Do Highland Belles Have Weekly Weigh-Ins?

Allison Stuckey teaches Zumba classes at Plaza Health Foods. (Staff photo: Chris McGathey)

Allison Stuckey teaches Zumba classes at Plaza Health Foods. (Staff photo: Chris McGathey)

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:

  1. Was there a target weight for all Belles, or was there a sliding scale depending on their heights?
  2. Are these weekly weigh-ins still a standard practice 23 years after Stuckey graduated?
  3. 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.

By Dan Koller Jul. 13, 2012 | 7:57 am | 24 Comments | Comments RSS
24 comments to "Do Highland Belles Have Weekly Weigh-Ins?"
  1. Way In @ July 13, 2012 at 8:32 am
    The Belles dropped the “Weigh In” back in the 90′s.

  2. HPHS X2 MOM @ July 13, 2012 at 9:06 am
    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!)

  3. mandy @ July 13, 2012 at 9:24 am
    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.

  4. peter griffin @ July 13, 2012 at 9:24 am
    for pete’sake,
    everyone knows there is no weigh in,
    but the do have a minimum hair length
    measurements on tuesdays.

  5. expat @ July 13, 2012 at 9:30 am
    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.

  6. momof4 @ July 13, 2012 at 10:32 am
    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.

  7. A. B. @ July 13, 2012 at 10:42 am
    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.

  8. peter griffin @ July 13, 2012 at 11:10 am
    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?

  9. MGBHStar @ July 13, 2012 at 1:12 pm
    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.

  10. Max Fuqua @ July 13, 2012 at 1:26 pm
    One week free Zumba classes for new clients who mention the Park Cities People Blog!!!! No weigh in at Plaza Health Foods!!!!

  11. HPHS X2 MOM @ July 13, 2012 at 4:58 pm
    GO MAX! I hope you see a lot of them during 2 a days with lots of Belle t shirts, shorts and car stickers!

  12. Max Fuqua @ July 13, 2012 at 5:32 pm
    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

  13. FormerBelle @ July 13, 2012 at 7:05 pm
    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! : )

  14. hpgrad @ July 13, 2012 at 9:35 pm
    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.

  15. A. B. @ July 15, 2012 at 8:49 pm
    What do they use all the money for?

  16. peter griffin @ July 15, 2012 at 10:35 pm
    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?

  17. mandy @ July 16, 2012 at 9:50 am
    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?

  18. Avid Reader @ July 16, 2012 at 10:35 am
    @peter griffin,
    No, the band will never be up to the belles’ standards. Ever.

  19. GoArmy @ July 16, 2012 at 12:31 pm
    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.

  20. Move Along @ July 16, 2012 at 12:50 pm
    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.

  21. MGBHStar @ July 16, 2012 at 4:40 pm
    @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!

  22. Avid Reader @ July 17, 2012 at 4:38 pm
    @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.

  23. Bradford Pearson @ July 17, 2012 at 6:07 pm
    MGBHStar, Avid Reader- Nope. They’re rebuilding the fire house. Check out this week’s paper for more details.

  24. E @ July 19, 2012 at 8:21 pm
    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 :)

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