- Jun 20, 2012
- 2,563
- 8,475
no im saying we have so many levels, so why cant we accommodate every athlete that wants to join? the post above said you shouldnt just be able to walk in and join if you have the money. i dont agree with turning kids away
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- Nov 11, 2011
- 1,242
- 1,523
- Apr 8, 2011
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I don't disagree with you. I was saying that more with a few of the recent threads about stacking teams etc. in mind. the trend cheer seems to be following is definitely perfection before progression. if kids don't have specialty passes and max out in a level, they aren't moving up levels each season like they have in the past.
tumbling shouldn't be the end all be all, because there are definitely exceptions, but it's becoming more and more prominent to have every kid on a level one team with specialty passes and strong skills. in the direction cheer is going, you may not be able to just walk on to a full year, all star level one team without spending a learning year or two on a prep team
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GiaBellaMom
Cheer Parent
- Feb 25, 2013
- 462
- 843
QUESTION:
On my little cp's Y2 team last season they had a child who was almost 12 after the cutoff and over 5'7" to give you a visual. This was a small team (14) of mostly small 3/4th graders. She could not do a cartwheel or roundoff and even fell in one comp while doing a forward roll. Off the mat. She mostly stood in the back. The team was good regardless and won a few level 2 grand championships and a US finals bid. We did not have a Y1 or Jr 1 or Sr 1. She quit with 2 comps left but my question is this -
For these kind of kids who are not "tumblers" per se - do you think the parents should put them in privates or at least open tumble? Do they have an "obligation" to do so or at this age are the kids just there to have fun? For a competitive team, are there "expectations" of the children to at least try and get some privates or open gyms in? This was not prep but a full-year competitive traveling team. The gym does not turn anyone away which I think is good - but I am just curious about your opinions of the above...
On my little cp's Y2 team last season they had a child who was almost 12 after the cutoff and over 5'7" to give you a visual. This was a small team (14) of mostly small 3/4th graders. She could not do a cartwheel or roundoff and even fell in one comp while doing a forward roll. Off the mat. She mostly stood in the back. The team was good regardless and won a few level 2 grand championships and a US finals bid. We did not have a Y1 or Jr 1 or Sr 1. She quit with 2 comps left but my question is this -
For these kind of kids who are not "tumblers" per se - do you think the parents should put them in privates or at least open tumble? Do they have an "obligation" to do so or at this age are the kids just there to have fun? For a competitive team, are there "expectations" of the children to at least try and get some privates or open gyms in? This was not prep but a full-year competitive traveling team. The gym does not turn anyone away which I think is good - but I am just curious about your opinions of the above...
mamabear
Cheer Parent
- Jul 10, 2012
- 4,000
- 8,295
As a parent of one of those kids- I personally say yes. My cp is going to be on Mini 1 full year again this year -after already doing a year of all star and two of competitive rec . She lives for cheer, yet she struggles with tumbling (as evidenced in my whining about it in several threads -lol). She is a decent dancer and a pretty good flyer. I feel a responsibility to the team and the gym to help provide her with whatever instruction she needs and then it is on her to 'master' it. BUT, I have to say that I would be furious if they suddenly decided that they didn't have a place for her after all her dedication.
catlady
Cheer Parent
- Jun 6, 2012
- 2,797
- 6,207
We have several kids that have issues with growth plates, arthritis, recovering injuries, etc. that just can't tumble, or won't be able to tumble for a season or two. A couple of years ago the score sheet made it tough for these kids to do all star unless they were on level 1. I believe, last year, they changed the score sheet so a team could max out in tumbling with either 75 or 80% of the team tumbling to allow for injuries, mental blocks, etc. Or perhaps, I just made all of that up but, I could have sworn I heard/read that somewhere.
- Apr 3, 2011
- 5,936
- 12,768
Since I was the first one to really admit that it happens..
I'm going to say this and I believe I have a valid point but I'm probably going to get shunned for this..
My gym is very competitive. We go to big comps. We don't use crossovers unless we have to! We go to NCA so none of our kids can cross levels at all!
Our gym doesn't particularly turn people away but look at this...
If we only have lets say 6 level 1 girls and they are senior aged. Our lowest level 1 team is youth so they can't go there...
It's not that we don't want to work with them to get there skills BUT we require at all levels for you to have everything that level to be on the team. You are not going to make level 3 with a running tuck and that's it? You must have the total package.
Therefore y'all are forgetting that a front walkover and back walkover are level 1 skills!!! If your daughter was placed on a senior 1 and she was the only 1 that had a fwo/bwo would you be kind of upset if those other kids never get those skills? Yes! There is nothing wrong with requiring a level 1 kid to learn those.
There are tumbling classes and if they are that dedicated they can do that until they get those level 1 skills? Surely only focusing on tumbling it shouldn't take that long and only further shows their commitment.
