All-Star Junior Level 5...what's Happened?

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just_kay_today

Cheer Parent
Dec 14, 2009
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There was a time, in the not to distant past, when Junior Level 5 was as hotly contested and anticipated as Senior Level 5! When the Cheerlebrities people talked about were on Juniors, not Seniors. They tracked these athlete's cheer careers like scouts! When cheer music aficionados waited with baited breath for the next Starlites mix! When a showdown between Supercells, Starlites, Junior Elite, and Jags was enough to generate a multi-page thread of it's own on the boards! What's happened? It seems as though that division has all but vanished and that athletes have silently crept from Youth to Senior! What's your opinion? Will the age rule changes have an impact on bringing this division to it's former glory?
 
I honestly think this division is being hurt by the push for flys on senior teams to be smaller and smaller. A lot of the kids who are true junior 5 kids are being put on worlds teams because they are smaller thus making the easier to toss around. I miss the days when it was rare to see a 12yr old on a senior team.

FYI Im starting to see it trickle down to the other levels as well. My daughter's first year on Platinum (Jr 4) she was in 7th grade and the majority of the team was 8th and 9th graders. Not it seems like most Jr 4 teams are made up of 11-12-13yr olds rather than 13-14yr olds. It just seems like teams are getting younger and younger.
 
My guess is ever since Juniors have been eliminated from Worlds many gyms have put their best youngins on senior teams as soon as they are 12. Worlds eligibility overlaps with basically the entire junior age bracket. That could potentially be leading gyms to put their superstars (the ones destined to become "cheerlebs" onto senior teams in order to compete at Worlds. You can be 11 on a youth team and once you hit 12 you're able to bypass juniors completely and compete on a Worlds team.

That's just one possibility.
 
My guess is ever since Juniors have been eliminated from Worlds many gyms have put their best youngins on senior teams as soon as they are 12. Worlds eligibility overlaps with basically the entire junior age bracket. That could potentially be leading gyms to put their superstars (the ones destined to become "cheerlebs" onto senior teams in order to compete at Worlds. You can be 11 on a youth team and once you hit 12 you're able to bypass juniors completely and compete on a Worlds team.

That's just one possibility.

Part of what prompted my question was when my CP showed me a picture recently of two girls. Both are on a Small Sr. 5 team. We know one of them personally and she is tiny. She now bases the other - new girl - because she is even tiny-er! The other day I met a parent in the store whose child was graduating from a youth team. He mentioned that he was looking forward to his daughter being on "XYZ Worlds Team". To which I replied; "I bet your gym has a great junior team too!" I couldn't help it!

My CP loved her time on Junior Elite and Junior Coed Elite. Those were the years she really honed her stunting abilities and improved her tumbling skills.
 
I'm actually OK with J5/JCo5 athletes not being publicly discussed. Those that care still watch the amazing up-and-comers on The J5 at our gym and when an athlete earns his/her spot on the team, they're on it until they age off or stop cheering.
 
Part of what prompted my question was when my CP showed me a picture recently of two girls. Both are on a Small Sr. 5 team. We know one of them personally and she is tiny. She now bases the other - new girl - because she is even tiny-er! The other day I met a parent in the store whose child was graduating from a youth team. He mentioned that he was looking forward to his daughter being on "XYZ Worlds Team". To which I replied; "I bet your gym has a great junior team too!" I couldn't help it!

My CP loved her time on Junior Elite and Junior Coed Elite. Those were the years she really honed her stunting abilities and improved her tumbling skills.
This may not be a popular opinion, but this is part of the reason why I wish they would increase the age to attend worlds. I feel like most athletes would really benefit and develop their skills by spending some time on a junior team. I really don't like seeing athletes going straight from a youth team right to a senior worlds team.


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I agree that it's both 1) mostly because Juniors don't go to to worlds and 2) that it's OK that the Juniors aren't getting "talked about".
 
For our gym, Worlds and the more difficult stunting load-in requirements have both been major factors in athletes (once age eligible) wanting to be on a Worlds eligible team. We have a wonderful Junior 5 Team, but ALL of the flyers on that team are 11 or under. Before Worlds came along, we did not have any issues with kids being happy on a Junior 5 team. Having said that, with the increase in load-in requirements we almost have to use the smallest flyers that have the skills to be on a Senior team. And, the same thing holds true on the lower levels as well (load-in requirements). I hope there will be a day again where this is not necessary to be competitive, but with our current system (Worlds and load-in requirements) I don't see this changing any time soon. I also think it is unfortunate for our industry. Only our coed teams are able to utilize age appropriate flyers in most cases.
 
