All-Star High School And Allstar Cheer

Welcome to our Cheerleading Community

Members see FEWER ads... join today!

Cheermom1979

Cheer Parent
Aug 25, 2019
225
204
Hi- do your Allstar cheerleaders also Cheer highschool football and compete for HS?

How is the time commitment?

How is the physical toll?
 
My daughters are juniors right now. Freshman and sophomore year they did both. They cheered at football games and competed high school in the fall. Then after Thanksgiving, it was all star only. To be honest, their bodies were pretty beat up by the end of their sophomore year. At that point, they were on year 9 of all-stars with never a resting period. This past year they only did high school as they really wanted to go to NCA High School Nationals with their high school team and at their all-star gym, that is not allowed. They allow high school kids to cheer and compete up until Thanksgiving, but then they want you committed 100% to your all-star team which I think is a very fair policy.

Time commitment--this would vary I would think just based on your all-star gym and high school program. For my two, they had all-stars one weeknight and one weekend practice and for high school, they had three nights and Friday night games. They were the only two on an all-star team, so the day that there was no high school practice was the day that they had all-stars, so no double practice. However, there were lots of kids on their all-star team that came to practice straight from high school practice. During high school competitions, they often had to compete and then leave right away to get to all-star practice, so they did miss out a bit there.

Physical toll--my two find high school cheer pretty easy. They tumble at a level 5/6 and some of those skills aren't even allowed at a high school level. Same with stunting. They have found that high school kids don't have the same stamina at all compared to all-star kids. They get pretty frustrated with the rest of their team when kids can't just pick up new skills or try new things. Although I said they were pretty beat up by the end of their sophomore year, it was more because of no real break in 9 years than the combination of high school and all-star at the same time.

I'm not sure what they're doing this year. Who knows if there'll be a fall high school season here in the northeast and who really knows what will happen with all-star.
 
I'm formerly a HS coach (team cheered FB, BB and competed 2 times) and honestly, I had no problem sharing athletes with the following agreements:

*I liked to have the all star schedule comp/practice schedule as soon as you knew it. I liked for my girls to be able to attend at least 50% of the games in any sports season and plan to attend all comps. If there was an absolutely unavoidable conflict (ex: Becky will be at Cheersport the day of our one day comp) that helps me to plan.

*COMMUNICATE. I know life happens. Your flight from your all star comp got cancelled and you won't be back for practice. Or you're stuck in traffic coming from your gym so you're going to be late. Communicate that with me and keep me in the loop.

*Be reasonable and prioritize. Sometimes, there were kids who wanted to be able to skip a game for say, an optional all star team sleepover or hayride that was just announced on short notice. No.

*Sometimes, double teaming means you're going to be tired. Ex: You may have to leave an all star comp right after you compete to get back and go to school at 6am to practice for the Hoco assembly. That's just part of being shared between 2 programs. Still show up and do your best.

*Adults have to be flexible too. As much as I was a stickler for certain practice attire on xxxx day, I had to let that go for kids who were doing multiple activities. Ex: Jenna comes into practice with her all star dance team's practice top and school shorts. Sometimes you just have to be glad they made it! LOL.
 
My daughter and a teammate do AS and coaches a HS team, luckily her AS coach/owner and them discuss competition dates and stuff as he also tumbles the HS team and some cross to him in AS. She s very busy between Jan to March with both but she and her athletes that cross over have figured it out. Who knows if there will be football cheer to worry about this year. Last year some of them had to go to RI and compete, drive back to Ct for HS and go back up to RI for day 2 of AS, due to the fact the Athletic Championships and HS County competition both decided to change their regular dates....
 
Physical toll--my two find high school cheer pretty easy. They tumble at a level 5/6 and some of those skills aren't even allowed at a high school level. Same with stunting. They have found that high school kids don't have the same stamina at all compared to all-star kids. They get pretty frustrated with the rest of their team when kids can't just pick up new skills or try new things.

One of the big issues on our high school team had to do with the flyers who were on all star. The coaches knew they were capable of doing high level stunts at all star and push them to attempt these during high school practice. It is so dangerous because the bases for the most part aren’t at that level, we had 2 girls on our varsity team last year who had never cheered before (our team is not good, they have very high turnover with girls quitting). They also try to force the all star girls to throw tumbling passes they do at all stars (on a spring floor) on the dead mat or gym floor, and our coaches can’t even spot tumbling. This is a coaching issue but I’m sure ours isn’t the only high school with minimally qualified coaches. Our all star girls usually last only one season on the school team.
 
This is the main reason my daughter stopped rec football cheer. The bases are not trained and honestly careless. And the coaches make poor decision regarding tumbling on the wet grass/turf. She decided not to go back because she (at 10) didn’t want to risk injury. Lol!


One of the big issues on our high school team had to do with the flyers who were on all star. The coaches knew they were capable of doing high level stunts at all star and push them to attempt these during high school practice. It is so dangerous because the bases for the most part aren’t at that level, we had 2 girls on our varsity team last year who had never cheered before (our team is not good, they have very high turnover with girls quitting). They also try to force the all star girls to throw tumbling passes they do at all stars (on a spring floor) on the dead mat or gym floor, and our coaches can’t even spot tumbling. This is a coaching issue but I’m sure ours isn’t the only high school with minimally qualified coaches. Our all star girls usually last only one season on the school team.
 
