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I just don’t think you can claim to be “a Scottish team” if the coaches that are involved don’t train their own teams. No one is also expecting anyone in TS to have that their sole livelihood, don’t many coaches have other jobs anyway ? So how can the professionals on TS not just be qualified coaches that don’t have their own program. It’s not rocket science
I’m not sure how it works in other sports ? Does national teams managers still continue to manage a personal team /club , along with a national status ? What’s the deal with football ? Does the Scotland manager still manage a premiership team ? I don’t think so ? Conflict of interest I imagine

We shout about wanting recognition, no bias , fair play , but the facts are the Cheer and dance industry in Scotland is not fair play. It is not as simple as you win and your the best or not. There is politics involved, judges friendly with coaches , coaches purchasing choreography from Americans when they should do it themselves. Coaches poaching athletes from other teams etc . It can’t just be support one another when it’s not a level playing field. It’s bitchy and backstabbing , jealously and cliche .. within clubs / outwith clubs , nature of all sports. So In order to make some control of it all the rules should be clearer . Team Scotland should be coaches who don’t have their own clubs ( but obviously jobs outwith) and coaches should be reprimanded if they approach athletes from another club saying “come to us” it’s simply unethical , heartbreaking for those coaches who have tried to better their students and who have trained those kids for years . The fact is the coach who is poaching is self centred , who doesn’t care about the sport it’s their own self gain wherever it’s happening. The have no value or respect for these teams they target the children from.

I genuinely feel sorry for the passionate and very talented coaches who try to do it their way and build their teams from nothing. If my daughters ever have schools of their own I will fully encourage them to not poach , not pay someone else to do what I’ve spent all my money on teaching them how to do it themselves.
Time this country valued those who put the work in and do achieve the results making it to The Dance Worlds etc. It can be done , JC , goldstar , Brisbane etc. Talented Scottish coaches not paying Americans to do their jobs .
If you can’t coach your work for your own program you shouldn’t be coaching for the national team , end of story - what a joke .
Why should anyone take it serious when coaches don’t value or respect each other !

In an ideal world TS coaches would of course be at the top of their game and employed solely to coach for our country!!! Im sure alot of sports have struggled with these issues in the past!!
We all struggle ever day to fight the outdated stereotype that surrounds cheer...fundamentaly in this country it is a female orientated sport and as Coaches/ Parents/Athletes we should all be aware of supporting each ither as women!!!
Our sport will never be taken seriously when these issues are tolerated.
There needs to be an overall more professional approach to our national team....totally unified, without bias!!! As a parent I would be happy to pay a yearly fee to support our national team...if we all did that it could be managed as an independent programme and give the best of the best the opportunity to go and win for Scotland!!!!

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@post54 So they should be top of their game, good enough to be of national coach standard, but NOT be a full time coach with their own team? You must realise that's absurd. With the amount in fees TS athletes would need to pay to make that feasible would make it completely unaffordable - never mind the fact theres multiple coaches needed for various disciplines.

As for the 'authentic Scottish coach' arguement, I'm genuinely so confused as to how anyone would think bringing in someone who coaches at a world class level is a bad thing. If anything I think it's a great thing to invest in someone to come in and teach the kids and coaches. Also it really shows that a lot of the posters on here are cheer mums who dont seem to appreciate that as a kid having a camp with a coach from a team you've looked up to for years is a great experience.

It doesnt seem like a lot of the people posting here really care about the childs experience at all, if it were your own child who at the end of a season felt they would thrive more and be happier at another team would you really tell them they couldnt take that opportunity? I do, however, appreciate how upsetting it could be to a coach of their previous team dont get me wrong. I dont know anything about any 'poaching' but as cheer grows in Scotland there are so many teams cropping up in areas so close to each other, back in the original team scotland days it would have been a lot harder to move team to say Glasgow when you were from Dundee. Now there are much more options in so many areas of Scotland that changing teams is hardly new. I think you would be hard pushed to find any team that doesnt have atleast one athlete that has cheered on a different team before.

@Post49, well results can single out ‘better’ coaches, but also those willing to learn and grow. In my opinion getting choreo or camps from the US can be a sign of good coaching, it shows you’re willing to learn from the best in the business. Some coaches do other health and fitness courses or mental health qualifications to help support their athletes, and that makes them stand out from the rest.

Realistically national coaches will have to have their own programme since the TS jobs aren’t full time and don’t pay well, you can’t expect anyone who’s any good to give up their own gym for it.