All-Star What Is This Rule Proposal About The Usasf Age Change

[cheerisloving]

I was 12 turning 13 when I was on a senior team, and I think the debate over if a middle schooler should be on a team with older athletes is really depending on the child. There were some girls on the team that didn't get caught up with our older teammates, and frankly were not mature enough. I have always done will with older kids and gravitated to them more.
I've always said my older teammates when I was in HS and AS really shaped me as an athlete and as a person. Things weren't all sunshine and PG when I was on a senior team, but my mature level helped me discern, and I wasn't super shocked. It's not like they were taking me to high school parties, and we weren't hanging out with the same people outside of the gym. I think you need to know your kid. If your kid can't handle being around girls who are older, than hold her back.

ETA Typo

 

[CheerBank]

I think it would have more to do with the median age of the team rather than saying a 12 year old is too young to hang out with 18 year olds (which I do feel they are). If there are enough girls within each age bracket, then despite the age span and varying maturity levels, they should be able to come together as a team on the mat as well as having an age appropriate social outlet in their down time.

I know they were trying to up the ages of the IO5 teams a few seasons ago - they raised it from 14 to 15 with the plan of raising it each year until the minimum starting age was 17, and after one year of that it went back to a bottom age of 14.

I would like to see all the senior teams regardless of level start at age 12.

 

[NerdMobile]

Im not sure how old your CP is but 5 teams is quite a bit for a small gym. It seems like they can accommodate almost everyone on one of their teams.

Nope- we have a tiny all of whom are about 3; a youth 2; a senior 3 and senior 4(new this year) and we will have a half year team (usually a youth 1) The tiny team has 7 kids; youth 2 has 20; senior 3 has 20 and senior 4 has 13. The half year team last year had 10.

ETA- Both of the senior teams are senior ONLY because of 2 girls on each- they could/would otherwise be junior

 

[quitthedrama]

Nope- we have a tiny all of whom are about 3; a youth 2; a senior 3 and senior 4(new this year) and we will have a half year team (usually a youth 1) The tiny team has 7 kids; youth 2 has 20; senior 3 has 20 and senior 4 has 13. The half year team last year had 10.

ETA- Both of the senior teams are senior ONLY because of 2 girls on each- they could/would otherwise be junior

So they could easily make a jr team and move the 2 overage athletes to the senior team. I am not saying it is the ideal situation, but seems workable. Either way, I understand for certain gyms and/or athletes it will cause heartache and I feel for them, I just dont think that should be the basis for not changing the rule.

 

[Keep_Believing]

Nope- we have a tiny all of whom are about 3; a youth 2; a senior 3 and senior 4(new this year) and we will have a half year team (usually a youth 1) The tiny team has 7 kids; youth 2 has 20; senior 3 has 20 and senior 4 has 13. The half year team last year had 10.

ETA- Both of the senior teams are senior ONLY because of 2 girls on each- they could/would otherwise be junior

I am not saying it is right, but many times the girls that are moved down that have all the skills get upset and leave. It has a domino/trickle down effect. It hurts the truly small gyms.

 

[mecheermom]

Sorry, sort of double posting. From watching the 3 videos I got the feeling the goal might be to slowly move the ages for all senior teams to 14 and up (raise it one year every year until it hits the start age for 14?) Since you are part of the Industry is this what you see happening or are my assumptions way off?

If they do this then there needs to be a minimum age at very level IMO otherwise gyms will keep putting 8-9 yo on the junior team sand the issue is just pushed down an age level. When my CP was 8, she was on a Junior team and the conversations were worse than when she was 10 on a Senior team last year. 12-14 year olds tend to have less of a filter on their conversations than 15-18 year olds. The 12-14 year olds conversations would make a sailor blush. The 15-18 year olds treated my 10 yo like a little sister.

