All-Star Trying Out At Two Gyms

The PAC did a Cheer Parents 101 document and part of this discussed what to do if your child wanted to start cheering allstar. Here is a list of questions we suggested you ask while visiitng. The questions are geared to the family that is just starting with the sport but I think they are applicable for anyone evaluating a program.

What is your operating, mission, or value statement?

How long have you been in operation?

Are there other businesses connected to the gym and how does that affect us?

Is the gym USASF certified?

How many teams do you currently have? How many cheerleaders?

What division and age levels are these?

What are the practice/tumbling/ or other class time commitments for these?

How many competitions do you go to a year? Regionals? Nationals?

Why are certain competitions chosen?

Do you adjust the competition schedule throughout the year?

How do you handle travel? Travel with parents or as a team?

Are your coaches USASF certified instructors? Are they safety certified?

What is the cost breakdown?

Does this include everything or will there be later costs?

How are payments handled?

Do you provide sibling discounts?

What are the costs of uniforms? Can we purchase/rent used ones?

Do you provide fundraising opportunities for parents?
What do you require for hair and makeup during competition times?

Are practice clothes provided? T-shirts? Tanks? Sports Bras? Shorts?

How do you keep us informed?

Who do I contact with a problem?

When are your tryouts and is my child guaranteed a spot on some team?

What do you require to be considered for a certain level?

Do you allow/encourage/ or require crossovers (cheering on multiple teams)?

What is your policy for missing practices?

CAPheebersMom said:

United DFW Tryout Packet.pdf - Google Drive

I found an example of what I was talking about. This is a small gym with 2 locations in DFW...scroll to page 3...you have to pay a $175 commitment fee before being placed on a team (at that's the "early bird" amount), and then if you leave for any reason other than injury or relocation more than 30 miles they charge you for the whole season PLUS $150. To me that is BS....
Crazy!!!

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Uhm...NO. The last they would see of me is my back as I walked out their door.

k.woow said:

tryouts dont give you an idea of how the practices are going to be ran all season or how the gym is as a whole. it just lets you know what team you make.

id say tryout at both BUT like they say "the grass is never greener on the other side"

Best of luck!

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I totally agree. For tryouts and in the beginning the atmosphere can be very different than when practices have been going for a month or two. I have heard quite a few people who want to leave our current gym for a rival team because their teams (mostly Senior teams) are doing a little better than ours. However we have had athletes come from that gym to ours as well and don't talk too highly of their old gym...it's tricky...best of luck!!

IMO you don't belong to a gym until all the paperwork is in and you've made your first payment...why not have options?

CharlotteASMom said:

The PAC did a Cheer Parents 101 document and part of this discussed what to do if your child wanted to start cheering allstar. Here is a list of questions we suggested you ask while visiitng. The questions are geared to the family that is just starting with the sport but I think they are applicable for anyone evaluating a program.

What is your operating, mission, or value statement?

How long have you been in operation?

Are there other businesses connected to the gym and how does that affect us?

Is the gym USASF certified?

How many teams do you currently have? How many cheerleaders?

What division and age levels are these?

What are the practice/tumbling/ or other class time commitments for these?

How many competitions do you go to a year? Regionals? Nationals?

Why are certain competitions chosen?

Do you adjust the competition schedule throughout the year?

How do you handle travel? Travel with parents or as a team?

Are your coaches USASF certified instructors? Are they safety certified?

What is the cost breakdown?

Does this include everything or will there be later costs?

How are payments handled?

Do you provide sibling discounts?

What are the costs of uniforms? Can we purchase/rent used ones?

Do you provide fundraising opportunities for parents?
What do you require for hair and makeup during competition times?

Are practice clothes provided? T-shirts? Tanks? Sports Bras? Shorts?

How do you keep us informed?

Who do I contact with a problem?

When are your tryouts and is my child guaranteed a spot on some team?

What do you require to be considered for a certain level?

Do you allow/encourage/ or require crossovers (cheering on multiple teams)?

What is your policy for missing practices?

Click to expand...

When we were 'exploring' our options, we did just this; we interviewed the owners and coaches of the gym. We treated it like a job interview or even an interview of a nanny. It is someone you are trusting with your child, your money and your child's potential future. I, too asked some of the above questions but also requested names and numbers of parents of new athletes, veteran athletes, and parents of athletes who came from other gyms. They were happy and willing to provide them. I wanted a perspective from all of them. You deserve the answers to these questions and when I asked these questions, they realized that I was serious about my CP's cheer experience with them at their gym and that I didn't take switching gyms lightly. I think that I gained respect for them and that they gained respect for me. They also gave CP time for questions: she asked about the teams and team make up for the following year, practice schedule, and coaches for the teams and they asked her if she liked the gym, had questions about the gym itself, or wanted to come back and work specifically with any of the athletes. It was a good experience overall to interview and research options prior to tryouts rather than going in there blindly, not knowing about the program, its beliefs, goals, and make up so and we couldn't say that we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. As an afterthought, we only had one regret: that we didn't switch gyms sooner than we did!!

A gym in our area requires a commitment fee at tryouts. Last season, the athletes were required to pay the commitment fee before the teams were finalized (before tryouts were officially over). I think that is extremely shady.