All-Star 4-year-old Cheerleader To Be...

[CheerBank]

I have seen kids as old as 8-9 come in brand new to an activity and catch up or even pass up kids who have been in that gym or dance studio since they were 2 w/in 2 years time - multiple times I have seen this. Yeah, a kid that starts something after age 11-12 will likely have a hard time catching up to those who have been doing something for years, especially in a fear provoking activity like cheer or gymnastics, but before 10 I think talent and the child's desire to catch up/get ahead can produce significant progress in a short amount of time.

I feel like you see that in a lot of youth sports. With the exception of the truly elite athletes, many kids catch up to their more-advanced-at-an-earlier-age peers. Someone who had their back tuck at 7 isn't the only one anymore at 10 or 11. I see that in soccer with my son. He was always a bigger kid. He didn't have a low center of gravity like some of the munchkins on his team, his fine motor coordination and foot skills were not as refined, and the only thing he had going for him was that he was fast and not afraid to be physical. Now at 10 1/2 he is still tall, still fast and has caught up to the foot skills of many of his peers who are still short and now overpowered by the bigger more physical players. The kids who had the skills younger and are not as unique when they get a little older also tend to be the ones who burn out at a younger age. I will take slow and steady development of skills anytime if it means longevity in a sport they love.

 

[123jump4!]

Of course talented kids can progress through the levels faster in cheer and there's nothing wrong with that! But sometimes I feel like it's not always "fair", because it also depends on if Becky's parents signed her up for tumbling class while Susie's parents didn't and Susie wasn't actually learning any new tumbling skills at practice, and Becky had privates but Susie's mom thought that was excessive... etc.

I guess it depends on the child, what they want to do and how much time they want to spend in the gym. There are no set rules what someone "should" do. Also what the parents can afford and how much driving they want to do.

For us, twice a week practice is enough so no tumbling class for CP6. But she did have her very first private yesterday... and she loved it, said she wants one every day! Sorry kid. Me and her dad agreed she can do one every other weekend.

 

[Pebbles49]

@pebbles49 Good post and thanks for explaining to others about that other thread. Great advice about what the judges are saying!

I think maybe some people are misunderstanding me, or not hearing what I'm trying to say, possibly because of some stuff I said in my first appearance "small gym or big gym".

I actually don't wish to push my girls! Most of my worry has been about that I think or have thought that the coaches are (or will be) expecting a lot. So I have been worrying that CP6 is behind and CP4 will be pushed to quickly learn skills if she joins a team next year.

But I'm probably paranoid and I promise to try to stop worry!

I understand you completely... You know now, I have a daughter who seems to be talented in many sports and just turned 12 and already 5'6" and some change... I have a child that is in MS and the only one of her friends doing AS cheer; she is being pushed hard to play basketball or Track instead by Coaches and peers... So I definitely do not press her at all for extra classes and I allow her to ask for privates, which luckily she still wants 1x a week... I think right now, AS cheer is winning out because of the travels, at least that is what she is telling me now...

PS: Please enjoy the time you have with your little ones - you never know when it might come to a fast end...

 

[mamabear]

I feel like you see that in a lot of youth sports. With the exception of the truly elite athletes, many kids catch up to their more-advanced-at-an-earlier-age peers. .

Do you promise?

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I also find the MIDDLE SCHOOL years to be CRITICAL DECISION time in terms of kids who start cheer early.

Once they hit 11 or 12, that's usually the point at which they:

1. Hit a weird growth spurt, start having issues with flying or tumbling, and have to choose to either stick it out and switch positions, work on tumbling, or quit.

2. Hit that same weird growth spurt, stop progressing in tumbling, mental block, and/or are pressured by the "why can't you get your full?" mom until they quit.

3. Start to take interest in other activities and quit.

4. See that all of their friends are out and about at the mall, football games, etc. while they're in privates all the time and quit.

5. Embrace the schedule of being on the path to Level 5 cheer and take to it like a fish to water and do not care what their friends are doing.

6. Realize that they're totally okay with staying level 2 or 3 and just enjoy cheer at those levels but take limited interest in ever being on a Worlds team.

7. Burn out completely and never want to see a mat again.

There are some other scenarios, but I see it most often with 10-12 year olds.

It's like the "fork in the road" age of cheer.

 

[123jump4!]

@oncecoolcoachnowmom I'm really enjoying your posts today! Very informative. And lots of other people's posts too. Totally loving being able to read and post without being attacked for... several hours now? So happy. And feel at peace with everything cheer-related at the moment. Until my kids hit 10-12 then...?!!

 

[TheVipersMom]

Of course talented kids can progress through the levels faster in cheer and there's nothing wrong with that! But sometimes I feel like it's not always "fair", because it also depends on if Becky's parents signed her up for tumbling class while Susie's parents didn't and Susie wasn't actually learning any new tumbling skills at practice, and Becky had privates but Susie's mom thought that was excessive... etc.

