Do Highland Belles Have Weekly Weigh-Ins?
In this week’s edition of Park Cities People, intern Samantha Carp has a feature on Allison Stuckey, who teaches Zumba fitness classes in the Plaza Health Foods studio. Her story includes these sentences that caught my eye:
She performed with the Highland Belles drill team for all four of her years at Highland Park High School. Every Friday, after she and her fellow Belles weighed in, they treated themselves to a cup of frozen yogurt.
So many questions:
- Was there a target weight for all Belles, or was there a sliding scale depending on their heights?
- Are these weekly weigh-ins still a standard practice 23 years after Stuckey graduated?
- If so, is Plaza Health Foods frozen yogurt still the post-weigh-in treat of choice?
Enlighten me, please. I went to a high school with no drill team, so this is all foreign territory.
The Belles dropped the “Weigh In” back in the 90’s.
No weigh in with current Belles. They are encouraged to stay in shape and when you see them perform you will notice they are all healthy and well proportioned and monitor themselves as other high school athletes also do. Max’s Plaza Health food yogurt is still a favorite with our Belle and our basketball player (as well as Mom!)
when i tried out for belles in the late 1980’s part of the tryout was an assignment of a “target weight” that you would have to maintain to perform that week. hence the weekly weigh in. i was very thin in HS and was told my preformance weight would be 5 lbs less! luckily i didnt make the squad but my friends that did had eating disorders that continue into adult hood.
that practice of weigh in was dropped long ago.
for pete’sake,
everyone knows there is no weigh in,
but the do have a minimum hair length
measurements on tuesdays.
Glad the weigh-in was done away with — have many friends who were in tears after the weigh-in b/c they weren’t allowed to perform that week with the rest of the team. If I remember correctly, if they didn’t “make weight” they were also required to log in extra time early early before school walking and/or jogging up at Germany Park.
I was not a Belle in HS but I had many friends who were. They were humiliated when they missed their weigh in goal. I am glad this practice has been done away with. I too had many friends with eating disorder.
Peter, your comment about hair length is funny.
Curious what the weight limit was. As a 5’9″ high school athlete (soccer, basketball and tennis) in the late 1980s I wonder if I would have made the cut.
for pete’s sake,
you folks really think there still isn’t a “weight requirement”?
just take a look a them at the next half time.
trust me, the young ladies know exactly
what it takes to be on the team.
also, how about some feedback on the
popularity of women’s cross country
and the team members’ perception of
their bodies?
Speaking of the Belles, how many solicitations did you get for their annual spaghetti supper? We are at 12 and counting. I hope they are not all expecting us to buy tickets from them (we usually buy from one of our neighbor girls). Not sure what the process is these days, but when my older kids were at HPHS (early 2000’s), the Belles divided up the list and each Belle was assigned a family. What a waste of paper and pre-stamped envelopes.
One week free Zumba classes for new clients who mention the Park Cities People Blog!!!! No weigh in at Plaza Health Foods!!!!
GO MAX! I hope you see a lot of them during 2 a days with lots of Belle t shirts, shorts and car stickers!
On a more serious note, as a male classical ballet dancer I was never subjected to weigh ins, but the girls certainly were. In every school and professional company I joined, there was always a scale sitting in the corner. It was simply a fact of life that they had to fit into the very strict parameters of the classical aesthetic or they were not going on stage. Bulimia, anorexia and all the accompanying health problems were very prevalent. A lot of that changed when Heidi Guenther died of a heart attack in 1997. It is a very sad story: http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Heidi-Guenther-s-short-tragic-life-and-death-3490764.php
We didn’t have to jog extra time if we didn’t make our weight…at least I didn’t when I didn’t make my weight! The weight requirements went through two stages…one the first 3-4 years of the Belles were VERY strict. Then they changed them to be a bit more in line with reality. 100 lbs at 5 feet…then 5 pounds more for every inch over five feet….so if you were 5’6″ you could weigh 130. Of course we also had our body fat measured and our hips and thighs measured. Just loved those measuring days…ugh! : )
MGBHStar — Are you a mother of an incoming sophomore? I just graduated and I had several close friends that were Belles, as well as some not so close friends, so I had that bombardment the past three years. They don’t expect you to buy from all of them but they do have a certain amount of money they have to raise and they get awards for raising a lot, which leads them to mailing letters to anyone they remotely know.
On the topic of the Belles’ weight, I would not say that the Belles have any more pressure to be thin than any girl at HP would. Generally there’s pressure to be skinny since pretty much 95% of girls are, and these Belles do so much dancing that they keep their weight down anyways.
