MAG Men- Cheerleading???

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Men's Artistic Gymnastics

cttay217

Proud Parent
So this topic is not completely related to gymnastics, but looking to see if anyone might have any information as I don’t know where to even potentially begin. My 16 son is a former gymnast- only made it to level 7, always struggled on pommel and ultimately decided to quit 3 years ago and play lacrosse. He is now 16 and got his first job - guess where? Back in his home gym- he is now coaching 3 days a week and being back in the environment has sort of brought back his love- of tumbling. He always loved floor and tumbling- he is older now so he does have some power. He has gotten his a lot of his skills back and from what I have seen in video, he does look pretty good. Well, one of the coaches at the gym mentioned to him that he should explore cheerleading in college - he really laughed it off as his only cheerleading experience was the powder puff game. Well, then this week he was waiting for girlfriend at cheerleading practice and was tumbling on the side- well, the cheer coach approaches him and told him the same thing. Now he has heard it twice in two weeks and mentioned it to us. Since he is starting to look at colleges, he is slightly intrigued (mostly at scholarship opportunity). I really have no idea if this is something that would be completely ridiculous or where I would even begin to explore this. Does anyone have any experience or past exposure to this world? If so, I would welcome any recommendations on where he might start to gaining some cheer skills, like stunting. Likewise would be interested on opinions if this is something worth exploring or just ridiculous to think about staying as a high school junior....
 
A great place to start is his girlfriend's cheer gym. If they don't have the info/expertise, they should be able to point you to people who know more.
 
My brother was a cheerleader in college. Mostly because his girlfriend wanted him to do it. He got to go to a top basketball school’s games for free and hang out with his girlfriend. I had no idea there were scholarships
 
A lot of coed college cheer teams(even the really good ones!) will take boys with little-to-no experience if they have the strength to lift the flyers above their head. Especially with his gymnastics background, your son will hardly be denied a spot on most teams. Cheer is definitely worth it!
 
We have had two boys end up in cheerleading... one only started a few months into his senior year.... (mom told me it was more expensive than gymnastics so wait as late as you can to let him do it). He has a scholarship and his picture is all over the universities PR/ social media. They have a a regimented schedule (they have a mandated study period) and it really ended up being a fantastic opportunity for him.
 
I used to run errands by a co-ed cheer gym that also did T&T classes that were mostly for men and seemed cheer-oriented. I don’t live in a place where all-star cheerleading is a big deal so depending on where you live it could be much more accessible. Look up “all star cheer” gyms near you and/or gyms with T&T. Depending on your state and restrictions this summer, a college cheer camp might be an option if you can find one that takes individual campers and if your son feels confident enough in pulling together skills this spring so he could use it as a recruiting opportunity.
 
He should explore it especially if he is a bigger guy and not super tiny. Generally for average or bigger guys the most difficult part of cheer is learning the tumbling. If he is a strong guy with a few lessons and an experienced flyer he should be able to learn to stunt pretty quickly.
 

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