I guess it depends on the child, what they want to do and how much time they want to spend in the gym. There are no set rules what someone "should" do. Also what the parents can afford and how much driving they want to do.

For us, twice a week practice is enough so no tumbling class for CP6. But she did have her very first private yesterday... and she loved it, said she wants one every day! Sorry kid. Me and her dad agreed she can do one every other weekend.

Yes privates and multiple classes do help but there are kids with talent that don't do it and there are parents doing multiple privates a week and their kid hasn't progressed near as much.

There are kids like @SheCheers kid who never did privates for the most part and just a few since she really got her skills up and her kids is an amazing tumbler and always has been. She listens well, and she takes correction well and applies it.

My kid is the opposite at old gym when privates were $15 an hour and Jaylen was 5/6 (she went from nothing to tucks and specialty tumbling in 2 years) she did multiple privates and progressed fairly decent. We got here and my kid has been age 7-9 and we just can't afford privates! I mean I wish but it's just not something we can do. She is on a lower level team then the tumbling she has (since I can't fly to NC and be on fierce elites y5 there isn't much options) so she is on level 3 which is our highest junior aged team and she isn't even senior eligible so my kid never works on higher level tumbling but in her tumble class and or sometimes open gym but those are hit or miss with coach availability.
I will say Jaylen may not have a double full and has spent an extreme amount of time on her full. Literally took her a year to learn it and do it by herself and almost a whole nother year of it being inconsistent BUT the quality of training my daughter is getting is so much greater then this dang twisting skill, my daughter is a strong tumbler, her technique has improved so much. She has strong specialty skills up to that skill and she would be an asset to any team when it comes to tumbling.


And I'm not saying you are doing this but I'm throwing this out there for anyone not you exactly. Don't focus just on that one skill /that next skill you want them to have focus on getting better on everything in between. A strong round off looks so much better then a bad Ro with a janky back walkover.

I said above about Jaylen's full And I have posted plenty of videos about my daughters full on Facebook but just a month or two ago I was posting videos of tucks (yes tucks that she has had since age 6 because I was just as proud of her tuck technique and height and how far it's came) and I know people are thinking I've seen much cooler skills then a tuck but idc there are much more things to celebrate. I use to just want my daughter to get it so I can say oh she has a full at age 7 but really after watching so much ugly tumbling and really learning the difference and how things are suppose to look I have this new appreciation for how great pretty technical tumbling looks!!!!

Just don't get sucked in to that how fast can we get a skill and our kids are the same age and started the same time but mine got hers faster thing... (Not that you are) but it's hard when everyone and their mom is talking about it. There are kids who are just great with no privates and kids who can take a private every day of the week and still struggle. It is how coachable your kid is and how well they can apply corrections. Different skills are harder for different people!!

Good luck I'm sure your kids will both do great and excel and I'm sure you will find the right fit for them sooner or later. It took us a few years but wouldn't leave for the world to go anywhere else!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[omgitssydthekid]

I've kept mine is privates because she's asked (it's where she got her BHS, and where she's learned drills for tucks and layouts...mainly a fear thing, not something her coach realistically pushed her to have). She didn't start until she was 5, but I took cheer as a very 'Ask me what you want to do, I'll work it in..." She started dance at 2 and did dance at 2 and 3, then asked not to go back, found cheer at 4 and would move into her gym if she could. Over the summer, she practices roughly 8-10 hours a week between team practice, technique classes, and privates.

I'm not a stressed out cheer mom though---I do what she asks for, as long as it's within reason. I've always watched to ensure she's not getting burnt out, isn't overwhelmed...etc. (Child Psychology is my field) The second she shows signs of needing a break, I'll step in.

We move next week back home to Florida, and while we're not 100% sure which side of the state we'll be living on (at this point she could wind up at Brandon, TG Orlando, or Extreme All-Stars), we know we'll be on the East Coast for at least a few weeks. All she talks about is going back to Extreme's 2 hour Open Gym's on Friday nights because she got to go to one on vacation. Why vacation you ask? Because she couldn't stomach going 2 weeks without being in a gym while DH went down to job and house hunt at the end of the summer.

Cheer is her passion, much in the same way Dance was my passion at the same age, so I'm fine with it. But each family has to do what is best for themselves, and I definitely don't judge those who do differently from us.

Her younger sister is into music; with no aspiration to be a cheerleader, she's 4 and I could not imagine her keeping the same schedule as my 6 year old. They're just 2 different little people with 2 different sets of needs.

It just blows my mind that five year olds can have that long of an attention span. I refuse to do hour long private lessons with anybody under the age of twelve because they seriously just can't focus for that long, which is fine. It's just the age group, and of course every child is different but that's just what I've found to be true in most cases.

When I was in gymnastics at age twelve, we practiced every week day in the summer for five hours. Then I had an hour long private lesson after every practice. It was something I wanted, but I believe that it contributed to my burn out at age thirteen for sure.

