Parents All Star Cheer

[Yvettenj]

My daughter has been doing all star cheer for 4 years and has been on level 1 every single year. It is very frustrating looking at other athletes advance even if they don’t have any tumbling skills and your daughter seems to be held back. She has a back walkover and a bhs but yet the other girls have moved on to level 2-3 with out any of these skills. The gym says that it’s she can’t be placed in higher level bc she needs 3 bhs for level 2 while some girls at level 3 have only ro bhs.
Can someone please help me understand what we are doing wrong?
1) Isn’t all star supposed to advance your tumbling skills? Or we are just paying for the team competitions? No advancement development.
2). Doesn’t your gym have protocols that an athlete can only be on same level for certain amount of years? She is starting to HATE cheering bc she is bored and tiered of doing the same thing over and over again. She doesn’t feel challenged nor wanted as she gets by passed to be on other teams.

I feel so heartbroken for her. Idk if I should still keep her on a team.

 

[Coach Kate]

I don't know that you'll find a lot of all star cheer specific advice here, but generally if you're having a problem with your gym, you should set up a meeting with the coach and voice your concerns. If you're not happy with the solution, it's time to start exploring other gyms.

 

[NYGymfamily]

I'd reccomend posting this to a cheer forum. Most people on here have more knowledge of gymnastics rather than cheer.

 

[Lobster]

I admittedly don’t know that much about all Star cheer even though I have a child doing it haha. She’s on a level 6 team having switched over from gymnastics.

One thing I have learned is it’s not about the tumbling. Tumbling is a small part. It’s about how you fit with the teams the gym has available. You have to have so many of each position.

What is her position outside of tumbling?

This was confusing to me at first. My daughter could tumble at the level 6 level but not stunt. She was fine for level 6 large teams, but not small or medium where she couldn’t just tumble and needed other skills. She didn’t fly and was too small to base on a senior level 6 team.

I falsely believed she would learn how to stunt if she showed up to practice. Not the case. If your position on the team is just as a tumbler, she only tumbled during practice. She had to take a season to go to a junior 6 team and learn how to base to be a more well rounded team member. She had to request that and express she wanted to learn that position. Other girls were double teaming to learn multiple roles. Tumbling on a level 5 team and flying on a level 6 team, etc. This was not something we were aware of coming in.

I’ve also learned there are girls who can’t tumble at all, but they are backspots and that’s what the team needed more than another side base that tumbles. Sometimes the flyers can’t tumble up to level either, but the team needs flyers.

So you really can’t compare tumbling.

My daughter really wanted to be on a particular 6 team at her gym, but made a different 6 team this year. I can watch practice and see girls on her dream team that don’t even have layouts while she has whip doubles. But they fill other roles she can’t fill.

Considering all of that, it’s still a bit strange to be on level 1 for 4 years. We didn’t do lower levels for cheer so it could be normal.

We have a cheer gym close to our house that has no level 6 teams so my daughter’s school friends end up staying on the low levels for a LONG time. They do mini 1, youth 1, junior 1 etc. Then multiple years of 2 etc. So by high school they are only on level 3, but they have tumbling several levels ahead.

I’ve also noticed cheer is a lot about what private lessons and classes you sign up for. Figure out what skills she’s lacking to move to level 2 and then get lessons in those areas.

Hope that helps!

 

[Gymnastics15]

Not to be mean, this is a GYMNASTICS FORUM. There is another website with forums dedicated to cheerleading, Fierceboard.com. Probably a better place to post your questions.

 

[Lobster]

To be fair, it’s a sport many gymnasts seek out as a way to stay involved and use their skills. It’s highly likely parents here will someday have questions regarding cheer.

Fierceboard has almost no traffic. When I was a new cheer mom I found more information here than anywhere else. I was very grateful for chalkbucket!

If you are offended by having to read a question about cheer or diving or any other gymnastics adjacent sport, perhaps ask a mod to create an off topic section for these types of questions.