 

[SheCheers]

If they do this then there needs to be a minimum age at very level IMO otherwise gyms will keep putting 8-9 yo on the junior team sand the issue is just pushed down an age level. When my CP was 8, she was on a Junior team and the conversations were worse than when she was 10 on a Senior team last year. 12-14 year olds tend to have less of a filter on their conversations than 15-18 year olds. The 12-14 year olds conversations would make a sailor blush. The 15-18 year olds treated my 10 yo like a little sister.

i definitely agree with this...most of the time my cp comes home from the gym and reports inappropriate things from 14 year olds. Those are by far the biggest offenders. They're old enough to have some experience and young enough to think it's cool to talk about it around little kids.

 

[Keep_Believing]

If they do this then there needs to be a minimum age at very level IMO otherwise gyms will keep putting 8-9 yo on the junior team sand the issue is just pushed down an age level. When my CP was 8, she was on a Junior team and the conversations were worse than when she was 10 on a Senior team last year. 12-14 year olds tend to have less of a filter on their conversations than 15-18 year olds. The 12-14 year olds conversations would make a sailor blush. The 15-18 year olds treated my 10 yo like a little sister.

I agree with you 100%!

 

[NerdMobile]

The two senior aged girls on the senior 3 are brand new to cheer- they are not being moved to the senior 4- which really is a team of level 5 skill girls and (3) guys. They are not ready as a program to be competitive at level 5. I think they did the best they could to make sure everyone had a chance to be on a team. That is the reality in a small gym (and yes I think they are small at 60 kids (7 of whom are age 3!!) in a rural area. I know we can't be alone- age limits are hard when you don't have a big population of athletes to draw from. My friend reminded me that we don't even HAVE 20 on the senior 3- they actually have 3 cross overs from the y2!

 

[MZ3]

I think it would have more to do with the median age of the team rather than saying a 12 year old is too young to hang out with 18 year olds (which I do feel they are). If there are enough girls within each age bracket, then despite the age span and varying maturity levels, they should be able to come together as a team on the mat as well as having an age appropriate social outlet in their down time.

I saw this become the 'littles' vs the 'bigs' and completely backfire on a Jr team with a group of 10 & 11 yo's vs 13 & 14 yo's.

 

[CheerBank]

The two senior aged girls on the senior 3 are brand new to cheer- they are not being moved to the senior 4- which really is a team of level 5 skill girls and (3) guys. They are not ready as a program to be competitive at level 5. I think they did the best they could to make sure everyone had a chance to be on a team. That is the reality in a small gym (and yes I think they are small at 60 kids (7 of whom are age 3!!) in a rural area. I know we can't be alone- age limits are hard when you don't have a big population of athletes to draw from. My friend reminded me that we don't even HAVE 20 on the senior 3- they actually have 3 cross overs from the y2!

Not criticizing your program, but I feel that youth aged athletes on youth teams just should not be crossing over to senior teams. Out of curiosity, there weren't enough 14 and under athletes to make one of those senior teams a junior team?

We have always been fortunate with the exception of 1 season where cp was on a coed sr 3 at age 11 that she has been on teams with mostly her peers (they may be a year older or younger but that is where the bulk of them have fallen age wise). And the year she was on that senior team, it was awkward as 2 of the boys were 18.

 

[CheerBank]

I saw this become the 'littles' vs the 'bigs' and completely backfire on a Jr team with a group of 10 & 11 yo's vs 13 & 14 yo's.

My cp's large junior team now ranges from the youngest going into I believe 6th grade (so she is 11 or almost 11 years old) and the oldest in 10th grade (I want to say we have 8-9 9th graders, my cp included). The majority of them have been together for at least 3 years now and the older girls truly act as mentors and big sisters toward the younger ones. They are learning to be leaders on that team, and many of them cross over to a senior team where they are in turn the younger ones.
Our gym does have another junior team that is a lower level than cp's, and there are definitely a few younger girls on that one (9 year olds) with the average age being about 12.

 

[icequeen]

My opinion I wish they would go back to seniors team grade 9th and up.

 

[SheCheers]

So can anyone tell me what the benefit would be overall for the industry to raise bottom age for senior divisions?

 

[Tator tots]

My choice would be Sr aged teams between be 14-18. But maybe since this is an issue for small gyms, give them an exception? If you have 100 kids or under, your bottom age could be 12? It would keep the small gyms intact and force the large gyms to use age appropriate athletes on their multiple teams.