All-Star Can A Cheerleader Lose Their Skills Has They Grow And Their Body Changes?

[cheermominar]

I was just wondering if a child that has awesome skills (7,8,9 years) can lose that ability as their body changes (puberty)? Ex., going from a flat chested shortest/smallest girl in their class, stick child to a growth spurt, curvy puberty, busty changing teen. I was just wondering, if people have seen this happen. My daughters 1st grade teacher was telling me how her daughter use to-do gymnastics, she could do a tuck etc. but has her body changed her her ability's also changed. I use to be a tiny girl in school, I did stay short but became curvy and my bra size was larger then my classmates.

 

[CGAcheer]

If you stop tumbling for a while and have a completely different body when you come back, yes. If you keep up with frequent tumbling before during and after you should stay consistent.

 

[12stepCheermom]

If you don't maintain consistency. I also think it depends how fast they change. My daughter hasn't had issues with that because she's in the gym every week and is a steady grower. My son, grew about 12 inches (at least) since he started cheer three years ago and he spurts. He will literally put on an inch seemingly overnight. I've seen him struggle (one cause his joints hurt when he spurts like that) and two because his center of gravity changes or his feet are suddenly farther away than they were. But he usually has a bad week or so and then gets comfortable with where he is again and he's fine. I've seen the same thing in girls that spurt up in growth too. The key is working through it. If you're taking time out while you're growing like that, I imagine you would have to start back several steps.

 

[The Sixth]

Absolutely! As a child gets older, obviously they will grow, but you never know which way. Weight is a given, but proportions can shift. For example, a small torso can catch up to long limbs, or short limbs can catch up to normal torsos.

Children will become less pliable as well. As CGAcheer says, if they can stay consistent in their training, it should help lessen the problem. But huge growth spurts are going to be a bigger challenge than slower ones.

Just as there are potential negatives though, there are potential positives. Hormonal changes and growth can also allow bodies to become much more proportionally stronger.

Bottom line, the answer is yes. And as the years progress you may find that you need to work a little harder for some stuff, and possibly not as hard for other stuff.

 

[WHOA tiger]

Not only is this a problem for girls when they are growing, but there is always the "college curse." Girls that lose all of their skills when they get to college due to weight game, bodily "enhancements", and just overall not having the time to take tumbling class as much as they used to.

 

[mstealtoyou]

I didn't notice my CP lose skills per se.....she kept the running tumbling that she had......she just struggled with believing that her "new" body (height wise) was going to land her "newish" skill. In this case a full. She had it for well over a year before she would throw it by herself. She wasn't that lucky with the jumps to tucks. She had and lost that skill 3 different times between the ages of 7 and 10.

1 season she grew 6 inches.

 

[Twinklilstarsmom]

Its absolutely true. My daughter, as a 5,6,7 year old tumbler, had advanced skills. She had a growth spurt at 7 and it threw her whole center of gravity off. She was unable to do things that were easy to her. It took lots of drills and renforcements for her to gain her skills back. She's still growing fast, however she's in the gym working it out. She has all of her skills back and some new ones. She used to be able to throw anything becuase she had no fear now she's very cautious.

 

[IloveSeniorElite]

Not only is this a problem for girls when they are growing, but there is always the "college curse." Girls that lose all of their skills when they get to college due to weight game, bodily "enhancements", and just overall not having the time to take tumbling class as much as they used to.

So true... we used to say my college cheer program was the place where tumbling comes to die.
I also notice growth spurts affecting flyer's ability to do things like double down for awhile, or their body positions totally change and they have to learn to be flexible all over again.

 

[kylielynda]

Yes, for sure! I've seen it happen multiple times at my gym! Not to the point that they lose large amounts of tumbling, but for the girls i knew, they kind of had to reteach themselves how to do their standing tucks because now that they were getting taller, they were falling lol. It didn't take them too long though!

 

[NJ Coach]

I didn't notice my CP lose skills per se.....she kept the running tumbling that she had......she just struggled with believing that her "new" body (height wise) was going to land her "newish" skill. In this case a full. She had it for well over a year before she would throw it by herself. She wasn't that lucky with the jumps to tucks. She had and lost that skill 3 different times between the ages of 7 and 10.

1 season she grew 6 inches.

Little Bit isn't quite so little anymore. More like really tall, but still young, bit.

 

[mstealtoyou]

Little Bit isn't quite so little anymore. More like really tall, but still young, bit.

It's true! We can call her tall bit if you want to. LOL

 

[Mamarazzi]

LittleRazzi grew 5 inches and gained 20 lbs in 15 months. The core skills that she had for a long time stuck around ok, but she did have to do some clean-up because of her center of gravity changing. She's still working back into 2-to-full and doubles, though, 3 months later. The advice she was given was "Keep tumbling through it (the growth/body change.)"

 

[Level5Mom]

Hailey maintained all her skills through her growth spurt, but it wasnt easy. Standing tumbling was the only challenge. On any given day she may struggle with something that was easy for her the week before. She could still land, but it took tremendous effort and usually looked really "off". The skill was usually back strong after a couple weeks.

Tumble through it, and it will even itself out quickly in most cases. Keep in mind that just because a girls height has leveled off doesn't mean her shape won't continue to change. Most girls grow tall first, then they get their curves later (center of gravity shift.....i.e. hips widen).

It seems to be common for many high school girls to stop tumbling as often because they get very busy with life outside of the gym. Less tumbling combined with growth spurts/gravity shifts usually doesn't end well. Keep them tumbling often!!

 

[xomckenzieee]

Not only is this a problem for girls when they are growing, but there is always the "college curse." Girls that lose all of their skills when they get to college due to weight game, bodily "enhancements", and just overall not having the time to take tumbling class as much as they used to.

If I tried to do even half of the stuff I used to do before college, I think my body would fall apart.

 

[Angelica]

I Agree with level5mom, keep them tumbling! Before I got my hips and all the other glorious things you get as you get older, things were a lot easier. But I will say if you have learned proper technique while doing certain things it won't be as hard after you grow. I have more off weeks I feel the more I get older, it's weird