All-Star Retirement???

[12stepCheermom]

Sorry for being nosy, but the term quitting seems more final to you as opposed to retirement...Wow! I hate to say it, when my daughter quit gymnastics - I called it 'quitting,' because this word seems to be less final than retirement... Quitting to me equate the possibility of a Comeback,,, whereas, Retirement equates being put out to pasture,,,Que Sera, Sera... Adios, Goodbye! lol (just saying!!!)

Yes it does.

Retirements are something we generally celebrate. The end of a worthwhile endeavor having run it's course and now moving onto other things.

Rather than "quitting" which, to me, just makes you a quitter.

With where my cp14 was, coming back wasn't an option anyway. She was done forever. Hated cheer, hated practice, hated everything about it. Burned out, argued fought us tooth and nail just to finish the season. So in my mind, since she was done forever and throwing away the amazing talent she had, my heart would rather have called her retired than called her a quitter.

Gratefully the love of some very special people have seemingly brought her back from the precipice and given me some hope that my kid is coming back to me. I've missed her.

 

[SL&AM]

I think when a child knows they are done, they're done. If they've achieved all they've set out to do, then what else is there? One cheerleader may be aiming for a specific jacket or 1st place win, while her team mate may be striving for those same wins but also that higher skill so they can advance the next season.

I think it's all preference.

 

[12stepCheermom]

Sounds like burnout. Shame it happens when they are so young, but it does indeed happen. In my mind, there is always something to work towards. It should never be just about the jackets and awards, but many times it becomes that.

I'll add to this that in my opinion when their primary support (I.e. Their parents/caregivers) forget it's NOT about how many jackets are in your closet and that's all THEY focus on, that burnout is imminent if eventual. It's all great while you're bringing in the jackets but god forbid you finish second and it's all your support system can talk about in perpetuity. That sends the wrong message to the kid. There are enough wrong messages that are rampant in this sport (body image, cheerlebrity, IG-twitter famous, all about the jacket, sandbagging, using SM to get your way etc etc) that the parents job should be to balance that all, keep it in perspective for their adolescent kids who aren't developmentally capable of navigating it all judiciously on their own. So if the parent is equally as obsessed with winning that only has one end and I've never seen it end positively.

 

[CEAisstronger]

With where my cp14 was, coming back wasn't an option anyway. She was done forever. Hated cheer, hated practice, hated everything about it. Burned out, argued fought us tooth and nail just to finish the season. So in my mind, since she was done forever and throwing away the amazing talent she had, my heart would rather have called her retired than called her a quitter.

Your CP14 was much like me throughout this past season. I did high school cheer. (This is a very summed up story with lack of details). I admit that the reason I wanted to quit was because of the other girls, how I was treated by them, and their work ethics. I was dead set on quitting before basketball games started, although my mom and I had a talk with the head coach. I decided to at least finish out the season. Although it was not great, I did finish it out. I felt sick of cheerleading at the time. I had tried out again at the school just for a varsity sport credit and I did not make it. I also did try out at an all star gym and then as a family decided for personal reasons not to continue. I'm not cheering at the moment but after having months off, I no longer feel sick of cheerleading and I love it once more. Sometimes a break is needed or returning to familiarity is needed (which I did with some old friends in my old town).

Although I would not consider myself retired or that I quit because of why I'm not cheering.


The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android

 

[Adam]

Here's what confuses me... I've never approached a sport or activity as something to "accomplish". When I played basketball I didn't play to win some tournament. Of course I aimed to win, I worked to win, but I played because I love the game. When I play basketball now it's not to get back into the game and make it into the NBA or some other ridiculousness, I just love playing basketball. I don't see why it should be any different in cheer. I do it because I love the sport and the athleticism, not simply to win a specific jacket or ring.

 

[AliciaM]

I just finished competing myself. I call ending my cheer career "retirement" lol I didn't get paid to do it and I didn't ins it a job I truly enjoyed every minute of it. After almost 16 years though my body feels old! I'm still coaching and I'd love to still cheer too but I just can't physically. I am, however, going back to dance. Ballet to be specific. Little less harder on your joints and it's more or less just harder in your feet lol I can deal with that!


The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android

 

[cheerisloving]

I've known girls that have burned out but still cheered because they felt like they couldn't live with out cheer. But they hated every moment of it, and once it became clear that they weren't getting a jacket or a ring they hung it up. I think youth 2 kids hanging up because they've gotten all they wanted may not have the true love for the sport. For me, I won a huge national on youth 2, but my motivation to level up, to be on ESPN made that jacket just a milestone. As I got older I wanted a ring, and even though I had walked away from AS my love for cheerleading kept me in the sport.

I hate seeing AMAZING athletes burn out before their prime. Breaks my heart.

 

[BlueCat]

As an industry, we should generally strive to make kids WANT to stay in the sport. However, there is nothing inherently wrong with changing your mind about how you want to spend your time as a child (or an adult for that matter.)

http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/30/new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-the-upside-of-quitting/

 

[CheerBank]

Last year, my daughter, who cheered on a Youth team had an undefeated season and won numerous jackets and awards... But when discussions about the new season surfaced, many of the athletes did not want to return to cheering... most stated, that they accomplished everything in the 1 season... Mind you, we are talking about children younger than 12 y.o.
Just curious, When is the proper time to hang up your cheer bow?
Furthermore, is it about winning jackets and awards that motivates you only, if you still cheer?

