All-Star Can You Explain The Pros And Cons Of Crossovers?

[cheermom1981]

So my daughter and I are still new to cheer and I hear about crossovers a lot at her gym. A lot of full year kids do this for the half year teams. What is this and is it encouraged or looked down on?
Thx for your responses..

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[cheermuse]

There is nothing wrong with crossovers. Crossing on a level above or below is fine. The strong opinions come when you have Level 5 athletes crossing on Level 2, 3 and when you have a lot of kids crossing. When you start seeing the same 10 kids on 3 diff level teams, makes you wonder.

My CP is a crossover Level 3 (both teams) The pro for her is the opportunity to make her level 3 skills stronger.

 

[mollymags]

Athletes are permitted to cross to two additional teams beyond their "home" team. It is allowed per the rules, but whether it is looked down upon or not in people's personal opinion varies a lot by how a gym uses crossovers. There is currently no industry wide restriction on what skill levels an athlete can cross between, but some competitions do put restrictions on it. I believe NCA Nationals only allows a certain number of crossovers per team/program, and they all must cross between the same level (level 1 to level 1, level 5R to level 5, etc).

Some programs put a vast majority of their athletes on 2-3 teams. Sometimes teams are made up almost entirely of crossovers from other teams. There are kids that really enjoy the challenge of being on multiple teams and learning different skills and routines and gyms allow them to cross. It can be considered a great learning opportunity for some athletes, because while a child may be a great Level 3 tumbler, they may really want to fly, but not be anywhere near having level 3 skills. So, they will get placed on a different, lower level team, where they can learn flying skills. Some gyms use crossovers to fill open spots on teams.

Other gyms rarely, if ever, use crossovers, sometimes only in cases of emergencies (injuries, illness, kids quitting last minute).

 

[Cheeranswers]

for me personally:
pros: major difference/progress, kept me busy, kept me fit, kept me motivated
cons: no free time, felt run down a lot, lots of travelling.

i did love being on more than one team though. i really think its helped me significantly as an athlete! if you have the time/money, i suggest it

 

[cheercurl]

This is probably a little slanted but I think BIG MEGA Gyms should not be allowed to cross athletes. For smaller gyms it is often a necessity to fill a team out so the majority can compete at an appropriate level. I don't get why a gym with 500 athletes would need to crossover a level 5 cheerleader to Sr 2.

 

[CheerBank]

This is the first year cp is crossing over; prior to this season, we did not allow her to.
She is on a Jr 3 and a Sr 4.
Pros: more time in gym, she is finally able to throw her level 4 tumbling skills, she has learned level 4 stunting skills, we get to see her compete twice at each competition
Cons: really none so far, although we pay more per month for tuition and more for the comp fees
We made it clear to her when we told her she could do two teams that if in any way her school work suffered because of the additional time in the gym, we would pull her from the second team (which would be the sr 4). If anything, it has forced her to be more organized and conscientious and improve her time management skills.

 

[CEAisstronger]

Actually, you can only compete on 3 teams at the same competition (unless the comp has more restrictions.) So theoretically you could be on 4 teams.

Pros: more work on stunting, tumbling, etc

Cons: less personal/school work time
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[smileyreilly96]

I crossover from senior 4.2 to senior 2. I love having the challenge of two routines and two different sets of sisters. My grades have never been better since I started crossing over! The only con is that I'm at the gym for four hours every other night which means I'm up late doing homework. Other than that, I love it!

 

[kristenthegreat]

There is a difference between two terms: crossovers and sandbagging. One can lead to the other. For example:

You are allowed up to 3 teams. Some gyms prefer to keep athletes on just the one team. Other gyms, like CEA who is probably most known for it, allow multiple athletes on multiple teams. It is great for an athlete who might be a higher level in one skill, or more proficient in one area the chance to improve their other stuff. For example: flying on Junior 5 and basing on Youth 5. Or tumbling on senior 3 and basing on junior 2.

Where people have an issue with it: when it becomes SANDBAGGING. Which is where an athlete is crossing over multiple levels, such as level 5 to level 2/3. Particularly, when a gym has multiple athletes and there appears to be no need to use that upper-level athlete. OR, if you have a large amount of upper level athletes (sometimes whole teams) crossing from a higher level to a lower. This was a problem for a larger gym a few years back. They had been VERY successful at I believe level 3, even winning some major nationals. They then took that same group of athletes, dropped them down a level and brought them to NCA where they ended up winning (unsurprisingly). Not kosher.

This is argued against because there's the belief that although everyone is competing on the same skill level, athletes who routinely compete at a higher level are stronger at the lower level skills. (IE- A level 3 tumbler will typically have a better back handspring than an athlete who ONLY competes level 2).

 

[retiredl5cheer]

I'm curious as to whether your half-year teams are competing in the all star prep division or in regular all star divisions. If they're competing all star prep, having crossovers from regular all star division teams is illegal.

 

[cheermom1981]

Thanks for all the responses..

RetiredI5cheer, they have an all star prep team, I believe level 1 and 2 for youth junior and senior. I know some of the level 3 and 4 full timers cross over.

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[eliteathletics]

My daughter had always crossed to help other teams. Our old gym did not make you pay additional for crossovers so it wasnt a financial burden but it kept us at the gym every night of the week. Pros- i got my monies worth in seeing her compete 2x at any given cometition, it kept her busy and out of trouble and if helped another team in our gyn. Was a no brainer for us. Plus she was the kind of kid that the busier she was the more organied and better she did in school.

 

[mollymags]

I'm curious as to whether your half-year teams are competing in the all star prep division or in regular all star divisions. If they're competing all star prep, having crossovers from regular all star division teams is illegal.

They could get around that rule by not bringing the Allstar and prep teams to the same competitions, although that seems kind of weird to do.


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[cheermom1981]

Mollymags, they actually have separate comps for the all star teams and all star prep teams. The prep teams only go to small invitationals around the vicinity of the gym.

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[retiredl5cheer]

Mollymags, they actually have separate comps for the all star teams and all star prep teams. The prep teams only go to small invitationals around the vicinity of the gym.

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Ugh. It really makes me angry when teams find a loophole like that and take advantage of it. I'd consider that sandbagging because PREP teams are supposed to be just that-- teams made of athletes who aren't ready for the full all-star experience.

ETA: I just saw the earlier response about having level 3 and 4 athletes crossing to level 1 prep teams. @cheermom1981 this in no regards reflects you, but I am very disappointed to hear that your gym is doing that. Although it's not outright cheating because they found the hole to make it legal, I find it to be really unethical. Does this make anyone else upset or am I oversensitive as a coach of a true prep team?