Also back to the original point I was trying to make.. If we have no junior or senior 1 to place these 6 hypothetical kids on what are we supposed to do? We aren't going to make a team with only 6 kids? So should we place them on senior level 2 so now we have 18 kids and 6 who can't do any tumbling so only 2/3 of the team can tumble. That's not even 75 percent.. Then we are going to be that team that gets talked about on the boards that everyone thinks needs to go level 1 because they think we are just forcing our kids on higher level teams to please them
Or keep customers. That's not really fair to all the girls who are true level 2s? You know good and well if your kid was on that level 2 team you would be upset a bunch of kids that can't tumble just got placed on your kids team! Since when did everyone decide its not ok to have requirements.. we have requirements for everyone else on other levels but not kids who can't tumble? We can't make a team for them at senior 1 and beg a bunch of kids to crossover because we go to NCA.
We are willing to coach anything that walks in the door but this applys to any level not just level 1. Lets say our only senior team was senior 3.. Is it fair to let a bunch of level 1s and 2s on the team because we don't have a place for them? I don't think so.
I know no one sees my point and I'm not out bashing level 1 kids or anyone else. If it was one or two I bet we would place them but its not really fair to diminish a whole level for the sake of a few athletes.
I'm really sorry and I know I just rambled on but the problem isn't that we don't want to coach them, we just can't place them. I'm sure they would make senior one even if they all didn't have fwo/bwo but we aren't a mega gym it's hard to fill out that level in that age group.
I'm going to say this and I believe I have a valid point but I'm probably going to get shunned for this..
My gym is very competitive. We go to big comps. We don't use crossovers unless we have to! We go to NCA so none of our kids can cross levels at all!
Our gym doesn't particularly turn people away but look at this...
If we only have lets say 6 level 1 girls and they are senior aged. Our lowest level 1 team is youth so they can't go there...
It's not that we don't want to work with them to get there skills BUT we require at all levels for you to have everything that level to be on the team. You are not going to make level 3 with a running tuck and that's it? You must have the total package.
Therefore y'all are forgetting that a front walkover and back walkover are level 1 skills!!! If your daughter was placed on a senior 1 and she was the only 1 that had a fwo/bwo would you be kind of upset if those other kids never get those skills? Yes! There is nothing wrong with requiring a level 1 kid to learn those.
There are tumbling classes and if they are that dedicated they can do that until they get those level 1 skills? Surely only focusing on tumbling it shouldn't take that long and only further shows their commitment.
Also back to the original point I was trying to make.. If we have no junior or senior 1 to place these 6 hypothetical kids on what are we supposed to do? We aren't going to make a team with only 6 kids? So should we place them on senior level 2 so now we have 18 kids and 6 who can't do any tumbling so only 2/3 of the team can tumble. That's not even 75 percent.. Then we are going to be that team that gets talked about on the boards that everyone thinks needs to go level 1 because they think we are just forcing our kids on higher level teams to please them
Or keep customers. That's not really fair to all the girls who are true level 2s? You know good and well if your kid was on that level 2 team you would be upset a bunch of kids that can't tumble just got placed on your kids team! Since when did everyone decide its not ok to have requirements.. we have requirements for everyone else on other levels but not kids who can't tumble? We can't make a team for them at senior 1 and beg a bunch of kids to crossover because we go to NCA.
We are willing to coach anything that walks in the door but this applys to any level not just level 1. Lets say our only senior team was senior 3.. Is it fair to let a bunch of level 1s and 2s on the team because we don't have a place for them? I don't think so.
I know no one sees my point and I'm not out bashing level 1 kids or anyone else. If it was one or two I bet we would place them but its not really fair to diminish a whole level for the sake of a few athletes.
I'm really sorry and I know I just rambled on but the problem isn't that we don't want to coach them, we just can't place them. I'm sure they would make senior one even if they all didn't have fwo/bwo but we aren't a mega gym it's hard to fill out that level in that age group.
- Dec 14, 2009
- 2,150
- 4,732
i know very few gyms around here that turn kids away. our gym is lucky enough to be doing very well (we doubled our numbers from last year). But we still are not going to turn away a paying customer. if a kid is willing to learn & parents are willing to pay then we work with them. everybody's gotta start somewhere.
Dixie
Cheer Parent
- Mar 9, 2013
- 788
- 1,988
The 2 posts above are why I feel some athletes leave their home gym. If you are willing to place athletes with all the skills and athletes with 1 or 2 skills on the same team, don't be surprised when the first one chooses to jump to a mega gym. I agree everyone deserves to be trained but everyone deserves to be on the best team for their skill set. Just my thoughts...
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- May 17, 2013
- 90
- 179
When I started cheer, I didn't have any tumbling, but I was also junior/senior aged. I would feel pretty bad about myself if I got turned away because of that. What happens to the ones who get turned away? Do they just not cheer? Pretty heartbreaking if you ask me :/
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