Tryouts- Placements-Evaluations

It seems like every gym has a different name for them, tryouts, placements, evaluations...LOL But it seems to me that the end result is all the same. The gym that my daughter's cheer at everyone makes a team. Last year they had 3 teams- Tiny's, Juniors, and Seniors. This season we are going to be adding a Youth team!
My girls really were not that nervous about tryout's this year. I think mostly after being out of the gym for a week they were more excited to go and see their coach's and friends then anything else. Yes, my oldest daughter was asking me every 10-20 minutes if her coach had texted me with what team she was going to be on, but she also knew that she was going to on A team, so it was more that she wanted to know WHAT team!
Now this is her 3rd season, her very 1st tryout was way different than this years. At her 1st one, she went into a gym with a bunch of girls that already knew each other, and she had never cheered before. She was terrified, but she still wanted to cheer. She thought that it was fun, and everyone was really nice. The 1st week of practice was a TOTALLY different story, she hated it. She couldn't do what most of the other girls were doing, and she wanted to quit. Me being the mean Mother that I am told her that she was out of luck, that she was committed for the season and I asked her quite a few times before she was committed if she was sure that is what she wanted to do- all time's answered with a yes! So she was going to finish it out, and if she didn't want to go back the next year she didn't have too.
Well a month into it, she loved it! Sure she had alot to learn, and was way behind girls that had been there for years, but she was doing it. Last season when it came time for tryout's there was no question that she was doing it, even though she might complain about practice, and the amount of time that she spends at the gym shes committed to the gym, to her team, her friends, and her coaches! This season when it came time for tryout's it really was just another day- she's used to cheering, being at the gym and whats expected of her.
Both of my girls are lucky to be part of a great program that puts the children above everything else, and as a parent that's something that I think is important. It's great to win, but I would rather my girls learn that you can't win every time, sometimes even when you do your best it doesn't work out like that. And I am lucky that my girls have coach's that are not just focused on that!