All-Star Flyers

[cheer25mom]

I am 5'5" and had bases who were 2-3 inches shorter than me last year and we were one of the most consistent stunt groups on the team. I don't think you can characterize all stunt groups with a flyer taller than her bases as being at a disadvantage, it really depends on each group.

I am generalizing, and of course that doesn't apply to every situation, but if you look as a whole that stunt group would statistically have a harder time than one where the flyer is a few inches shorter than her bases. Of course there are exceptions to everything, but in general flyers that are significantly taller than their bases are at a disadvantage and lighter flyers are easier to base. That's why shorter, lighter flyers tend to be the norm.

 

[FlexyTumblerMom]

Sidenote: What is the issue we have with kids being on teams specifically to fly?

Peyton Manning was placed on his team specifically to be a QB.

There are athletes on the US gymnastics team who are termed event specialists.

....but when we start talking flyers being the team specifically to be flyers, everyone goes crazy!

It's more that they aren't fully grown yet being based by girls that are that I take issue with. It would be like taking a 15 year old boy who's through puberty and throwing him on a football team made up of mostly 12 year olds because some rule technicality allowed it - yeah, he's probably the best player on the team, but it's still somewhat dishonest.

 

[cheer25mom]

It's more that they aren't fully grown yet being based by girls that are that I take issue with. It would be like taking a 15 year old boy who's through puberty and throwing him on a football team made up of mostly 12 year olds because some rule technicality allowed it - yeah, he's probably the best player on the team, but it's still somewhat dishonest.

How is it dishonest if the rules allow for it??

 

[BlueCat]

Back to my original point: Stunting is about physics. Physics doesn't care about "fairness" or the way you think things "ought" to be. It doesn't care if you really really dream about being a flyer - what matters is your overall mass and leverage.

We would be in favor of more restrictive floors on the age brackets. Most larger gyms would, I believe. We aren't the ones you need to convince.

 

[FlexyTumblerMom]

How is it dishonest if the rules allow for it??

The same way rules allow for a level 2 team made up of mostly athletes that also compete on level 5 teams? Just cause something is technically legal, doesn't necessarily make it right. Maybe "shady" would be a better term than dishonest for what I mean above.

 

[cheer25mom]

The same way rules allow for a level 2 team made up of mostly athletes that also compete on level 5 teams? Just cause something is technically legal, doesn't necessarily make it right. Maybe "shady" would be a better term than dishonest for what I mean above.

I do feel like the rules need to change on both of these things, but even if that happens it isn't going to stop teams from looking for the smallest, lightest flyers they can get within whatever set of rules they are working with. It just makes good competitive sense to do so.

 

[Mndl]

I would bat the eye at that scenario as well, because you need to learn how to base a certain level before you compete that level. But I just don't like that fact that there are flyers who barely have jumps to tuck and a janky running through to tuck who are on L5 over flyers who have it all. Same w L4.

But that is a decision the gym made, you don't have to like it but they have their reasons for doing it. One could argue, and we have, that a lot of level 5 teams shouldn't even be level 5 and it seems to me they would be the same gyms that would put a sketchy flyer up only because she is tiny, if she doesn't have the skills to be a level 5 flyer it's not exactly helpful to them. And why would you need to learn how to base a level before you can compete a level? That doesn't make any sense. My CP was the youngest(8) and smallest on her J2 team last year, there is no way on earth she could have based 13 & 14 year old girls, she had to fly. Should she not have been allowed to compete?

 

[Cheermom1969]

I don't have a dog in the flyer fight because I've got a back spot in my house but... As a spectator of this sport, when I see a team that has "larger" rather than "smaller" flyers on the team and they're killing it, I think it looks beautiful!! Visually, for me, I prefer the taller flyer to the tiny flyer.

But I'm pretty sure my daughter would prefer the lighter of the two. LOL

 

[MissCongeniality]

Something nobody has mentioned but I know my CP did from time to time... shoe size. She hated basing flyers with teeny tiny feet (no matter their age!)

 

[Lablover]

But being a senior aged athele on a team that was 90% youth and junior aged sucked and really held us back.

If a gym put younger flyers in the air over more experienced older/larger flyers and it was to the detriment of the team than that is on the gym and not the flyers.
Maybe our gym is an anomaly but it's just as often a back spot that doesnt have all the tumbling to be on the level team they are on. It is because they are tall and strong and are needed for a specific job. Interesting that a lot of posts say it's only the flyers that don't tumble.

 

[cheer25mom]

If a gym put younger flyers in the air over more experienced older/larger flyers and it was to the detriment of the team than that is on the gym and not the flyers.
Maybe our gym is an anomaly but it's just as often a back spot that doesnt have all the tumbling to be on the level team they are on. It is because they are tall and strong and are needed for a specific job. Interesting that a lot of posts say it's only the flyers that don't tumble.

On CP's team the 3 non tumblers are all back spots as well.

 

[justcheering]

If a gym put younger flyers in the air over more experienced older/larger flyers and it was to the detriment of the team than that is on the gym and not the flyers.
Maybe our gym is an anomaly but it's just as often a back spot that doesnt have all the tumbling to be on the level team they are on. It is because they are tall and strong and are needed for a specific job. Interesting that a lot of posts say it's only the flyers that don't tumble.

Our gym didn't put smaller flyers in the air over larger ones, what I was talking about was being a part of a small gym where the age bracket allows 10yr olds to be on a senior team in order for small gyms to have a full team. I would have preferred to have one or two stunt groups made up of actual senior aged athletes is what I was trying to get at.

 

[anythingforcheer]

I've heard that about teeny feet. Is there a weight requirement too or just the concern about height?

 

[cheer25mom]

Our gym didn't put smaller flyers in the air over larger ones, what I was talking about was being a part of a small gym where the age bracket allows 10yr olds to be on a senior team in order for small gyms to have a full team. I would have preferred to have one or two stunt groups made up of actual senior aged athletes is what I was trying to get at.

Do you honestly think the team would have been better off as far as hitting better quality stunts and tumbling or is it a maturity/ personality thing? I ask because at our small gym it is often the younger kids on a senior team that allow the team to hit the 75% needed to max out tumbling and make it possible to max out stunting. It couldn't be done without them. I know that's the case on CP's team. Without the kids that are junior aged on a senior team, they wouldn't hit the tumbling ratio and I don't think stunts would go well. Some of the strongest, most experienced bases are junior aged kids.

 

[Lablover]

Our gym didn't put smaller flyers in the air over larger ones, what I was talking about was being a part of a small gym where the age bracket allows 10yr olds to be on a senior team in order for small gyms to have a full team. I would have preferred to have one or two stunt groups made up of actual senior aged athletes is what I was trying to get at.

To me that again is on the gym to put together the strongest team(s). If a senior team of 10 senior aged athletes would have been stronger and score better than a mixed age larger team then they should have created a small senior team (8-10) and a small junior team for the younger kids. Again I don't know all the details but putting together a poorly performing larger team often doesn't help anyone get better.