All-Star Do I Ask The Coach Or Just Wait And See?

[MightyGirl'sMom]

Need some insights from some seasoned cheer folks. My daughter is 10yr old and was on a youth 1 prep team last season. This season she tried out and made the youth 1 full year team however, so far, she has no tumbling parts in the routine. According to her, she bases for one stunt and is a front spot for another. She doesn't do jumps either. She comes home upset that she stands in the back so much. As far as I know, the routine isn't finished though.

Questions:

• Is it appropriate to ask the coach whether she'll have a bigger role or wait and see what happens when the routine is finished? What's the best way to approach this, if at all?
• Is it possible that she'd make the full year team and not tumble at all?
• She did a lot of tumbling on the prep team and they had a very successful season. If her skills weren't good enough for the full year why not leave her on the prep team? There are 18 girls on the team so I don't think it's a numbers thing. And I don't think it's a money thing either since not all prep girl made the team. But I'm new so I could be totally naive.

 

[EMMbaleena]

Hi @MightyGirl'sMom !

There is a definite possibility that your daughter is on a full year team and will not tumble at all. Scoring changed this year and now only 60% of the athletes need to tumble for the team to max out. Many teams will be hitting at exactly 60% and using their most technically sound athletes to really push up their technique score.

She could have been placed on the full year team because of her role as a base or her role as a motivator for other athletes. There are all kinds of possibilities and I wouldn't couldn't even begin to guess as I don't know your daughter or the coaches.

Numbers can be extremely tricky. In order to max out in difficulty with 18 kids, you only have to have 3 stunts performing the required number of skills and 10 kids performing jumps/tumbling. This gives you 'extra' kids. Which means you can have kids that are more specified for stunting, more specified for jumps, and more specified for tumbling. OR, heaven forbid, an athlete gets injured or quits, there might be some wiggle room on the team.

Maybe ask what your daughter could be working on to help the team reach their goals. I ALWAYS appreciate that question and am more than happy to give ideas!

Hope that helps!

 

[cheermomforever]

As your daughter is questioning her role have her first voice her concerns/wants of doing more. C what the coach says and then go from there.

 

[MightyGirl'sMom]

As your daughter is questioning her role have her first voice her concerns/wants of doing more. C what the coach says and then go from there.

I've told her to do that but she's on the shy side and not very comfortable talking to him.

 

[MightyGirl'sMom]

Hi @MightyGirl'sMom !

There is a definite possibility that your daughter is on a full year team and will not tumble at all. Scoring changed this year and now only 60% of the athletes need to tumble for the team to max out. Many teams will be hitting at exactly 60% and using their most technically sound athletes to really push up their technique score.

She could have been placed on the full year team because of her role as a base or her role as a motivator for other athletes. There are all kinds of possibilities and I wouldn't couldn't even begin to guess as I don't know your daughter or the coaches.

Numbers can be extremely tricky. In order to max out in difficulty with 18 kids, you only have to have 3 stunts performing the required number of skills and 10 kids performing jumps/tumbling. This gives you 'extra' kids. Which means you can have kids that are more specified for stunting, more specified for jumps, and more specified for tumbling. OR, heaven forbid, an athlete gets injured or quits, there might be some wiggle room on the team.

Maybe ask what your daughter could be working on to help the team reach their goals. I ALWAYS appreciate that question and am more than happy to give ideas!

Hope that helps!

That does help but I'm thinking maybe we should have insisted on another year of prep rather than fly around the country to watch her stand in the back.

 

[123jump4!]

That does help but I'm thinking maybe we should have insisted on another year of prep rather than fly around the country to watch her stand in the back.

Yeah. If I was you I'd probably tell the coach as nicely as I could that it's a lot of time and money to spend if your kid is mostly nuggeting. Perhaps it's not too late to move back to prep where she can contribute and maybe grow more.

 

[DonnaM]

How prep is prep? If it’s all complete beginners, with a lot of younger kids, the coaches may feel she’ll get more out of being on a full Y1 even if she isn’t going to be in everything. I have a nugget on S3 this year because the coaches felt it was better for her to be on a team that would let her build skills. The ideal would have been a 3.1 or 3.2 prep-but we didn’t have the right kids for that. So, we’re trying to make the travel work with school. I think it was the right call. CP is much happier, even though she’s not tumbling in the routine.

 

[MightyGirl'sMom]

How prep is prep? If it’s all complete beginners, with a lot of younger kids, the coaches may feel she’ll get more out of being on a full Y1 even if she isn’t going to be in everything. I have a nugget on S3 this year because the coaches felt it was better for her to be on a team that would let her build skills. The ideal would have been a 3.1 or 3.2 prep-but we didn’t have the right kids for that. So, we’re trying to make the travel work with school. I think it was the right call. CP is much happier, even though she’s not tumbling in the routine.

That's an interesting thought. Her prep team was a mix of beginners and experienced girls that preferred the less demanding commitment. She was brand new last year but had previous tumbling training and was one of the main tumbler. Her back walkover has a tiny bent right leg so I think that's what is holding her back. She tries and tries to fix it but she can't quite get it that right leg perfect.

She's not happy not having a larger part but she doesn't want to do prep again and we are committed to finishing the season. But it's sad to see her come home so discouraged.

I'm just hoping that the routine isn't finished and she'll have some running tumbling passes!!!!

 

[mischiefmanaged]

That's an interesting thought. Her prep team was a mix of beginners and experienced girls that preferred the less demanding commitment. She was brand new last year but had previous tumbling training and was one of the main tumbler. Her back walkover has a tiny bent right leg so I think that's what is holding her back. She tries and tries to fix it but she can't quite get it that right leg perfect.

She's not happy not having a larger part but she doesn't want to do prep again and we are committed to finishing the season. But it's sad to see her come home so discouraged.

I'm just hoping that the routine isn't finished and she'll have some running tumbling passes!!!!

CP is 11 and worked forever to keep her legs straight with front and back walkovers. Her front walkover still isn’t completely straight legs all the time.

Have her keep working on things, CP tells me that her coach is always telling them to practice and that just because someone is originally in a certain position or doing a certain part of the routine it doesn’t mean they will be in that spot or that part of the routine all season. If someone gets better it will either get worked in or people could replace someone’s spot in the routine because it’s whats best for the team overall. And as back walkovers got cleaner I’ve seen them be added or as jumps got better jump spots have changed so that the cleanest, highest ones are up front etc.

 

[BlockHead]

That's an interesting thought. Her prep team was a mix of beginners and experienced girls that preferred the less demanding commitment. She was brand new last year but had previous tumbling training and was one of the main tumbler. Her back walkover has a tiny bent right leg so I think that's what is holding her back. She tries and tries to fix it but she can't quite get it that right leg perfect.

She's not happy not having a larger part but she doesn't want to do prep again and we are committed to finishing the season. But it's sad to see her come home so discouraged.

I'm just hoping that the routine isn't finished and she'll have some running tumbling passes!!!!

Also, please remember that it is very early in the season. Lots of time for lots of changes!!

 

[quietmom]

It's ok to talk to the coach as a parent. If your gym or coach discourages parents asking coaches questions, I view that as a red flag. As long as you are respectful to them, it shouldn't ever be viewed as a problem. Yes, encouraging the athlete to do it themselves is a great idea. But if this is bothering you enough to post here and ask questions, it's worth talking to the coach too.