One of the big issues on our high school team had to do with the flyers who were on all star. The coaches knew they were capable of doing high level stunts at all star and push them to attempt these during high school practice. It is so dangerous because the bases for the most part aren’t at that level, we had 2 girls on our varsity team last year who had never cheered before (our team is not good, they have very high turnover with girls quitting). They also try to force the all star girls to throw tumbling passes they do at all stars (on a spring floor) on the dead mat or gym floor, and our coaches can’t even spot tumbling. This is a coaching issue but I’m sure ours isn’t the only high school with minimally qualified coaches. Our all star girls usually last only one season on the school team.
That sounds like many accidents waiting to happen!
 
My daughter does HS and all star at large gym. It’s difficult because HS coach doesn’t like to compromise & she isn’t very flexible (not just AS but with other school sports as well. At our school comp team (we don’t do it or UIL) is separate from games, but you have to make reg squad to do comp team. She has practice after school during Pep rally season. AS 1 weeknight and weekend, and in fall both weekend days. AS practice almost everyday week of comps.
 
My daughter was a sophomore this year. She did all 3 - Varsity football, Varsity comp and All-Stars. For us, football and comp are all done by November. So really as All-Stars are ramping up.

Football only practiced one day a week and then Friday night games. Comp practiced 3 days a week and had a tumble day once a week (she didn't do that day for most of the season). We had 5 comps all season, plus region and state. I gave her All-Star coach her schedule as soon as I got it.

It was a lot around Sept and Oct. On Tuesdays, she'd get done with comp practice, I'd pick her up with dinner in the car and we drove straight to the gym. That was really the hardest day.

She also didn't tumble much in the comp routine (and I wasn't mad about it). But it still took a toll on her back jumping and stunting on the dead floor. I kept her in a standing weekly chiro appointment during that season.

I told her before the season was over, she would not be doing comp again this year. I knew All-Stars wouldn't be a question. She was ok with it. She didn't enjoy the comp season anyways. This year she will do football and All-Stars.

I will also agree with some of the previous posters about the stamina and drive or abilities of school cheer vs All-Stars. There were several girls on her team that were previous AS cheerleaders. She was the only current one. In her 11 years cheering, she had her first concussion this year and it happened at school cheer practice. I know it can and does happen in AS but I've seen more injuries and concussions in school cheer.
 
Last edited:
Inexperienced coaches pushing kids to Do That Thing from Your Gym's Routine at HS practice is a recipe for disaster.

Even if a kid throws a certain pass in all star that is high school legal, there is a big difference between Spring Floor Throwing It and and Dead Mat Throwing It. Asking someone to throw a thing or try a thing they've never tried before on dead mat or hardwood is asking for injuries.

Even on simpler Level 3 type tumbling, dead mat hits different.
 
Agreed! My daughter says dead mat kills her wrists and ankles.
YES! My daughter did comp in 7th and 8th grade, skipped 9th and like I said above this past year (10th). She complained so much her 8th grade year during the season of her wrists hurting (and her back). It really didn't register with us until the season was over that it was b/c of the dead floor.
 
My two said they almost never throw any of their complete passes at practice because it's just too hard on their bodies to be doing it over and over and over on the dead mat. They'll land in a tuck instead of their fulls. Come competition, they have always thrown their fulls though, which is why their coach is fine with them not throwing at practice. They are often last pass in running tumbling together and also usually through a final pass at the end of the dance. It's funny to watch them in the corner, because lots of times, they'll change the pass on the fly depending on how they're feeling. You would never know they do this if you didn't know that's what they were doing because it's always timed perfectly. Gotta love the identical twin thing!
 
My daughter did HS purely for fun and to be part of a school team. Cheer in her school though is not anything prestigious or competitive. She was also lucky that she had a coach who excused her from one practice a week for her all star team, and knew she was only doing football season and not comp.
 
My two said they almost never throw any of their complete passes at practice because it's just too hard on their bodies to be doing it over and over and over on the dead mat. They'll land in a tuck instead of their fulls. Come competition, they have always thrown their fulls though, which is why their coach is fine with them not throwing at practice. They are often last pass in running tumbling together and also usually through a final pass at the end of the dance. It's funny to watch them in the corner, because lots of times, they'll change the pass on the fly depending on how they're feeling. You would never know they do this if you didn't know that's what they were doing because it's always timed perfectly. Gotta love the identical twin thing!
At our school they are required to throw all skills, not just in routine practice. Once a week they have tumbling day and they are required to throw all skills. Every quarter they have evaluation which counts towards tryout score. My daughter has full but she’s not strong on dead floor, struggles mentally & physically. sometimes scared or just sore & also still in rehab for chronic injury & doesnt always throw her full. She gets points off for inconsistency & being lazy. She also gets points off eval for not gaining new skills.

Meanwhile girls who can’t tumble gets full points for being consistent with her cartwheel or for getting a bhs. Another all star is on worlds team but won’t throw 2 to full on dead mat, gets called selfish. “If you can do it in all star, you can do here.”
 
Back