How Much Practice Is Too Much?

I practice twice a week for a total of 4 hours plus 1 hour of tumbling class. Each practice is 2 hours long. Our choreo day was from like 9AM-3PM.

"Competitive" sports, to me, mission is to be competitive and win, which requires high discipline and the necessary hours and training to be competitive within their level, no matter the age. "Recreational" sports, to me, means less hours with the mission of balancing fun with competition. I think the wide window of definition for "competitive" is what ends up frustrating kids and parents. One of my kids would have been fine at age seven, the other "no", based on what I think your gym, and myself, considers a competitive sport. I don't mean to start a debate on what "competitive" should mean, I just believe there lies the issue.

You have to know your kid.

Ex: If you added a 3rd private and your normally straight A kid is now bringing home Cs and Ds, you know something is up.

It seems a bit much when we consider the age. However, this may be the gyms way of treating all teams equally. Do the higher level teams practice the same amount of time? You always hear of people not being happy because "X" team gets more practice time and such. So maybe they just keep it the same across the board to reduce the parent drama?

happygolucky said:

Hi Everyone,

This my daughter's first year in All Star Cheer - She is 7 years old and cheers for a Level 1 Mini team. The team started practicing 2 days a week for 2 hours in April. Sometime in June, the coaches notified the parents of potential flyers that those girls would need to attend a 1 hour stretching class immediately following one of their practices. This is on top of the 1 hour tumbling class per week the majority of the team takes. So over the summer my daughter was in the gym 6 hours a week - not including choreography days.

The team had 3 choreography days in July and August and from my understanding the coaches are frustrated because "they're just not getting it." Because of this, the coaches announced a 3rd 2 hour practice a week starting next month until the end of the season. They also reduced the stretching class from 1 hour to 30 minutes a week. So, starting next month my daughter is expected to be in the gym 7.5 hours a week.

This team is comprised of 5, 6, 7 and 8 year olds of various cheer experiences and tumbling skills. In my untrained, parental view it is understandable that they will not pick up choreography as quickly as some of the older teams. I feel that adding an additional 2 hour practice a week seems too much - especially for this age group.

I would love to hear other parents experiences and input regarding this? How much practice is too much? Especially during the school year?

I came across this board searching for answers to my question and am so glad I did. There seems to be a wealth of information and experience on here. I look forward to your input.

Thanks!

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I am cheering for 6th grade football games and they are making us practice 2 hours a day everyday. I think it’s a little over the top. I will probably miss some in the beginning because I just got back from camp and my ankle swelled up like a balloon.

Threads like this are why I like this board. I like to hear about the differences between gyms/teams.

Teams at CP's gym (level 1-4) practice 4 hours a week except for the tiny/novice team. And teams did pretty well this past year at comps. We achieved our goals.

When I hear about young kids at formal practice 8 hours a week, I feel like I would not be on board with that. Because it is a year round sport. When CP cheered rec, sure, they practiced that much each week, but it was only for 3 months. I know gymnasts that laugh at how little cheerleaders practice. If you aren't putting in 16 hours a week by age 7 then you are not "committed". Which is all to say that each family needs to decide what works for them and what they are wiling to sacrifice in order to get those hours in at a the gym.

FangfromZumka said:

I am cheering for 6th grade football games and they are making us practice 2 hours a day everyday. I think it’s a little over the top. I will probably miss some in the beginning because I just got back from camp and my ankle swelled up like a balloon.

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I think that's typical with middle school cheer (it was when my daughter cheered). Unless you are hurt I wouldn’t recommend missing. You may find yourself benched if there is an attendance policy.

2 hour practices are too much IMO. I would much rather have 3 one hour practices if they HAVE to be there 3 x a week.

Is the tumble class mandatory or just something most do? If it isnt and she doesnt need it because she has the necessary skills for the team Id drop it.

When my CP was a mini (and our current mini teams) they did 2 2hr practices a week and add a 3rd from after labor day til about NCA. I never felt it was too much and they always seemed to be productive practices. To me that is the difference. If they are adding or extending practices because the current ones are not productive Id be pretty annoyed. Thats not a cheerleader problem thats a coach issue.

What I recalled at age 8-9, my daughter was on a J1 team and practiced 2 days a week for 2 hours, she had the same schedule on Youth 2, but her 1st year cheering(8yo), she crossover to a Mini team, she practice with this team for 1 day for 1.5 hrs per week and I believe this team practice 2 days for 1.5 hours or a total of 3 hrs a week. I believe her last 2 years of AS Cheer (10-12y.o) she practice 3 days a week for 2 hours or a total of 6 hours a week. But she had also had 1 hour of tumbling privates a week, so she 7 hours a week in the gym total. Additionally, they had full days of choreo. (Possibly, 10-3) for 3 or 4 days.

