1st Year Cheer Dad Is This Normal?

[cheermommaRN]

As a parent of an ex-elite track gymnast I get the part with adding all the extra classes. Cheer is a far less time commitment then gymnastics. When we lived that life we had 12 hours of practice and then a 3 hour TOPS session on Saturday mornings. When we moved to Texas and started cheer (gymnastics in TX is a whole other animal cp wasn't ready for) I was shocked to hear we only had 2 practices a week and they were only 2 hours! I figured something must be wrong and signed her up for every extra class I could. That didn't last long though she did develop a wicked performance style thanks to the Panther athletes she shared a private with.
First big difference...gymnastics = 10 levels and elite
cheer = 5 levels period (you could consider level 5 "elite" but still not comparable to a level 10 gymnast)
I'm curious as to why you pulled her from gymnastics? Small and compact is one of the preferred body types. It's also weird that she only has bar/beam skills. Most gymnastics facilities want the younger ones to develop all their events at the same rate so you don't have a level 5 that can't kip.
Honestly, everything you described is status quo for all star cheer. Either buckle up for your 8 seconds or you have gone straight to the point a lot of us veterans are at..."this is for the birds and when is my kid aging out?"

 

[mybabywantstotumble]

Wow. That's a lot of classes. Since she is new to cheer I can understand the jump and stunt classes but I would take it down to one class per week along with her practices. Perhaps you can alternate a class type each month. You don't want her to get burned out.

Regarding calling extra practices, yes it happens. Especially before big competitions. I never plan anything the week before a comp. especially big ones like NCA. it's competition season so your life is devoted to cheer Tell your friends you will see them in May.

 

[Littlebear12]

Did I read this wrong? Your CP on a youth 2 team is spending 4+ hours in the gym a night? Are these classes required? They spend 2 hours a week working on each individual tumbling skill?

I am so confused. Where is Ashton?

Ok I am learning a lot today.

First off thank you all for being so informative. All the post take time and I thank you for spending it on my CP.
I realize now I really don't now what I am doing. I put my CP in all the classes that her team mates are in. I don't know how many extra classes the other girls are in. I thought the coaches would tell me when she was done with a particular class. She can do back handsprings till she runs out of room, but she is still in the class. Maybe she needs better technique. I just don't know. I appear foolish for allowing my CP to Coed is it (one man or two man?). The coach made a big deal out of what she was doing and even asked us to come to another gym to demonstrate and work with some other bases. No one till now has said we were doing anything wrong. As for school this is taking a lot of time we have a few girls working on homework in the break area between class. My CP need quiet to do home work so that happens after training. As I am typing this I am looking at the clock she has training in 2 hrs. She was home sick today per doctors orders with strep, the doctor wants to see her finger in 2 days to decide if it needs x rayed. The doctor's note said no tumbling till Thursday.

So what do I do she has competition this weekend. Do I take her to cheer or keep her home?

 

[Official OWECheer]

Ok help me were am I going wrong.
She has back tuck class 2 hrs a week
Standing back handspring 1-2 hrs a week
Jump class 1-2 hrs a week
Stunt class 2 hrs a week
Tumbling class 1-2 hrs a week
Team training 2.5 hrs a night 3 or more nights a week

We are no longer doing stunt class until they get a new coach.

I know now that the 45 minutes the gym spent explaining what All Star cheer was all about was insufficient to make an informed decision on something as time consuming as this. To be honest most of the time was spent talking about the cost, hair and makeup, uniform ware and shoes. The gym wanted to make sure we understood this was expensive. Our gym in in an effluent suburb, that being said time is more valuable than money for most of the parents there.

Please don't get me wrong my CP is no Olympic bound gymnast.
All I am trying to do as a father is reduce the sting of being the smallest girl in her class and soon to be the smallest girl in middle school from a liability to an asset. If All Star cheer gets me there than great if not I will move on to something else or back to gymnastics.

Give that baby's body a rest. ASAP.

She is not level 5 ready! She has her back tuck and front punch but not her aerial. Her real skills are beam and uneven bars she needs floor and vault. I don't know why she is so good at one man. Could be she is just really small and can hold her sell very stiff.

