All-Star Allstar And High School: Can Athletes Do Both? Whose Decision Is It?

[MG...That's Me]

I would just like some opinions on the benefits and downfalls of being a LV5 worlds athlete and doing a High School Cheer Team that is competitive. Also, I would like some input on who should make the decision to do both or choose one team. Does an Allstar Gym have the ability to tell athletes they are not aloud to do high school cheer?

 

[cheerKT]

I would just like some opinions on the benefits and downfalls of being a LV5 worlds athlete and doing a High School Cheer Team that is competitive. Also, I would like some input on who should make the decision to do both or choose one team. Does an Allstar Gym have the ability to tell athletes they are not aloud to do high school cheer?

Sure the gym would be able to, but I think that wouldn't be smart on their part to drive away business.

Most of the time if athletes have to pick one or the other the decision comes from the High School League or whoever oversees school cheer in the state. Occasionally it comes from an individual coach as well who just doesn't support their athletes doing allstars.

I would say nearly all of this regulation comes from the high school side. I'm sure there are allstar gyms who forbid their athletes to do school cheer, but I personally have never heard of one.

 

[quitthedrama]

An all star gym can really do whatever they want - there are no regulations regarding what they can permit and can't permit in this instance. I have seen some all-star gyms say you can't do high school cheer at all, and some high school coaches do not allow their athletes to do all-star. Some all-star gyms allow high school cheer for football season and not basketball, and some allow both.
My CP's high school only cheers for football and her all star gym has no issue with it but all-star practices come first. She has the benefit of being able to cheer for games (which she loves) and getting that experience since she wants to cheer in college. The drawback can be depending on practice schedules, it can be a lot to handle both teams. It can also be frustrating if you have a coach that has no experience and does not know safety rules, proper technique, etc.

 

[glitterandbows]

I think one of the biggest benefits to being able to do both is the preparation for college. High school gives you that game day experience and allstar gives you training on skills that often aren't worked on at school. I'm sure allstar gyms can say no to an athlete doing high school cheer, but usually it comes from the school and some athletic association rule. zthere is also the case where neither side explicitly says no, but the schedules conflict so much that it forces one to choose.

 

[SuperSand5]

In Illinois, girls cannot compete on both a high school team and allstars. They have to choose one or the other per IHSA rules. A lot of times, girls will sideline cheer during football season and then do allstars when that season is over.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I think one of the biggest benefits to being able to do both is the preparation for college. High school gives you that game day experience and allstar gives you training on skills that often aren't worked on at school. I'm sure allstar gyms can say no to an athlete doing high school cheer, but usually it comes from the school and some athletic association rule. zthere is also the case where neither side explicitly says no, but the schedules conflict so much that it forces one to choose.

The game day presence/cheer component is a HUGE in terms of college cheer requirements.

I post all the time in the college forum that the kids who have the easiest time with their college cheer tryouts are those who have school experience in addition to all star.

I would strongly consider that if one's gym or school program allows, that athletes do both. Even if it's just like, JV school cheer. That time under the lights with leading the crowd is quite advantageous.

Unfortunately, my school cheer team is the competitive squad. So we have quite the crazy schedule and I cannot excuse girls for AS practice. It has not worked out in the past for most of my girls to do both, but with the advent of half-year and limited travel all star programs, I have been able to become more flexible, as their practices and comps do not consistently overlap with mine.

As far as my all star kids, they have the easier time as practices for us are 2x week and we do not begin to compete until November. So if you wanted to cheer for football at your school, you could do it. As far as basketball and comp goes, my AS girls have 4 absences to be used as they wish, as long as it is not for our comps or choreography. So girls can save them and use them for (example) the day your bball team goes to the playoffs and plays on a practice night.

I'll admit to not always being a good "sharer" but I am certainly trying to learn because I know that doing both has value.

 

[cheernerd5678]

I do both! I only do football and competition season though. I don't do basketball because my experience sophomore year (I was doing just school that year) was awful and ridiculously busy. It can be a lot some weeks, but it's doable. I'm in all AP or honors courses and I manage to get my homework done and maintain a 3.95 GPA. I imagine that if you don't have good time management it would be really hard.
It helps that my allstar coach tries to work with our schedule and school cheer things are excused, but I didn't miss any practices for it last year, just showed up late sometimes. But my gym and school are 2 minutes from each other

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[gymcatmomx2]

I don't know about the rules in other states, but in Texas you can do both. At our high schools and middle schools, 90% of the cheerleaders are in all-stars. Most of the gyms in our area work around football schedules since there are so many schools that have state champion caliber teams and usually make it to at least the second round of playoffs. Last year 3 high schools, within 30 minutes of each other, we're state champions in their divisions; 2 were from the same county. So high school cheer and all-star cheer are very inter-dependent in the DFW area.

 

[ErinS]

An all star gym can really do whatever they want - there are no regulations regarding what they can permit and can't permit in this instance. I have seen some all-star gyms say you can't do high school cheer at all, and some high school coaches do not allow their athletes to do all-star. Some all-star gyms allow high school cheer for football season and not basketball, and some allow both.
My CP's high school only cheers for football and her all star gym has no issue with it but all-star practices come first. She has the benefit of being able to cheer for games (which she loves) and getting that experience since she wants to cheer in college. The drawback can be depending on practice schedules, it can be a lot to handle both teams. It can also be frustrating if you have a coach that has no experience and does not know safety rules, proper technique, etc.

When my sister did high school and all star, the gym owner made sure that high school practices and games came first, especially during HS competition season.

 

[cheerKT]

When my sister did high school and all star, the gym owner made sure that high school practices and games came first, especially during HS competition season.

That's the way it always was for us too. High school practices came first until that season was over in November.

 

[amanda-flips]

I'm from Texas and several girls who are level 3/4 squads at the allstar gym are on JV cheer.


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[vannahlexis]

It's illegal to compete high school and all star in Michigan. You can cheer football season and all star if you want, just no competitive.


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[MG...That's Me]

Thank you Thank you Thank you! I was just curious because I thought it was outrageous for an Allstar program to think they can dictate what their athlete's do in their free time. As long as you are at the gym during your practice times and able to commit 100% to your allstar team and program; then athlete's should be able to do what they want outside of those practice times. Plus for the athletes sake they are preparing themselves to be the total package for college try outs. Thanks for the help. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one that thought it was a little bit crazy.

 

[cheermomforever]

In our area it is mainly the HS coach who says you can't do both. Some ok it and some don't, I don't think so many AS coach make u decide as long it does not interfere with practices.


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[cheerisloving]

It's common for girls to do football and then Allstar where I'm from. I live in NoVa, and I know Fairfax county cut basketball cheer years ago so it's really been am advantage for those girls to cheer football and do HS comp without it really interfering with AS. My county however still has basketball cheer, my school having a really solid basketball team that is pretty succesful.

This is the first year that we've had girls do AS but none of them were varsity so missing practice in the fall, and missing the basketball games in the winter wasn't to bad. Some have even signed on for half year. My coach is not against it but it will be interesting to see how she handles it as more girls join AS.