Alternatives To All Star Cheer For Someone Too Old?

[raechill]

Hi, so I'm really new to cheer and this board, so I apologize if this has been asked before. I searched but couldnt find recent info on what I'm thinking about. Anyway, I ended up trying out for my non-competitive college cheer squad this year as a sophomore with no experience and I have fallen in love! I really only ended up on the team because I stopped by the team's table at the beginning of the year activity fair and some girls were really fixated on me being small. We were primarily sideline, but I was a flyer for the stunts/pyramids we did.

I would love to continue cheering and get better so I've done some research and learned about open teams. There are a few gyms somewhat near me that have open 4 teams. However, I'm definitely not level 4 material since I'm not very flexible and I have really weak tumbling, basically all my skills are bare minimum to make me useful for my current team. The bases really carried me and made everything happen since I had no experience.

Thinking about all of this and knowing that I have no experience with all star cheer, I am not very confident I would be able to make any of the open teams near me. I'm also not sure how common it is for someone to star all star in their 20s. Should I reach for trying out for the open teams or is there some other alternative I should look into?

 

[alexacheer2010]

A lot of open teams aren't entirely true to level. You may want to check them out because you can always learn more skills! Don't let the level discourage you, I'm on open 6 and most of my team doesn't tumble at all but we stunt level 6.

 

[emilyhaze]

I took adult gymnastics classes at the YMCA... a lot of gyms offer them too

 

[WinstonsGirl]

Ditto PP's. Tryout/go to open gyms wherever there is an Open 4 you are interested in. Many adult athletes don't tumble and many more beginner athletes start out on Open 4 teams. We have a lot of high school cheerleaders come to Open 4 as they don't have the all-star experience to do the higher level teams, but are able to hold their own on Open 4.

 

[charlie]

You are never too old to learn new skills. I cheered for one year when I was 17/18 with no experience, then not again till my first real year of college which was 20. Didn't start allstars till 23 and had a pretty successful time with it.
Just don't limit yourself to what other people consider old. If you wanna improve just spend as much time at a gym working as hard as you can and I'm sure results will follow! Yes tryout for any team you can. Being an alternate and working out with a team will only bring you closer to actually being on the team in future years Goodluck!

 

[raechill]

Thank you all for your answers! This is really helpful, especially seeing that there are some around my age who have started their all star journey later.

 

[Cheerleader of the Castle]

Never too old! Open levels are so much fun to compete with and honestly I've never understood Americans when they're like "last year! Ageing out! No more cheer " cause I'm over here like "uuuuum open international? Or just plane old open levels? Do y'all do that? Or is that just a weird every other country thing?"

Open is massive in Australia cause we do have a lot of mature cheerleaders (mature in age not in mind)

 

[DancerDude0118]

Never too old! Open levels are so much fun to compete with and honestly I've never understood Americans when they're like "last year! Ageing out! No more cheer " cause I'm over here like "uuuuum open international? Or just plane old open levels? Do y'all do that? Or is that just a weird every other country thing?"

Open is massive in Australia cause we do have a lot of mature cheerleaders (mature in age not in mind)

Hahaha..... I know, right? Where I'm from we have Open divisions for levels 2 & 3 on top of 4, 5 & 6. I think it's because cheerleaders in the U.S. start at such a young age, that by the time they complete their Senior careers their bodies just feel burnt-out. For almost everywhere else outside of North America, cheerleading is only taken more seriously in your mid to late-teens at earliest.....

ETA: Having said that, there is a growth in the number of tiny/mini/youth/junior-aged cheerleaders these days...... so Open 2 & 3 may not last too much longer.

 

[Official OWECheer]

Hi, so I'm really new to cheer and this board, so I apologize if this has been asked before. I searched but couldnt find recent info on what I'm thinking about. Anyway, I ended up trying out for my non-competitive college cheer squad this year as a sophomore with no experience and I have fallen in love! I really only ended up on the team because I stopped by the team's table at the beginning of the year activity fair and some girls were really fixated on me being small. We were primarily sideline, but I was a flyer for the stunts/pyramids we did.

I would love to continue cheering and get better so I've done some research and learned about open teams. There are a few gyms somewhat near me that have open 4 teams. However, I'm definitely not level 4 material since I'm not very flexible and I have really weak tumbling, basically all my skills are bare minimum to make me useful for my current team. The bases really carried me and made everything happen since I had no experience.

Thinking about all of this and knowing that I have no experience with all star cheer, I am not very confident I would be able to make any of the open teams near me. I'm also not sure how common it is for someone to star all star in their 20s. Should I reach for trying out for the open teams or is there some other alternative I should look into?

Not sure if this helps, but Sahil (the genius behind Addicted to Tumbling) started tumbling at age 17, and by age 19 he was a competitive power tumbler. I trust you can do it to. I believe Matt Faherty also started in his 20s.

 

[Ashley]

A lot of open teams aren't entirely true to level. You may want to check them out because you can always learn more skills! Don't let the level discourage you, I'm on open 6 and most of my team doesn't tumble at all but we stunt level 6.

Me too! I don't even a throw a backhandspring anymore and this year will be my 5th year competing at worlds with my level 6 team.

Give it a go!

 

[Helen uk uni cheer]

Never too old! Open levels are so much fun to compete with and honestly I've never understood Americans when they're like "last year! Ageing out! No more cheer " cause I'm over here like "uuuuum open international? Or just plane old open levels? Do y'all do that? Or is that just a weird every other country thing?"

Open is massive in Australia cause we do have a lot of mature cheerleaders (mature in age not in mind)

Every level in the uk is offered as open and there is no upper age cap for the senior division.
I currently compete senior 1 and I'm 21. The oldest is 26 and the youngest 11. It works as the older ones act as leader and sisters for the younger ones

 

[raechill]

Thanks so much everyone for the responses, it's really encouraging and making me excited to try out for some teams for next season!

For those of you who are on open teams but don't necessarily have the skills, what do your teams look for in tryouts? @alexacheer2010 @Ashley ?

 

[Ashley]

Thanks so much everyone for the responses, it's really encouraging and making me excited to try out for some teams for next season!

For those of you who are on open teams but don't necessarily have the skills, what do your teams look for in tryouts? @alexacheer2010 @Ashley ?

We don't really have formal tryouts. We have open gym pretty much all summer and for a few weeks into September and then they pick the team from that. I knew the coach from high school before I started cheering there, so they already knew I didn't tumble, but knew I could coed stunt. For me, that's what I focus on, because that's my strength on the team. I try and stunt with everyone, not just the best guys on the team to show that I'm versatile. If you're not tumbling, you need to show that you can make it work with any partner/stunt group.

 

[alexacheer2010]

Thanks so much everyone for the responses, it's really encouraging and making me excited to try out for some teams for next season!

For those of you who are on open teams but don't necessarily have the skills, what do your teams look for in tryouts? @alexacheer2010 @Ashley ?

Our team is pretty much open gym for the summer as well. We have an io5 team and io6 so the teams were split from there. You have to show off your strengths, and don't focus too much on the tumbling that you don't have. As long as you can prove you're an asset to the team then my coach keeps you there.

 

[Squeeeze]

If you don't have the skills I would say the importance is showing you have a willingness to learn. I know a LOT of adult aged cheerleaders and I find it personally frustrating when they use their age as an excuse not to work on jumps or tumble because when you join a team, you should be committed to helping achieve as many points available in competition and that means trying to be a good all round cheerleader.