Not sure whether you mean level 5 gymnast or level 5 cheerleader (not the same things)

My CP loves one man stunting and is doing level 6 stunts

 

[Littlebear12]

As a parent of an ex-elite track gymnast I get the part with adding all the extra classes. Cheer is a far less time commitment then gymnastics. When we lived that life we had 12 hours of practice and then a 3 hour TOPS session on Saturday mornings. When we moved to Texas and started cheer (gymnastics in TX is a whole other animal cp wasn't ready for) I was shocked to hear we only had 2 practices a week and they were only 2 hours! I figured something must be wrong and signed her up for every extra class I could. That didn't last long though she did develop a wicked performance style thanks to the Panther athletes she shared a private with.
First big difference...gymnastics = 10 levels and elite
cheer = 5 levels period (you could consider level 5 "elite" but still not comparable to a level 10 gymnast)
I'm curious as to why you pulled her from gymnastics? Small and compact is one of the preferred body types. It's also weird that she only has bar/beam skills. Most gymnastics facilities want the younger ones to develop all their events at the same rate so you don't have a level 5 that can't kip.
Honestly, everything you described is status quo for all star cheer. Either buckle up for your 8 seconds or you have gone straight to the point a lot of us veterans are at..."this is for the birds and when is my kid aging out?"

Thank you
This really helps

No my daughter is not in competitive gymnastics. For 5 years we let her take what ever classes she liked and told the gym, no thank you when approached to compete. We must be bad parents. I treated gymnastics like ballet. She was in it to learn body control and poise. Not to go to the Olympics or get an athletic scholarship

 

[randomactsofcheer]

Ok I am learning a lot today.

First off thank you all for being so informative. All the post take time and I thank you for spending it on my CP.
I realize now I really don't now what I am doing. I put my CP in all the classes that her team mates are in. I don't know how many extra classes the other girls are in. I thought the coaches would tell me when she was done with a particular class. She can do back handsprings till she runs out of room, but she is still in the class. Maybe she needs better technique. I just don't know. I appear foolish for allowing my CP to Coed is it (one man or two man?). The coach made a big deal out of what she was doing and even asked us to come to another gym to demonstrate and work with some other bases. No one till now has said we were doing anything wrong. As for school this is taking a lot of time we have a few girls working on homework in the break area between class. My CP need quiet to do home work so that happens after training. As I am typing this I am looking at the clock she has training in 2 hrs. She was home sick today per doctors orders with strep, the doctor wants to see her finger in 2 days to decide if it needs x rayed. The doctor's note said no tumbling till Thursday.

So what do I do she has competition this weekend. Do I take her to cheer or keep her home?

Your CP working on Coed stunting isn't necessarily wrong if she enjoys doing it. But if she is taking stunting lessons to improve her skills in order to benefit her team, it would be more beneficial if she works on group stunting.

Your daughter's teammates may need to work on their back handsprings. If your CP does not need to work on them and the class isn't required, then pull her. Less stress and driving for both of you.

If your daughter has strep-throat and has not been fever free for at least 24 hours, do not take her to cheer. Strep is incredibly contagious and I doubt the coach wants it to spread to anyone else on the team when they have a competition this weekend.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Thank you
This really helps

No my daughter is not in competitive gymnastics. For 5 years we let her take what ever classes she liked and told the gym, no thank you when approached to compete. We must be bad parents. I treated gymnastics like ballet. She was in it to learn body control and poise. Not to go to the Olympics or get an athletic scholarship

No one is trying to antagonize you.

 

[Littlebear12]

It's really nice as a dad that you are trying to build up her self confidence! As an extremely small 15 year old who isn't growing anymore, it sucks sometimes. I love how dedicated you seem! However, that many classes is a lot for a 10 year old. She will likely get burned out if she keeps doing that many classes. I would talk to her and see which classes she enjoys most. Also talk to the coaches and see what they recommend. But it seems like you might be doing too many tumbling classes IMO. Kudos to you for helping your daughter turn her height into an asset!

Thanks

 

[Cheer Dad]

Let the coaches know she is contagious and about the finger and no tumbling. They need time to prep for a possible absence.


**please raise your hand if you're related to Jocelyn**

 

[Littlebear12]

Let the coaches know she is contagious and about the finger and no tumbling. They need time to prep for a possible absence.