So again, it depends on the child and what they are capable of handling... I know for my daughter I tried to make sure she had Friday&Saturdays free to play and have sleepovers with the neighborhood children when she was not competing to compensate for the hours she was away.

PS: Tbh, I think my daughter's time in the gym was way less than many of her teammates, who were doing privates, open gyms and other specialized classes....

happygolucky said:

Hi Everyone,

This my daughter's first year in All Star Cheer - She is 7 years old and cheers for a Level 1 Mini team. The team started practicing 2 days a week for 2 hours in April. Sometime in June, the coaches notified the parents of potential flyers that those girls would need to attend a 1 hour stretching class immediately following one of their practices. This is on top of the 1 hour tumbling class per week the majority of the team takes. So over the summer my daughter was in the gym 6 hours a week - not including choreography days.

The team had 3 choreography days in July and August and from my understanding the coaches are frustrated because "they're just not getting it." Because of this, the coaches announced a 3rd 2 hour practice a week starting next month until the end of the season. They also reduced the stretching class from 1 hour to 30 minutes a week. So, starting next month my daughter is expected to be in the gym 7.5 hours a week.

This team is comprised of 5, 6, 7 and 8 year olds of various cheer experiences and tumbling skills. In my untrained, parental view it is understandable that they will not pick up choreography as quickly as some of the older teams. I feel that adding an additional 2 hour practice a week seems too much - especially for this age group.

I would love to hear other parents experiences and input regarding this? How much practice is too much? Especially during the school year?

I came across this board searching for answers to my question and am so glad I did. There seems to be a wealth of information and experience on here. I look forward to your input.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Hi! Here’s a little about my experience with practicing too much. I’m about to be a freshman in college and will be a collegiate cheerleader, but for four years I was on an all star team plus my high school team. School cheer was an hour every day during the week, and all star was a 2 and a half hour practice anywhere from 2-4 days a week, not counting comps and choreo. I also had a tumbling class for an hour on weekends.

It was definitely a lot and took a toll on my stress level. I sustained a lot of injuries because my body was being overworked: a broken wrist, sprained MCL, bruised rib cage, a sprained ankle that never healed properly that I’m still in physical therapy for, and more. I was also juggling cheer with advanced classes and the homework load was crazy... to be honest I don’t think I had time to sleep/eat much!

My cheer schedule got even more hectic when college cheer tryouts came around. I upped my tumbling classes to three times a week- plus I was training for tryouts during the heat of comp season, so we had longer, more frequent practices for all star cheer and also entire weekends devoted to competitions. This was when I sprained my ankle, and because I tried to push through it and didn’t allow it to heal I may need surgery when I come home for winter break. Needless to say I was spending almost all my time at some sort of cheer thing and it definitely took a physical and mental toll on me.

BUT!!!

I became a better athlete for it. If it wasn’t for all that time devoted to cheer, I certainly wouldn’t be a college cheerleader today. I learned how to keep going even when my body aches and how to continue to use good technique even though I was tired in order to stop getting hurt. I learned how to manage my time so I could end up getting good grades. I included cheer in one of my college essays and how much of my life I had devoted to it, and when I got my acceptance letter, they literally said “we absolutely love and admire your passion for cheerleading” which in itself made it worthwhile to me because they acknowledged how much of myself I had poured in to the sport.

As for your child, ask her if cheerleading is worth it to her. If she truly loves it, the extra hours will be worthwhile down the line when she’s a little older and on to the next levels and age divisions. I always wished I had started cheering when a i was younger- if she keeps with it she’ll be an incredible athlete some day!!

Best of luck’

We practice about 5 hours/week but include a lot of extra practices!

This is cp's 7th year in all star and she has been on Mini and Youth or low level junior teams during that time period. I personally don't think your schedule sounds like a lot. Our old gym was almost identical to the hours you are mentioning and the gym that we are at now is 6 or 6.5 hours mandatory (summer time it is only 4 or 4.5 hours since we don’t do weekends), but not including privates, stretching and open gyms. Even her AYC team had similar demands (more if you include the games and social obligations)- but they were extremely competitive. Sadly, being a flyer often means that an extra class or two also gets added.

Dedicating a couple of days to choreo and/or skills camps makes a lot of sense and I think that most gyms do it. The only time I have seen it be done differently is when they are in the 3-4 year old age group.

The practices are usually longer, but I am a fan of going to 2x week and a mandatory weekend or 2, instead of 3 days/week. Forces you to use your practice time more efficiently. Ex: I once cut summer practices from MWF to M/W. You value your time much more when you know you only have them 2x.