All-Star Youth Level 5

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Additional point about Y5:

It is a great place for younger kids to get consistent with 5R stunts with girls their OWN size.

If you're 9, you learn a lot more about flying L5 and technique on a group that is generally your size/age (like 9-11) than you do when your bases are 17-18 and can practically hold you in the air with one finger.

On the flip side, there may be a 9 y/o who needs to base, but she is not going to learn basing skills on a junior team when she is not a flyer nor is she big enough to base with the 11- 13 year olds basing. A friend of mine has a daughter who is senior aged, but also hasn't aged out of junior, she is just too tiny of a base for senior and had to be placed on junior, not for talent or maturity but for size.. so my argument, where do the L5 athletes who are very young in a sea of pre-teens and teenagers go to learn to base these higher level skills consistently? Its not always about a flyer.
 
On the flip side, there may be a 9 y/o who needs to base, but she is not going to learn basing skills on a junior team when she is not a flyer nor is she big enough to base with the 11- 13 year olds basing. A friend of mine has a daughter who is senior aged, but also hasn't aged out of junior, she is just too tiny of a base for senior and had to be placed on junior, not for talent or maturity but for size.. so my argument, where do the L5 athletes who are very young in a sea of pre-teens and teenagers go to learn to base these higher level skills consistently? Its not always about a flyer.
So true. There are talented youth age bases that have the tumbling skills but are just too short/small to base with junior age girls- many of whom have hit puberty and can be 6+ inches taller than a 10-11 year old.
 
On the flip side, there may be a 9 y/o who needs to base, but she is not going to learn basing skills on a junior team when she is not a flyer nor is she big enough to base with the 11- 13 year olds basing. A friend of mine has a daughter who is senior aged, but also hasn't aged out of junior, she is just too tiny of a base for senior and had to be placed on junior, not for talent or maturity but for size.. so my argument, where do the L5 athletes who are very young in a sea of pre-teens and teenagers go to learn to base these higher level skills consistently? Its not always about a flyer.

Absolutely. Droplet aged out of the youth division after this past season and she is in a bit of an awkward phase because of her size. She has not flown since she was 7 years old and on a j2. She competed on YE last year with just about every restricted 5 skill I can come up with and as an experienced level 5 base but she is pretty small. She was the same size as most of our j5 flyers (she's bigger now though.. a little haha) and smaller than many of the sr r5 ones. Not to mention the other bases on those teams.. she just didn't have a place. Y5 gave her a home team and allowed her to continue to grow so that (hopefully) she is ready to take on more this year.

I read a quote today that said "Being a winner is more than getting a first place trophy. It's knowing the effort is an honor and the trophy just a decoration." I think most people who've come from this division can tell you this is how we teach our kids. Say what you want about showing up just to take home the jacket, but tell me..

Can your gym put together a team of 25-30 8-11 year olds and teach them to safely stunt and tumble level 5? YE had almost full squad tumbling last year. 8-11 year olds!! When you sit back and think about that, it's just utter craziness. It was an honor and a privilege to be a part of something so unique and special. We only competed against someone one time last season and they absolutely kicked our butts.

Still, I do not consider a second of those two seasons wasted. If I had the opportunity I would do it all over again, but this time I'd hope time went a little slower!
 
So true. There are talented youth age bases that have the tumbling skills but are just too short/small to base with junior age girls- many of whom have hit puberty and can be 6+ inches taller than a 10-11 year old.

This was the case with my daughter. Being in the Y5 division gave her 3 years to compete appropriately to her skill level, where otherwise she would have been unable to contribute stunt wise.
 
This was the case with my daughter. Being in the Y5 division gave her 3 years to compete appropriately to her skill level, where otherwise she would have been unable to contribute stunt wise.

Wait, that's the Rays tryout shirt your CP is wearing??? That's a long commute from NC? Sorry I'm just curious. Best of luck to her! We're at Johns Creek Rays.
 
Absolutely. Droplet aged out of the youth division after this past season and she is in a bit of an awkward phase because of her size. She has not flown since she was 7 years old and on a j2. She competed on YE last year with just about every restricted 5 skill I can come up with and as an experienced level 5 base but she is pretty small. She was the same size as most of our j5 flyers (she's bigger now though.. a little haha) and smaller than many of the sr r5 ones. Not to mention the other bases on those teams.. she just didn't have a place. Y5 gave her a home team and allowed her to continue to grow so that (hopefully) she is ready to take on more this year.