**please raise your hand if you're related to Jocelyn**

I am going to bring her doctors note to cheer practice. This will be her first time to miss a practice. We were told if she misses a practice she may not compete. I guess we will find out what is meant by "may"

 

[MyGirlCheers]

Whether you take her to practice really depends on the absence policy at your gym. At our gym, you are expected to come no matter what (that's team practice NOT classes). If you are too ill or contagious to take the mat, you need to sit and observe practice so you know any changes, etc. that happen. I would clarify with your gym what their policy is. WRT the injury, yes, you need to tell them as soon as possible because they need time to make changes before the next comp.

 

[amy1k]

I'm not a big fan of threats made by coaches, BUT policies regarding missing practices and competing are really for the good of the team and usually make sense. If she's sick or injured, she may not be able to compete after missing practices prior to a competition. Some kids will be able to get right back to it without missing a beat...others may struggle and impact the team negatively. In my experience, it is rare that an athlete is removed. Practices need to be mandatory, though. Goodness knows some athletes will miss for the tiniest thing...they are usually who the policies are to protect others from. Some sicknesses should isolated, obviously. With a potential broken finger, coaches need to know.

 

[fiercerando88]

Wow. I'm so confused by this thread and there are several things wrong with this situation. But I'm most appalled at how you think your daughters petiteness is a liability. As a very petite person myself, I was constantly the shortest person in school. If my parents ever said or even thought that my height was a liability, you can guarantee I'd have low self-esteem. If you're doing this to build her self-confidence about her height, I think you need to take a step back and realign your thinking. "Hoping" that she'll grow isn't going to help. You need to accept the fact that you may just have a short daughter. Get over it. Being short is great, we get to wear all the cute heels


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Littlebear12]

No one is trying to antagonize you.

I didn't take it that way. The people on this forum take cheer very seriously, I suspect I came off as ether a noob, or someone who was not showing due respect.

Just so you know where I am coming from Saturday night I had 2 upset moms in my hotel room ranting that their CPs had been told by their coach that they were in 7th place and she did not think there score would improve. She turned out to be correct there scores did go down they came in 8th. We had kids crying I have to be up at 3:30am to pack the car do hair and makeup. Then my wife tears up confessing that the coach and owner 2 months earlier attacked her and accused her of creating drama. So being the good engineer I am I stayed up most of the night reading and trying to understand what is going on.
I had to ask do people really spend this much money to be aggravated or am I doing it wrong.

I will now bring what I have learned to the now 4 irate moms and do what I can to defuse the situation. It appears there was nothing wrong with the situation and talking to the coach or owner would change nothing. This is just how this sport is done.

Funny side note, I told my neighbor that my daughter was in competition cheer. He responded that his daughter was also in cheer but no longer, and he was glad. He did not expand or say anymore about it. I thought it odd he did not offer advice.

Thank again to all of you

 

[MyGirlCheers]

I didn't take it that way. The people on this forum take cheer very seriously, I suspect I came off as ether a noob, or someone who was not showing due respect.

Just so you know where I am coming from Saturday night I had 2 upset moms in my hotel room ranting that their CPs had been told by their coach that they were in 7th place and she did not think there score would improve. She turned out to be correct there scores did go down they came in 8th. We had kids crying I have to be up at 3:30am to pack the car do hair and makeup. Then my wife tears up confessing that the coach and owner 2 months earlier attacked her and accused her of creating drama. So being the good engineer I am I stayed up most of the night reading and trying to understand what is going on.
I had to ask do people really spend this much money to be aggravated or am I doing it wrong.

I will now bring what I have learned to the now 4 irate moms and do what I can to defuse the situation. It appears there was nothing wrong with the situation and talking to the coach or owner would change nothing. This is just how this sport is done.

Funny side note, I told my neighbor that my daughter was in competition cheer. He responded that his daughter was also in cheer but no longer, and he was glad. He did not expand or say anymore about it. I thought it odd he did not offer advice.

Thank again to all of you

No, don't do that (the part I bolded) - you will just be part of their drama. Seasoned parents will tell you 'stay out of the parent room'. That means literally and figuratively. Keep your head down and avoid the drama at all costs. The more you listen to the bitching (even with the intent of trying to help or be sympathetic) the worse your cheer experience will be.