All-Star What Means The Most To Allstar Cheerleaders Who Want To Cheer In College

King · Aug 22, 2012

Just like the title says, what means the most to allstar cheerleaders who want to cheer in college?

Is it being able to be on the sidelines?

Is it the perks?

Is it the idea of competing?

Do lots of you suffer through sidelines to compete or do you compete just so you can do the sidelines?

I have just been listening to lots of allstar cheerleaders recently about what they like and then I am hearing college coaches sell their programs to allstar cheerleaders (cause lets face it that is where 90% of the cheer talent is) with things it sounds like allstar cheerleaders don't care about. Parents feel free to chime in too.

Please keep all responses to your personal preference NOT what you think everyone else likes (unless you are a coach or happen to have a window into a group of what these athletes like).

retiredl5cheer · Aug 22, 2012

I just graduated college, but I am a former all star who cheered in college for 4 years.

Is it being able to be on the sidelines?
I loved being on the court for Big East basketball games. I cheered at Seton Hall and basketball was our flagship sport (we didn't have football) but the thrill of cheering at the Prudential Center with the NBA lights and arena was amazing.

Is it the perks?
We didn't get any perks. We bought our own uniforms, paid for Nationals ourselves and only got one sweatsuit for our entire cheer career. So no, it's not the perks.

Is it the idea of competing?
We didn't compete my first two years at SHU, so it wasn't that. However, competition was the main reason I continued to cheer my senior year.

Do lots of you suffer through sidelines to compete or do you compete just so you can do the sidelines?
More like I suffered through certain sports to cheer men's basketball and compete. Only half of our team was picked for Nationals so those that weren't (and knew they wouldn't be) were on the team to cheer games. We all loved cheering games.

I think the one thing that really kept me cheering was my passion for the sport. However, if I were looking at schools now I would be looking for a program with great sports and a decent competition team. Winning at Nationals isn't everything and 99% of great cheerleaders wouldn't make the Nationals team at big schools such as Louisville and Kentucky. It's important to go for those great kids that are talented and smart but may not be looking at the huge competition schools. These are the kids that aren't being recruited and can be easily wooed (for lack of a better word.)

King · Aug 22, 2012

retiredl5cheer said:
I just graduated college, but I am a former all star who cheered in college for 4 years.

Is it being able to be on the sidelines?
I loved being on the court for Big East basketball games. I cheered at Seton Hall and basketball was our flagship sport (we didn't have football) but the thrill of cheering at the Prudential Center with the NBA lights and arena was amazing.

Is it the perks?
We didn't get any perks. We bought our own uniforms, paid for Nationals ourselves and only got one sweatsuit for our entire cheer career. So no, it's not the perks.

Is it the idea of competing?
We didn't compete my first two years at SHU, so it wasn't that. However, competition was the main reason I continued to cheer my senior year.

Do lots of you suffer through sidelines to compete or do you compete just so you can do the sidelines?
More like I suffered through certain sports to cheer men's basketball and compete. Only half of our team was picked for Nationals so those that weren't (and knew they wouldn't be) were on the team to cheer games. We all loved cheering games.

I think the one thing that really kept me cheering was my passion for the sport. However, if I were looking at schools now I would be looking for a program with great sports and a decent competition team. Winning at Nationals isn't everything and 99% of great cheerleaders wouldn't make the Nationals team at big schools such as Louisville and Kentucky. It's important to go for those great kids that are talented and smart but may not be looking at the huge competition schools. These are the kids that aren't being recruited and can be easily wooed (for lack of a better word.)

Thank you for the well thought out answers!

If a school competed more than once (let us say just twice) would that be a huge advantage over a school that just competed once?

retiredl5cheer · Aug 22, 2012

kingston said:
Thank you for the well thought out answers!

If a school competed more than once (let us say just twice) would that be a huge advantage over a school that just competed once?

Probably not. UCA and NCA are the only competitions that most college cheerleaders worry about. Maybe if you did Cheersport it could add a bit of excitement, but good placements at College Nationals would definitely be more important than competing twice. There just isn't the magnitude of competition at other events.

What could possibly help would be an international team near your school that you could funnel kids into after competition season. Our team had the option of competing with CJA international 6 after UCA Nationals. Had anyone chosen to do it, they would have been able to go to Worlds and stay involved in all star. I know that is important to a lot of all star cheerleaders.

You may want to also target girls from highly competitive high schools. Those are the cheerleaders that are used to competing only once or twice and enjoy the game day aspect. You also don't have to teach them to cheer like you do all stars. At SHU we got quite a few cheerleaders from Phillipsburg HS (PA) and St. Joseph By the Sea (S.I.) and they fit our school perfectly because they were talented UCA cheerleaders.

ScottyB · Aug 22, 2012

I was never an allstar cheerleader myself but when I coached at KU, we would be in the same boat. Recruiting allstar kids to come cheer at a D1 school that has a large emphasis on game cheering is difficult but the idea of only 1 time to compete is slightly more intriguing to the kids who are ready for something else besides the 5 competitions each all star season and the 3 nationals they go to.

Im sure KU Cheer Coach has some thoughts on this too. But a lot of kids want to know they can still improve their skills and continue becoming better and more talented as athletes on the team while at school.

mommy2mygirls · Aug 22, 2012

ScottyB said:
Im sure KU Cheer Coach has some thoughts on this too. But a lot of kids want to know they can still improve their skills and continue becoming better and more talented as athletes on the team while at school.

