Cheer Tumbling

[M23K's]

Some may remember I pulled DD out of gymnastics because of the cost. If I signed her up at a local cheer gym for tumbling classes (not a cheer team) would that mess her up if she ends up going back to gymnastics in a year or two? I know cheer tumbling is different than gymnastics tumbling.

 

[CoachL]

In my experience people that coach cheer tumble tend to be more interested in chucking skills, and not learning technique.

 

[gymdog]

It would depend on the program. It may well have a separate director for tumbling who is a former gymnast and gymnastics coach. That's not unheard of. In that case you would be better off, although the classes are still designed more for difficulty over such intense technique scrutiny relative to gymnastics in most cases. It really just depends. I would check it out, try a class maybe, see how you feel. She will need to tumble in shoes at most all star gyms/programs so that is somewhat of a consideration, as well certain front tumbling is not usually emphasized and difficulty restrictions mean that double saltos aren't typically introduced and worked on. .

 

[CHSgymnast16]

I started out as a cheerleader before I became a gymnast. I have to say that when I started gymnastics, I had a lot of power because I was used to tumbling on grass. I may have had a lot of power, but I had no control and that took me my entire season to learn. I have to agree with one of the coaches, cheerleading is more about chucking the skills and not learning technique. You do a standing back, they are wow now lets start something different, even though you could be doing it totally wrong. I have nothing against cheerleading, I am still cheerleading now, I just don't throw stuff I have in the gym.

 

[MdGymMom01]

Yeesh! My dd has definitely been there--only the reverse. She started at a gymnastics/acro/cheer gym and learned beautiful tumbling form. We left that gym to give her more cheer opportunities at a bigger cheer gym. She lost all her form and developed bad habits and head games. I felt they rushed and "chucked" the skills and did not focus on simple basic things like, handstands, cartwheels, roundoffs, form and conditioning. Now we are at a gymnastics gym because CHEER was WAY TOO MUCH money and She missed the discipline and work ethic of gymnastics. I am paying about 60% less a month and she is getting a lot more training hours in the gym

I would seriously think about leaving gymnastics totally for cheer, because it is WAY harder to leave gymnastics for cheer and then come back to gymnastics. My dd is doing the reverse--leaving cheer for gymnastics and MAYBE in high school or whenever she can switch to cheer. That is a much easier and successful transition--in my opinion.
Good luck and you can't go wrong with the gymnastics tumbling training!!!!

 

[gymdog]

I think her dd has taken a break from gymnastics already for financial reasons.

I would check the cheer gym out, see what their tumbling instructors are like. There will almost certainly be a spring floor if it is a gym that fields competitive teams, most likely tumble track and/or tramps or air floor. This is standard equipment for a decent all star cheer gym today, it won't be tumbling on grass. I am actually coaching cheer currently as one of my jobs (coaching gymnastics as well). The director of the gymnastics side of the program has a fabulous gymnastics background and is a great spotter and knows technique. With a program like that the only difference is going to be the emphasis on skill groups, for example all 1/2 twisting, front twisting, and most FHS layout combination type tumbling is de-emphasized, whereas comparitively in gymnastics these are important skills we tend to develop at certain levels.

There is some truth in that a lot of it seems to be "chucking" but a lot of cheer tumbling coaches do know how to a coach, it's a question of the various prep levels of the athletes that you have to work with and where you have to get. When you have a kid with good basics who started young and has time to work up to upper level skills along the lines of the trajectory we've created in gymnastics, most of these coaches have the ability to develop skills with decent technique. As all star cheer has become a growing phenomenon and programs are "growing" kids from a younger age, I predict we're going to see a real rise in the overall quality of the acrobatic elements of cheerleading. There are certainly cheerleaders out there who can do some very impressive things.

 

[Masters_Gymnast93]

well yeah i pretty much agree. i did both, and in some cheer gyms they don't care about what it looks like, because it doesn't matter in competition as long as it's executed. but if you DD pretty much knows how it'd be done at gym, then she can at least remember to keep her toes pointed and legs straight! lol.

 

[M23K's]

Thank you....you guys have given us some great points to think about. If she decides to do it I'll research my options first. There's a ton of cheer gyms in the area so hopefully I'll be able to find one that focuses on technique. Our local gymnastics gyms offer tumbling classes but they're tied into the cheer programs.

 

[KBT]

Another option is to take a tumbling class through a gymnastics gym. I'm sure that would be cheaper, but it might be really hard for her to be in a gymnastics gym. Have you considered rec gymnastics or tumbling? Many community centers have pretty cheap rec classes.