 

[Keep_Believing]

Of course talented kids can progress through the levels faster in cheer and there's nothing wrong with that! But sometimes I feel like it's not always "fair", because it also depends on if Becky's parents signed her up for tumbling class while Susie's parents didn't and Susie wasn't actually learning any new tumbling skills at practice, and Becky had privates but Susie's mom thought that was excessive... etc.

For us, twice a week practice is enough so no tumbling class for CP6. But she did have her very first private yesterday... and she loved it, said she wants one every day! Sorry kid. Me and her dad agreed she can do one every other weekend.

I will share 3 real scenarios with you from our old gym. Scenario 1: My CP's friend has never taken one tumble class or one private. Her Mom can't afford any extras. She tried out with zero experience and made a level 1 team. Within 6 weeks the coaches saw she had incredible talent and she was moved to a level 2. Three years later she is on a level 4 team. She actually has solid level 5 skills, but it is a small gym and they only go up to a level 4. She learns by watching and drills. She does not like being spotted. Her fulls are gorgeous and her toe touches are amazing. Scenario 2: My CP's other friend has been cheering since show team, she is at the gym 4 times a week, she takes multiple tumble classes and weekly privates. It is 6 years later and she still does not have her back handspring. Scenario 3 My CP's take a weekly tumble class and do a weekly private in the Summer (we have extra free time in June and July). Almost 6 years into it and they have strong level 4 skills, but seem to have hit a Plateau. They have had strong level 4 skills for 2 solid years now. I am not sure if they will ever truly master their fulls. Just wanted to share how different the tumbling and cheer journey can be for each CP.

 

[Mamarazzi]

For what it's worth- Sacha started all star at age 14, Little at 11, Mini at 8 (I think?)

Sach is in her super-senior year on a high-profile team, Little is in recovery, getting dubs back and whatnot, and Mini moved on to other sports.
Sacha never had one single private. Little has a $1000 standing tuck and Mini has level 5 skills that he got by himself but doesn't use.
I say that to convey that there's just no rush. Honestly, "gym rat"-ing did more to get my kids' skills than anything and it's hard to do that when they're young.

 

[CheerBank]

For what it's worth- Sacha started all star at age 14, Little at 11, Mini at 8 (I think?)

Sach is in her super-senior year on a high-profile team, Little is in recovery, getting dubs back and whatnot, and Mini moved on to other sports.
Sacha never had one single private. Little has a $1000 standing tuck and Mini has level 5 skills that he got by himself but doesn't use.
I say that to convey that there's just no rush. Honestly, "gym rat"-ing did more to get my kids' skills than anything and it's hard to do that when they're young.

I'm seeing that the gym rats burn out faster than their non-gym rat peers. Especially once they get a taste of non-gym rat life.

Agree with @oncecoolcoachnowmom - if they make it through the sport (any sport) in middle school, they usually stick with it during high school.

 

[Mamarazzi]

I'm seeing that the gym rats burn out faster than their non-gym rat peers. Especially once they get a taste of non-gym rat life.

I guess it's good that my rats didn't start until later, then! Mini wasn't a rat and he was the first to take a break.

 

[quitthedrama]

@oncecoolcoachnowmom I'm really enjoying your posts today! Very informative. And lots of other people's posts too. Totally loving being able to read and post without being attacked for... several hours now? So happy. And feel at peace with everything cheer-related at the moment. Until my kids hit 10-12 then...?!!

Seriously - you have never been attacked. Your posts have been responded to by several posters all telling you the same thing and you don't like the answers so you argue and get defensive and insist you are right.

 

[cheer25mom]

It just blows my mind that five year olds can have that long of an attention span. I refuse to do hour long private lessons with anybody under the age of twelve because they seriously just can't focus for that long, which is fine. It's just the age group, and of course every child is different but that's just what I've found to be true in most cases.

When I was in gymnastics at age twelve, we practiced every week day in the summer for five hours. Then I had an hour long private lesson after every practice. It was something I wanted, but I believe that it contributed to my burn out at age thirteen for sure.

I think it completely depends on the kid. I have one who is intense about everything she does. Dance, cheer, school, ect she has always been the kid frustrated with the others who won't pay attention. Since she was little her attitude has been if I am giving this 100% everyone should. She has been capable of an hour of sustained focus for years

 

[FlexyTumblerMom]

I've seen growth spurts derail gymnasts in early high school who I would have thought would never quit - ones who were very successful and had the total package to go all the way.

I think when a gymnast starts struggling w/ skills they've had since they were 8 it's very discouraging. Puberty can sometimes mean starting over in a lot of these girls sports and it's unbelievably hard - especially when they get a 10 year old little phenom added to their training group who everything comes easy for and is now the star of the gym while the older girls are struggling to reperfect skills that were once a breeze for them (back when they were that little phenom 3-4 years ago).

I guess having seen this pattern happen more than a few times in gymnastics may drive my opinions about age minimums for senior level 5 teams .