My daughter is just going into her freshman year of high school but, is already DREADING having to not do all star cheer at anytime in her life. She LIVES to fly, to compete and to continue becoming a better/more talented athlete. She hates the idea of sideline ( I can't for the life of me talk her into trying it for high school) as it doesn't provide the opportunity for her to improve and push herself. I have explained the difference in getting to be part of something amazing with cheering on the sports in college cheer but, I think her focus would be on a college that could provide a strong competitive team. Having the opportunity to funnel into an allstar team after the competitive season would be a big draw for her as well.

cheerisloving · Aug 22, 2012

I no longer do AS but I am definetly a competitive cheerleader. Cheering in High School has given me the skills to do sidelines even if our team is terrible. I suffer through Football because basketball is so much fun. I like competing once or twice during the season because it keeps everyone level headed. We aren't thinking about how to beat so and so at the next comp. I know I may not get a scholarship whereever I go. But its about cheering for me. I am a junior and I know out of my top 3 schools only one is a hugely competitive cheer school and I don't have the skills to make it. Research early on is key.

MyGirlCheers · Aug 22, 2012

My CP hates the idea of sideline cheer and absolutely refuses to do it. Yes, she wants to cheer in college, but she wants competition team only (not STUNT or NCATA, either). Also, she's a base and not a flyer, which further limits her in collegiate cheer. I'm thinking her best bet would be to stick with all star cheer and move to an International team once she ages out (assuming there's one reasonably close). If not, I think she'll be forced into choosing a school offering STUNT or NCATA if she wants to continue in cheer.

King · Aug 22, 2012

Is allstar breeding this entire generation of talented cheerleaders who, largely, just dont care in general for sidelines?

MyGirlCheers · Aug 22, 2012

Possibly. I think there are two distinct all star athletes. Those who started in all stars and those who started in pee wee/rec/school sideline cheer. The ones who started in all stars tend to be the ones who want nothing to do with sideline cheer. Not all who started in all star feel that way, but I don't know any who started in sideline and then moved to all stars who won't consider sideline.

MomOf2ThatsMe · Aug 22, 2012

Our gym just started (with university approval/collab) a club team for the local university. It is specifically geared towards fulltime and part-time students who want to continue with competitive cheerleading. I think tryouts are in a couple weeks, but the response seems very positive. Many students simply do not have the time to dedicate to daily 6 a.m. workout sessions, practice every day, and virtually every weekend being tied up. Some programs such as teaching, nursing, etc. that require on-site training just don't allow for it due to time constraints. Some students simply are not interested in sideline.

True story: We aren't a "sportsy" family. We don't go to games or follow any teams., so my kids have never seen cheerleaders on the sidelines. My best friend's daughter ended up doing sideline cheer through the Upward sports organization. We went to her first, um... whatever you call it when they cheer at a game, and when they were doing cheers & chants Cp looks at me and says "Mom, what are they doing?". She honestly had no idea that cheerleaders do cheers for teams.

Ashley · Aug 22, 2012

MyGirlCheers said:
My CP hates the idea of sideline cheer and absolutely refuses to do it. Yes, she wants to cheer in college, but she wants competition team only (not STUNT or NCATA, either). Also, she's a base and not a flyer, which further limits her in collegiate cheer. I'm thinking her best bet would be to stick with all star cheer and move to an International team once she ages out (assuming there's one reasonably close). If not, I think she'll be forced into choosing a school offering STUNT or NCATA if she wants to continue in cheer.

They exist, there's lots of lower profile all-girl teams that are clubs and not funded by their schools that only compete. Lots of the teams in D3 all-girl at NCA nationals, for example.

And, if she decides to go to a bigger school, sideline cheering might be a necessary evil, but at least it's DI then, which is 1million times better than high school sideline cheering.

King · Aug 22, 2012

Let me say I really do enjoy the sidelines. College football and basketball (and at my alma mater volleyball) are highly enjoyable to cheer at. But this whole mental shift from what a cheerleader looks at their job being. TBH the ability to perform skills past level 1 halfs are not really necessary for crowd leading. So when a team is selected for such high level skills... what is it for? Competition. We live in this duality where it is quite an honor to be selected to crowd lead for a certain university and we choose these people for these high level skills... yet competition is just a second afterthought.

You get picked for a team based on skills which are not used for the main reason you are cheering.

Babs · Aug 22, 2012

kingston said:
Is allstar breeding this entire generation of talented cheerleaders who, largely, just dont care in general for sidelines?

I don't think allstar is breading cheerleaders who don't care for sideline, I think allstar brings people into cheerleading who would have never considered being a sideline cheerleader otherwise. Then, once they enjoy allstar they decide (or mom encourages) to give school cheering a try. So I think allstar brings more people into sideline.

Of course the problem is they are two completely different activities that are called the same thing.

Babs · Aug 22, 2012

Ashley said:
They exist, there's lots of lower profile all-girl teams that are clubs and not funded by their schools that only compete. Lots of the teams in D3 all-girl at NCA nationals, for example.

And, if she decides to go to a bigger school, sideline cheering might be a necessary evil, but at least it's DI then, which is 1million times better than high school sideline cheering.

University of Georgia is a Division I school that has a competition team at the club level.

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