How Much Practice Is Too Much?

Welcome to our Cheerleading Community

Members see FEWER ads... join today!

Aug 23, 2016
3
2
Hi Everyone,

This my daughter's first year in All Star Cheer - She is 7 years old and cheers for a Level 1 Mini team. The team started practicing 2 days a week for 2 hours in April. Sometime in June, the coaches notified the parents of potential flyers that those girls would need to attend a 1 hour stretching class immediately following one of their practices. This is on top of the 1 hour tumbling class per week the majority of the team takes. So over the summer my daughter was in the gym 6 hours a week - not including choreography days.

The team had 3 choreography days in July and August and from my understanding the coaches are frustrated because "they're just not getting it." Because of this, the coaches announced a 3rd 2 hour practice a week starting next month until the end of the season. They also reduced the stretching class from 1 hour to 30 minutes a week. So, starting next month my daughter is expected to be in the gym 7.5 hours a week.

This team is comprised of 5, 6, 7 and 8 year olds of various cheer experiences and tumbling skills. In my untrained, parental view it is understandable that they will not pick up choreography as quickly as some of the older teams. I feel that adding an additional 2 hour practice a week seems too much - especially for this age group.

I would love to hear other parents experiences and input regarding this? How much practice is too much? Especially during the school year?

I came across this board searching for answers to my question and am so glad I did. There seems to be a wealth of information and experience on here. I look forward to your input.

Thanks!
 
I think that the additional 2 hour practice pushes over the edge into too much for me. Two 2 hour practices, 1 hour of tumbling, and an additional 1 hour flyer class for flyers seems to be pretty much standard at most gyms in our area. I wouldn't have a problem with occasional extra practices called right after choreo or before a competition, those are to be expected, but I think 3 regular practices a week is too much.
 
To me, that is a lot for a 7 year old. I keep my grade 4-6 practices to 90mins each cos their attention span seems to go after that. Add in some tumbling, cool, but I believe kids that age should be doing different activities too. No need to specialize with that many practices at such a young age
 
That seems a lot for that age and level. On a senior 5 team I don't think my cp practiced that much on a regular basis although extra practice sessions were done on weekends occasionally.


**Hi, I'm Cheer Dad and I'm a cheeraholic and have been for longer than I remember**
 
I was on a worlds team and a regular competitive team, I coached a mini team and a level 4 senior team and I was in the gym 10.5 hours per week. only 3 hours more than your little mini! It seems like overkill for sure!
 
Depends on the gym culture I think. Back when my CP was on her Mini 1 team, all the teams, levels 1-5, had the same schedule. She had 2 two-hour weekday practices a week all season, 1 hour of tumbling, 1 hour fitness class or flyer class, and an additional 2-hour practice on Sundays starting in September. So, during competitions season, it was 8 hours/week, not including any extra practices that may be called.

At our current gym, we don't have a Mini team, but our Youth team, which is mostly mini-aged kids, has 5.5 hours of practice a week and 1 hour of tumbling. So, that seems to be close to the norm, at least for around here.

My CP is currently on 2 junior teams. With that and her 1-hour of tumbling, she has 12 hours in the gym per week.
 
that sounds like way too much for mini 1! I'm on two senior teams and have 9.5 hours of practice a week (4.5 hours per week for each team + 1/2 an hour of tumbling)
 
How much is too much is probably different for different children, but sounds if you feel it is too much for yours which is all that really matters. When my oldest daughter started cheer she was 8 and in 3rd grade. She practiced 6 hours/week and for her it was fine but there were 6 year olds on the team who it was way too much for! After we left that gym I realized they were practicing so much because the gym itself was disorganized...a lot of time was spent on discipline, waiting for people who were late, subbing for someone who missed practice etc. Our gym now runs like a swiss clock, that level practices all in 4 hours/week and they are great.
 
I can't speak to the experience with All Stars cheer, my girls are/have been on youth/rec teams. However, when my niece was younger she was part of a dance team. At her peak participation (also her final year) she was 8 and in the studio around 8-9 hours each week... It was overkill. She was completely burned out.

Currently, I'm coaching a micro (kindergarten) youth cheer team. I can vouch that the attention spans can really only handle 60-90 min per practice while still actually managing to get somewhere with the routines.

Also, while it may not apply in your situation it's worth considering:

My team worked for 3 days at camp this summer trying to learn the same cheer (abt 1 1/2 hr of each 3 hour camp day)

They absolutely could not get it.
Like at all.

We ditched it after day 3. New routine on day 4, they were able to perform at the end of the night for the other squads. Not perfect, but pretty well spot on overall.

During our first two weeks of practice we've been able to expand our list of cheers to 15 (some are equally complicated as the original ditched one) and they show no signs of slowing down lol

*I fully realize our sidelines cheers are not the same as learning routines for a competition team, just suggesting that the specifics of that routine may be the problem rather than needing extra practice time?
 
As a mom of a fellow 7 year old, I think this honestly depends on the child. You know your child best and what she can and can't handle.

In my case, we drive just under 2 hours round trip for her gym and her sister is now cheering as well so our 2 days a week are really long days. And not only are they long, we jam as much as possible into those 2 days because I will not add on a permanent 3rd day. Extra practice here or there is no big deal, but not constant. The week of choreography she was in the gym from 8-5 Monday and Tuesday, started school Wednesday and did a 30 minute private with a guest choreo that was in town (she only does privates with him when he's in town), on Thursday she did her 1 hour tumbling class and first late 7:15-8:30 practice and then ran a 5K that Saturday. All in all, she handled it just fine though she admitted to being a bit tired after her run. She's a kid who I know can have things back to back to back and it not affect her or her school. Her younger sister is 6 and the 2 hours a week they do is pushing it as it is.

So, if it were our team, I would be annoyed at the schedule change but wouldn't really be concerned about the time spent in the gym. She was on a Mini 1 team last season and this year is on a Junior 1 team (it's why her Thursday practices are so late). However, if you think it's too much for your child, than than I would definitely speak up especially if the gym didn't warn you that this was a possibility at sign-ups.
 
Wow! My CP is on S4 & J5R and practices a total of 5 hours a week (believe me, I recognize how out of the norm that is).. At 7 she cheered rec and practiced 5.5 hours weekly..
 
Back in 2013, when my CP started all star on a mini 1 team at the age of 7 she practiced 2 days a week for a total of 4 hours. No mandatory tumbling or stretch class. Some weeks I would take her to tumble class which lasted 1 hour. If she had been required to be in the gym for 7.5 hours per week we would have never started all star. I know she would've thought it was no longer fun. So in my opinion at that age and skill level 7.5 hours seems excessive.
 
Back