What do they use all the money for?
for pete’s sake,
they don’t use it on new recorded music.
honestly, can’t we get the band to the
point where they are up to the belles’
standards and accompany them, instead of
the canned stuff?
i find it interesting the woman who created the “weigh in” still teaches “belle prep” at a local studio and no one has cause for concern?
@peter griffin,
No, the band will never be up to the belles’ standards. Ever.
My wife was an original Belle in the 80’s. Sorry hon. She says the band music is too slow for the Belle’s routine…. How about some new uniforms? The only update are the hairstyles.
Why are we trying to change things up again? Everything is fine just the way it is. Next thing you know someone will want to add on to the Y or change the bank at SMU.
@HPGrad – nope, child is going to be a junior. This has been going on for the last 2 years.
BTW – got another today, lucky 13! Still think it’s a waste of time/paper/stamps.
Wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier just to put on the HPISD registration website so I could make one big honking payment for all of the various outstretched hands like Belles, Cheerleaders, Band, Choir etc.? I could even specify who I wanted to get credit for it.
BTW – I heard that they’re tearing down the old DFD firestation at the corner of Douglas and NW Hiway and putting in a gas station! Horrors!
@MGBHStar, Gas station would be welcome, but if they are taking out the Fire Station there is no way another bank doesn’t swoop in and set up shop on that corner. I mean heck, there are only 27 banks within 4 blocks of that spot so it is clearly in sore need of another.
MGBHStar, Avid Reader- Nope. They’re rebuilding the fire house. Check out this week’s paper for more details.
Believe me … As a Belle mom (former) sending out all those letters, inputting them into a spreadsheet and sending out tickets to everyone is absolutely NO fun! But if your daughter was a Belle, you would send out 250 letters, too! The Belles get absolutely NO funding from the school unlike other sports!!! That money pays for their buses to games, choreography for dances, helps pay for the girls trip to nationals, all equipment, and anything and everything that pertains to the Belles! For such a talented, hardworking group — I wish you would give them more respect and less criticism. If you don’t like the music, go get some popcorn at half-time! And it’s called TRADITION — the uniforms, music, etc. I’ve noticed a lot of schools have copied the Belle uniforms with different variations, they must not be that bad. You should see the excitement of every new Belle the first time she sees/wears her uniform. They consider it an honor. Like all our successful HP teams (every team at the school), I feel their hard work and perfection are taken for granted as evidenced by the. “music,” “letter” and “uniform” remarks above. Thanks, I feel better now 🙂
I have to start out by including this quote directly from the belles website. “A number of parents and their hopeful daughters were there to register support, but critics were numerous. Many students, parents, faculty, and administrators felt a drill team was beneath the dignity of a sophisticated place like Highland Park. “Drill teams were for schools from the less affluent parts of town,” they said. ” Gotta love their hypocritical haughtiness. My less affluent high school made the playoffs during the 1982-83 football season. We played (and lost to) HP. Our drill team the Starlets having more than one uniform, chose to wear their skirt and petticoat for such an upscale occasion as playing Highland Park. Back then they also had a one piece “fringe” uni. Not my fav at the time but after undergoing some minor modifications, it became their signature and sole uniform. It was identical to the belles “fringe” with one exception. In it’s original and later design, it did not have the deep V décolleté recognizable of the belles. Ours was softer, slightly rounded and flattering, not the harsh V. Initially both officers and squad wore blue with white fringe. By the late 80’s, the officers wore solid white with either a gold or blue star emblazoned on the chest to distinguish rank. While the line wore blue with a white star and that gorgeous dense white fringe. Sorry to correct your inaccuracy “E” but I think that would make the Highland Belles the imitators. Oh the shame! I even read that the former director (who left Samuell in 1989) of the Starlets went on to assist the belles in some capacity. Sorry to burst your highfalutin bubble but us lowly undignified and unsophisticated grove rats were the originals. Right down to our white ankle socks and leather keds. As for the topic about weekly weigh ins. I think it was pretty common practice back in the day. I think a trim and healthy figure does look best in a form fitting uniform. With that said, the practices of old which excluded those who weren’t cookie cutter perfect were negative and damaging. Not only during adolescents but spilling into adulthood and sadly a lifelong struggle. If a doctor deems one physically fit and healthy and she can demonstrate the stringency and technique required by the organization then, so be it. I don’t mean to sound ugly. I appreciate the belles commitment to tradition. I love that their uni is unchanged and hate how most schools today have ostentatious and chaotic uniforms. Elegance in its simplicity is how I would describe the starlets and belles … timeless.
Weigh ins stopped in late 80’s. Knock name was “Wheat-thins ” after Kathy Wheat their coach. Many eating disorders back then