All-Star How Did You Find Your Gym Home?

[WisconsinIsFierce]

I did gymnastics at two gyms (Madison Turners and All-Star Gymnastics) for a long time until I got introduced to cheer. I cheered with the team Turners had, then went back to gymnastics, then wanted to cheer again but the team was gone. My mom found out about Sun Prairie Cheerleading (now merged and formed into Cheer Wisconsin) somehow and I loved it right away! Then, I decided to go to Heat because I've been on teams with some of the kids that go there and I wanted a level 5 for my final year. I guess I just got lucky, but things tend to work out. I couldn't ask for a better cheer experience.

 

[Tinkerbella]

I did gymnastics at two gyms (Madison Turners and All-Star Gymnastics) for a long time until I got introduced to cheer. I cheered with the team Turners had, then went back to gymnastics, then wanted to cheer again but the team was gone. My mom found out about Sun Prairie Cheerleading (now merged and formed into Cheer Wisconsin) somehow and I loved it right away! Then, I decided to go to Heat because I've been on teams with some of the kids that go there and I wanted a level 5 for my final year. I guess I just got lucky, but things tend to work out. I couldn't ask for a better cheer experience.

Good luck at heat athletics. They did AMAZING at worlds this year!

 

[MomMomMamaMom]

Ours was easy, there's only one within two hours....so this is where we came and this is where we stay..

But we came to Cheer after a big move a several years of gymnastics. I wasn't fond of what I felt like competitive gymnastic were doing to my oldest. She basically had a part time job starting at age 7 and was in direct competition with all of her closest friends.

I remembered that one of the gymnastics coaches had told me how she quit gymnastics for cheer many years ago, and how much she had loved it. So when we moved, leaving everything we knew behind, I asked my CP if she wanted to try Cheer. She wasn't sure, but I brought her to tryouts saying I'd take her back to gymnastics if she didn't like it. That first day was all it took. She loved working together instead of against each other with a team, and she was sold.

Then my little, who is scared of heights and didn't really like sports said "Mama, can I do it?" For her, cheer is a way to come out of her shyness, and it makes her more of who she is, but braver.

It exhausts me as a parent, but my girls love it, and so here we are....

 

[TheVipersMom]

I researched gyms in Florida near Orlando and gyms in Texas within a 2 hour drive of San Antonio and that is why I moved! Just for cheerleading, if it wasn't for that I would have never moved to Texas from TN!

If for some odd reason the courts prevented me moving from the state with my daughter I was going to move to Chattanooga, TN. (legally I was only allowed to move 100 miles away from her dad) and Chattanooga was exactly 100 and then I was going to drive 2 hours to Stingrays.

So I rated my choice gyms in order and decided
1.) stars (tx)
2.) stingrays (ga)
3.) oa (fl)

So if I got denied on my move to Texas for Stars from the courts I was going to move to Chattanooga for Stingrays and if that didn't work out I was going to petition to move to Orlando.

(and yes I ranked Stars over Stingrays but they were a close 2nd) so my move was around cheer!

 

[stuntjumptumble]

When I first started cheer I was at a really tiny gym. I started to learn what cheer is all about, and moved to a bigger small gym. I cheered there for two seasons, and I discovered that the big gym atmosphere is the best for me. That's how I found my World Cup family I absolutely love it there, and although it took me awhile to make the leap from a small gym to a big gym, it was better late than never. One of the best decisions I made for cheer

 

[BowsnBling]

I love the aviator story =)

 

[CD FOREVER AND EVA!]

My CP cheered at my cheer gym in Massachusetts since she was 2 years old. After deciding to sell my gym and go back to Graduate school, I decided to take her to the best program and drive an hour there. Well the gym was great but she didn't like the pressure or the coaches (being 6 on a YOuth 4 team).

So we took a year off and we started to do tumbling classes at Sparks. She liked the classes and we signed up and she made the Youth 2 team. Midway through the summer they bumped her to Mini 1 (she had a ro bhs tuck) because they added cross overs from their elite teams. So when we moved to Cali she was sad but I had to find a gym to fit her age and her skill set.

We did tumbling at Cali and she loved it. Joined a team and made Sr. 2. But we moved far away and my job wouldn't allow us to get there ontime and commit.

So this year we pondered going back but the drive was far. She loved it there. So I started some tumbling classes at Cheer Force and she loved it. We signed up and now she is on Youth 3 and is pumped for this season to start. We just needed to find the right fit for our schedule and her personality. Now at 9 she's loving cheer again. She lost her fire/drive for the last 2 years.

