Trista Smitten review: cheer coach 2

I am not surprised to find this complaint after googling Trista's name. I agree with most of the above comments, however it is important to give credit where it is owed. Trista is an excellent choreographer and has excellent taste in uniforms. Her coaching skills could be very good however her engagement in nepotism creates a very toxic team environment and leaves many of the children feeling unimportant, and excluded while leaving a select few to feel a sense of inflated self confidence even if their abilities and skills are lacking. Both positions are unhealthy for children and so whichever 'bucket' your child would land is terrible. Trista's absences and 'checking out' grew out of an unfortunate situation with her health. She had health issues and instead of being upfront with the team she simply remained silent to the majority of the team and shared her health concerns with a select few leaving the team torn apart by rumours and inaccurate information while she remained absent for approximately 10-12 practices. This is approximately 20-25 hours of training. She left a junior coach (who has no cheer experience) in charge for those 20-25 hours and so time stood still for the team. No skill progression and no cheer routine was introduced to the team during this time. And just as the team felt like it was falling apart she did remove all social media for the team, and events like 'cheerleader of the month' and Cheer team Holiday Party were dropped completely. Even the make-up for competition was handled by a mom who self appointed herself when everyone realized these things were not being done. Hotel bookings for competitions were also not done and a mom had to step up and make all the arrangements. The routine music showed up jut two practices before the first competition. Practice clothing that was paid for has yet to come and it is December (the season began in June). The program cost alone was over 2000 dollars. To conclude: Trista would be an excellent coach working at a club, however running her own business/club does not play to heer strengths (major understatement) In my opinion this will ultimately be the reason this club fails or any club she attempts to run in the future. My firm belief is that Trista requires a partner to handle all business and parent communication at a minimum. She also needs to work on commitment to the team and how to treat each athlete with equal respect (this could simply be a maturity issue that will come with time). I wish I could have read a review like this before sending my daughter to Richmond Hill Cheer and/or Reckless Cheer

I concur. She promised the world and gave the team nothing. She sits on her phone the entire practice, never smiles and seems completely checked out.