I read a quote today that said "Being a winner is more than getting a first place trophy. It's knowing the effort is an honor and the trophy just a decoration." I think most people who've come from this division can tell you this is how we teach our kids. Say what you want about showing up just to take home the jacket, but tell me..

Can your gym put together a team of 25-30 8-11 year olds and teach them to safely stunt and tumble level 5? YE had almost full squad tumbling last year. 8-11 year olds!! When you sit back and think about that, it's just utter craziness. It was an honor and a privilege to be a part of something so unique and special. We only competed against someone one time last season and they absolutely kicked our butts.

Still, I do not consider a second of those two seasons wasted. If I had the opportunity I would do it all over again, but this time I'd hope time went a little slower!
So much this! Where my now-retired CP grew up we didn't have any Y5 opportunities... heck there weren't even any J5s (though they did try one year) but what this level provides as does every other YOUTH level 1-4 is truly the opportunity to be a "kid"! Sometimes I think we push too fast to have our kids grow up... We mistake "junior" or "senior" for being better than "youth". But the kids who get to be on youth teams just get an experience unlike any other on junior or senior... an experience where a messed up routine can be fixed with dippin dots or a cheesy stuffed animal from the vendor du jour. When my daughter was youth age it was so important for her to be on a youth aged team (no matter the level available) and then to double team to another that was her skill level. Those youthies are the friends she still has and the memories they have are amazing! Those mighty mites on Y5 are jaw dropping skill wise but they are often still happy to go home and dress their American Girl dolls in coordinating outfits. That is often scoffed at on a J team. Let them be kiddos as long as we can! (even if it is ridiculously expensive!)
 
Totally late to this party- BUT- the 3 years CP spent on Y5 were the best years ever. She learned so much and was trained just like the Worlds kids, so now, on J5, she knows what the expectations are. She is not a tumbler (like at all), so having the opportunity to learn to base level 5 was amazing. It definitely doesn't hurt that the Y5 kids were a family- her 2 best friends cheer at other gyms. And I made some AMAZING cheer-mom friends (looking at you @littlestALLSTAR). Even though we only competed against a handful of teams, it was worth every penny.


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This was the case with my daughter. Being in the Y5 division gave her 3 years to compete appropriately to her skill level, where otherwise she would have been unable to contribute stunt wise.

That try out shirt is perfection---she looks so happy!
 
Multiple issues. With the new score sheet you need not only enough kids at the higher end of a level to compete and do well but also the right size kids... bases, back spots etc... and with the score sheet you need everyone tumbling. It takes that perfect storm now
 
Totally late to this party- BUT- the 3 years CP spent on Y5 were the best years ever. She learned so much and was trained just like the Worlds kids, so now, on J5, she knows what the expectations are. She is not a tumbler (like at all), so having the opportunity to learn to base level 5 was amazing. It definitely doesn't hurt that the Y5 kids were a family- her 2 best friends cheer at other gyms. And I made some AMAZING cheer-mom friends (looking at you @littlestALLSTAR). Even though we only competed against a handful of teams, it was worth every penny.
Nothing but love for you & my fave redhead. How lucky were we to have such amazing cheer seasons with our girls. Going to miss out littles being little. On that note, Should I change my name to giganticallstar now.....I mean she's almost 5'8".

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Multiple issues. With the new score sheet you need not only enough kids at the higher end of a level to compete and do well but also the right size kids... bases, back spots etc... and with the score sheet you need everyone tumbling. It takes that perfect storm now

The new score sheet is actually the opposite of this - you need less stunt groups to get in the high range and less tumblers to get in the high range. Granted, to score the "highest" I'm sure you'll need full team stunts and full team tumbling but they actually made it much easier to get in to the high range of difficulty this coming season.
 
The new score sheet is actually the opposite of this - you need less stunt groups to get in the high range and less tumblers to get in the high range. Granted, to score the "highest" I'm sure you'll need full team stunts and full team tumbling but they actually made it much easier to get in to the high range of difficulty this coming season.
Yep not 1 or 2 kids doing a dozen passes
 
Seeing chatter on Twitter that Youth 5 will be gone next season. Can anyone confirm?


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