 

[SmileCat]

Ever since I was 7, I always wanted to cheer competitively. Hearing all my friends who left rec for it, my older sister always showing me videos of Top Gun, ect. So at the begging of every season I would BEG my mom to join either Cheer Express or Suncoast (the only gyms I knew about) but year after year, she'd say no. Too much, rec is closer & cheaper, i'm one of five kids & two of my sisters also cheered at the time so it wouldn't of been fair.. just every excuse not to do it. I never gave up though.
When I was a freshman I became SO close. Top Dog was doing a half year team & I told my mom about it & she was on the fence, but leaned more towards letting me do it. BUT then, the rec team I cheered for started a competition team last minute & I was forced into staying at rec.
Still not giving up...
So, back in April, I made a powerpoint (this is how serious I was about this, lol). I explained how cheerleading changed my life & how all-stars would be a positive experience, how it will help me in the future when I open my own gym, ect. I even went & got tryout packets from all the gyms I was interested in (five total). I pointed out the price of each, the success of each, the distance, when & where each competition was.. pretty much all the important info. All my parents really cared about was the distance & the price though so they narrowed my choices down to two. BAAM & Tumble Tech (used to be Suncoast, but was bought out). So I ended up going with the one that I knew more people, had more success and was larger.

And that's how I FINALLY ended up being an all-star cheerleader for my senior year at Tumble Tech

The End!

 

[quitthedrama]

So we took a year off and we started to do tumbling classes at Sparks. She liked the classes and we signed up and she made the Youth 2 team. Midway through the summer they bumped her to Mini 1 (she had a ro bhs tuck) because they added cross overs from their elite teams. So when we moved to Cali she was sad but I had to find a gym to fit her age and her skill set.

....and they swore up and down they only had 1 level 5 crossover on that team. I watched this "youth 2" team compete all season, and you aren't the only one that has said their CP with level 2/3 skills got replaced. Sorry to hijack the thread, I just found this comment so very interesting. I hope your CP has a great season at her new cheer home!

 

[CD FOREVER AND EVA!]

....and they swore up and down they only had 1 level 5 crossover on that team. I watched this "youth 2" team compete all season, and you aren't the only one that has said their CP with level 2/3 skills got replaced. Sorry to hijack the thread, I just found this comment so very interesting. I hope your CP has a great season at her new cheer home!

they had 3-4 lev 5 girls on there ... as a former gym owner it made me mad

 

[CD FOREVER AND EVA!]

....and they swore up and down they only had 1 level 5 crossover on that team. I watched this "youth 2" team compete all season, and you aren't the only one that has said their CP with level 2/3 skills got replaced. Sorry to hijack the thread, I just found this comment so very interesting. I hope your CP has a great season at her new cheer home!

yes they were a fierce team ... level 2

 

[kaliangel01]

My daughter wanted to cheer and she missed try outs for pop warner. So I had a friend that would always talk about cheerleading on facebook. So I contacted him and he told me to bring her. I was planning on only letting her do tumbling classes because it was too expensive for a five year old, but she talked me into it. This is our third year and we still love it.

 

[iCheer247]

I found my gym home through a pop warner competition. the gym's level 5 team did there routine and i was in awe! well that was about 2-3 years ago. Not very exciting.

 

[SuzieQ]

My CP did rec cheer in Grades 2, 3 and 4. She could do bhs in 3rd grade, but was only one on squad who could, so they would not let her do them in competitions (didn't want to move up to intermediate level - there were only 3 levels for rec). The rec program practiced on a school gym wood floor with mats, and rented space from a cheer gym the week before a rec competition, so the girls could get the feel for a spring floor. Well, it was hard for my CP to focus on the rec practice, because she was in awe of the stunts and tumbling she watched as an older all star team practiced on the mat nearby. She begged and pleaded her case, and I saw the rec program going downhill (it collapsed and no longer existed the next season), so I agreed to give all star a try. Not knowing anything about all star, I looked into several all star cheer programs in the area. Ended up picking the one my CP wanted to cheer for, same one that she watched tumbling and stunting in awe, because it had the best fit for her at that time and for the future - a lot of squads for her to grow into. And that is how my CP found her home forever gym MARYLAND TWISTERS. And yes, it was F5 doing a special practice on a Saturday just before Worlds 2010 that had my CP in awe.

No, she is not on F5 . . . yet. First year with Twisters on Youth L2 during 5th grade; last year during 6th grade on Fierce Wind L4 - yep, skipped L3, a testament to the wonderful tumbling coaches and training at Md. Twisters; and this year got her full a week before tryouts and will be on JL5 Supercells! CP absolutely loves it, and I can't imagine her cheering anywhere else.

 

[Deleted member 15407]

I'm still trying to find my home gym :/
Its hard for me to really feel at home at a gym...
I'm thinking about going to South Elite.... but i don't know