Out of interest, do you expect this to change as well now score sheets are starting to require more "true" unassisted coed stunting?
I am sure it will. I think as long as stunts continue to become more difficult gyms are forced to take the flyer's size into consideration over all around skills. I am in favor of raising the minimum senior age for many reasons. It saddens me that many flyers' careers end by the age of 14 now.
I think Junior 5 teams are difficult for most gyms to field, regardless of the fact that many 12 year olds are needed as flyers on Worlds teams, but the teams you mentioned that had everybody talking still exist. The teams are still there and are just as good if not better than before. I am sure the elimination of Juniors at Worlds has decreased the visibility of the Junior 5 teams since there is no one competition where all of the top Junior 5 teams compete against each other - perhaps the Summit will change that.
 
For our gym, Worlds and the more difficult stunting load-in requirements have both been major factors in athletes (once age eligible) wanting to be on a Worlds eligible team. We have a wonderful Junior 5 Team, but ALL of the flyers on that team are 11 or under. Before Worlds came along, we did not have any issues with kids being happy on a Junior 5 team. Having said that, with the increase in load-in requirements we almost have to use the smallest flyers that have the skills to be on a Senior team. And, the same thing holds true on the lower levels as well (load-in requirements). I hope there will be a day again where this is not necessary to be competitive, but with our current system (Worlds and load-in requirements) I don't see this changing any time soon. I also think it is unfortunate for our industry. Only our coed teams are able to utilize age appropriate flyers in most cases.

That last line shocked me. You obviously know more than I do, but our parents were just talking last week how the coed teams use the smallest flyers and AG use more average size flyers. Our AG is doing the same stunts as our coed with larger flyers and its noticeable. Do you know why that would be true? Is something about to change in score sheets to promote the size difference?


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Out of interest, do you expect this to change as well now score sheets are starting to require more "true" unassisted coed stunting?
Yes. I believe you will see more and more coed teams turning to smaller, and in many cases younger flyers each year. It seems to be the direction we are headed...
 
That last line shocked me. You obviously know more than I do, but our parents were just talking last week how the coed teams use the smallest flyers and AG use more average size flyers. Our AG is doing the same stunts as our coed with larger flyers and its noticeable. Do you know why that would be true? Is something about to change in score sheets to promote the size difference?


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Our coed teams are able to do more difficult load-ins with older flyers simply because the boys are stronger (and these particular flyers have tremendous technique). We also have smaller boys that are not able to put up older flyers just from a pure strength standpoint. Therefore, we have younger flyers on those teams as well. I think it is great that your AG teams are able to do the same stunts with larger flyers as your coed teams. I'm sure it is impressive! I do not know of any changes in the score sheets that would impact the size difference other than the true coed stunt requirements already in place.
 
This may not be a popular opinion, but this is part of the reason why I wish they would increase the age to attend worlds. I feel like most athletes would really benefit and develop their skills by spending some time on a junior team.
I think it'd be better if they had more time to develop skills too but if they raised the age limit, I worry bout those girls getting overly stressed about their weight. I mean, girls that age (13, 14) start getting hips n breasts n stuff (which is totally normal!) but they do gain weight.

I'm just sayin coz my sister fly's on her all-girl HS comp squad and she is the teeniest one. She's 4'10" and not even 90 lbs and she's been obsessed with her weight. Mom's afraid she's gonna develop an eating disorder! We keep telling her she is super skinny & that's just muscle weight and not to worry so much but she can't help it. It makes me wonder bout the top level all-stars on co-ed international teams, yknow the pressure they must feel to stay skinny. :(
 
I am sure it will. I think as long as stunts continue to become more difficult gyms are forced to take the flyer's size into consideration over all around skills. I am in favor of raising the minimum senior age for many reasons. It saddens me that many flyers' careers end by the age of 14 now.
I think Junior 5 teams are difficult for most gyms to field, regardless of the fact that many 12 year olds are needed as flyers on Worlds teams, but the teams you mentioned that had everybody talking still exist. The teams are still there and are just as good if not better than before. I am sure the elimination of Juniors at Worlds has decreased the visibility of the Junior 5 teams since there is no one competition where all of the top Junior 5 teams compete against each other - perhaps the Summit will change that.
This is how I feel as well, what message is it sending to children. Why not have a really amazing 18 year old flyer, its just sad.
 
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