Exactly, these kids are younger than 12. Kids change their minds all the time about what they are interested in. Some of these kids may be 11 but have been cheering since 4. That is a long time! Also, competing at such a high level for so long is intense, not only for the athletes but also their families. And at a young age/high level at a well known gym such as yours, it only gets more intense, and if you are not 100% dedicated then it does not seem like the right place for anyone.
Btw when my cp was younger, the jackets and awards were pretty much everything!

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Exactly, these kids are younger than 12. Kids change their minds all the time about what they are interested in. Some of these kids may be 11 but have been cheering since 4. That is a long time! Also, competing at such a high level for so long is intense, not only for the athletes but also their families. And at a young age/high level at a well known gym such as yours, it only gets more intense, and if you are not 100% dedicated then it does not seem like the right place for anyone.

Some random thoughts for this thread:

Yes. Generationally, the current 11-12 year olds are old enough to have grown up in all star cheer. And look at the ages of kids on Y5 teams. There are kids on those teams who have been level 5 since 3rd grade.

In many cases, they want to be done because they've reached their performance peak. There are really only so many more skills you can learn once you're whipping and arabian-ing through to OMG at 9. It just gets old for some.

Other times, they're probably just TIRED. If you've been in the gym 20-25 hours per week since preschool and Kindergarten, you are probably just ready to be done.

Also, the older aged Y5 kids are hitting 10-11 years old. They see their non-cheer friends going to to hang out, doing other stuff, being with friends and I legitimately think that kids get sick of having to say "I can't. I have cheer."

I think the above is true for some older kids as well. Not every kid is cool with seeing EVERYONE going to Homecoming, Sadies, whatever and having to be like "I can't. I have practice."

Every kid is different.

The crux of the issue is that Level 5 is not for everyone.

There are Worlds teams that EASILY = a nearly full time job (30-40 hours/week) in terms of hours spent in practice, privates, classes, etc.

Throw in school + time to work on academics. All of that = no social life.

Every kid is not cut out to eat, sleep, and breathe cheer at the expense of ALL other social activities.

I find that kids (and parents) don't REALLY sit down and consider the time commitment and what they/their athlete is going to be missing out on before committing to a L5 or Worlds team.

They see the potential for rings/team prestige and they get tunnel vision.

Then later on, the child sees what he/she misses out on on a daily basis and at times, grows to really resent cheer because of it.

 

[Meagan]

Honestly if you would have asked this question a few weeks ago. I'd say till you can't cheer no more (when you age out). It was a super unpopular opinion. So now I suppose the right time would be when a person feels they want to quit. Maybe the girls didn't get much of a taste of defeat or reason to keep competing? Or maybe they need to be challenged more.

 

[xomckenzieee]

Kind of random, but why do we call it retiring? I've never heard another person that didn't go pro with their sport say they were retiring. Most of the time they just say they stopped or it got boring to them. To me saying you retired means you made money off of it, just like a job.

You'd be surprised the amount of people who "retire" from things. Retire in the most simple terms means to withdraw. You are taking yourself away from the sport/activity/job you have done for a decent amount of time.

 

[a_cheer_leaderxo]

For me it was definitely the enjoyment factor, by the time I stopped cheering it was starting to feel like a chore. I imagine my experience like one of those line graphs that businesses use to show profit/sales etc. I started cheer and every season my love of the sport grew until 2011-12 when I had the best season ever and my enjoyment hit its peak. From then on the line went down and I found myself dreading practice and only really staying because I loved competitions. At the start of this season (2013/14) I felt the same but made the decision to leave after our 2 February comps because I decided having fun at 4 comps a year wasn't enough to justify carrying on in the sport when I didn't enjoy any other aspect of it.

I was slow at progressing so didn't really have anything else to achieve; I was on teams that won regional and national comps, grand champs, the highest score of the competition, a jacket and even a TV award so I didn't have a reason to stay in the sport in that aspect.

I don't say I've 'retired' though as when I go to university in Sept 2015, I'll probably join the uni's cheer team because even though most university cheer teams over here are competitive, more emphasis is placed on the social side and having fun (very different to US college teams I think!)

 

[cheermommaRN]

I agree with the posters that talk about "burnout"...not only for the kids but the parents as well. Cp hit her "peak" when she won NCA, her enjoyment of the sport when down after that along with mine. When we told her she would have to take this season off she was initially upset but then said "I don't know if you noticed mom but I'm not very good." This was going to be her 4th season as a level 2 and coupled with a huge growth spurt she was struggling. We offered to keep her in tumbling so she could go back but her interest is now just keeping her bhs so she can do high school cheer and play volleyball for her middle school.
From what I've seen the tween years is when most kids either decide to keep going or quit, for any sport.
As for parent burnout I've been there for the last three years. I miss the days when I didn't know what goes on behind the curtain.

 

[mstealtoyou]

With the expense and the time commitment of this sport I feel like it's more important than ever for families to evaluate their participation every season. And it's surprising because even 5 year's ago I wouldn't have said this. Expense and time commitment have reached an all time high the last couple of year's! We had this conversation with Little Bit this year for the first time. (Probably should have had it in year's past but didn't think to) She's 15. She's been on a level 5 team for 7/8 years. I had a conversation with her and just said you don't have to do this just because you've always done it. You don't have to do this just because it's all we know. You don't have to do this just because your sister's aged out before you. Dig deep and decide if you still love to cheer. Do you love to cheer. Not win jacket's, rings, be in movies, go to beach camp, etc........ Does the cheering bring happiness into your life? She decided yes.....she loves it. Out of my 3 I would say she's probably the one who loves it the most!! I can definitely see how a Y5 kid could need a break from it.