying to people who sign up for this program. This year if Monroe has more Cheerleader sign ups then football sign ups, what is going to happen? Pop Warner is going to be forcing Monroe to cut some of the cheerleaders from their teams. Where are these girls going to cheer? One of your reasons to join Pop Warner is because it is inexpensive. It definitely is! If the girls cannot cheer for Pop Warner they will be forced to join some type of league and can potentially spend hundreds to thousands of dollars to cheer for someone else. We live in Monroe Township and want to cheer for Monroe Township.
Your statistics show an increase every year in Pop Warner registration. Eventually there will be more cheer registrations. Then what is going to happen? Is every cheerleader going to be turned away? It’s just not fair to the girls.
After Christmas we redid my daughter’s bedroom. We made it a more older looking room with her cheerleading stuff from this past year and prior years. She has trophies, medals, pins, bows, flowers, etc. all through-out her room. It really pains me to think that this might be the last year we will get to add stuff to this growing collection of hers. I basically feel like Pop Warner is hurting my daughter, and I really don’t like when someone intentionally hurts my child.
You also list on your webpage reasons to join Pop Warner. One of the objectives is “Life long values of team work, dedication and a superior work ethic in the classroom and on the playing field”. This is something I truly believe that my daughter achieved this year with the help of her coaches. When I would go to the field and watch practice I would joke with the moms as say, “Oh we don’t have to worry about going to Disney”. But that wasn’t the case. Their team totally did a 360 between August 1 and our first competition. Our girls, Monroe Wolverines Junior Pee Wee Intermediate, placed in every competition and were named National Champions in Disney this year. It was an unbelievable and amazing experience. Whenever I think about it or tell it to someone, it always brings a tear to my eye. You are always proud of your children, but when something like this happens the emotions you feel are just overwhelming.
Now I know that going down to Nationals every year isn’t going to be the case for our team, but if Pop Warner doesn’t let all of our girls cheer, then they will never have the chance again to try to win this opportunity.
Basically all Monroe wants is for every girl to cheer who signs up! Every boy gets to play football. It is no ones fault that there are more girls then boys involved, but it’s the girls who are being punished. Right now we are the first town to have this problem, what happens to the next town? Will they get the same treatment from Pop Warner?
I really hope that the board will rethink this rule that they have and just let the girls cheer. That’s all they want to do!
Sincerely,
Tracy Lockwood
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