All-Star Communities Without A L5 Team

[DropAndRun]

Pinnacle Pineapples? Now that's a team name I can get behind!

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea..

 

[stingrayallstarsbri]

In Georgia, its obviously levels 1-6 everywhere. Stingrays, Georgia, Trinity, World of Cheer (my old gym, has r5) GA Heat all have some pretty talented level r5/5 teams.
Now in Wisconsin, Allstar cheerleading is basically unheard of near the Milwaukee area. I had no idea all-star cheer existed until I moved to Georgia. The closet gym is Heat Athletics (25-30 minutes) and they had a small senior 5 12-13 season and small coed 5 13-14 season. I think they're back to small senior 5 this year so thats good. But other than Heat Athletics, theres really nothing. The high school cheerleaders (ours and most in our conference's) cheerleaders weren't good at all. Around here cheerleading is a joke. Its really sad that people see it like that because not all cheerleaders are like that. Judging from the 14-15 team roster at heat, they don't have much level 1-2 interest. The only level 1 team they have is a youth team and only level 2 is junior. I like the gym though, but I just wish there was more options to cheer in Wisconsin. Its very limited.
Side note, I can't remember what they placed at worlds but I believe it was Top 15 in small senior. I think 12th. Can't wait to see them get better!

 

[Mo-Lissa]

I live in a metropolitan area in coastal SC with a population of 600K+. There are basically 6 All-Star gyms in the area. Only one has even a L4 team (which won NCA this year). There have been gyms in the area for more than 10 years. I am baffled that we simply cannot produce the interest/skill in a community of this size to generate a L5 team. Are there other similar sized communities that have the same problem? I have a few theories. One is that we do not have any large university presence where young people see skilled cheerleaders in action. Another is that our population is spread around a fairly large geographic area. Any other thoughts? Or ideas for increasing interest?


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I have pondered this question myself for years!!! Back in the day Wilmington Allstars was the deal!!! We were ahead of the times.... Then low and behold kids aged out, teams caught up with us, kids were not dedicated ect... There has not been a "true competitive" level five team in Wilmington in several years. It breaks my heart! I myself took my daughter to another gym so she could compete at her level. Which was a fabulous experience and year which I would not trade for anything, but I hate she had to leave her roots to pursue her dreams. I think that now people are more willing to travel to get to that next level than 10 years ago. We also house UNCW, which has not had much of of a pull of kids.

 

[cheeromgbre]

In Georgia, its obviously levels 1-6 everywhere. Stingrays, Georgia, Trinity, World of Cheer (my old gym, has r5) GA Heat all have some pretty talented level r5/5 teams.
Now in Wisconsin, Allstar cheerleading is basically unheard of near the Milwaukee area. I had no idea all-star cheer existed until I moved to Georgia. The closet gym is Heat Athletics (25-30 minutes) and they had a small senior 5 12-13 season and small coed 5 13-14 season. I think they're back to small senior 5 this year so thats good. But other than Heat Athletics, theres really nothing. The high school cheerleaders (ours and most in our conference's) cheerleaders weren't good at all. Around here cheerleading is a joke. Its really sad that people see it like that because not all cheerleaders are like that. Judging from the 14-15 team roster at heat, they don't have much level 1-2 interest. The only level 1 team they have is a youth team and only level 2 is junior. I like the gym though, but I just wish there was more options to cheer in Wisconsin. Its very limited.
Side note, I can't remember what they placed at worlds but I believe it was Top 15 in small senior. I think 12th. Can't wait to see them get better!

Side note: I loved this team in Small Senior, and I'm glad they're back in that division!

 

[emma_tuttle]

My area has 1 gym with 1 level 5 team. The problem is that I doubt we (realistically) don't have level 5 talent. Of my entire school cheer team (granted it's 12 athletes) there are: 1 girl with a good back handspring (working on getting 2 in a row), 1 boy that is working on his standing tuck (but can do it running), and everyone else is going to be getting their back handspring by the end of summer (that's our goal anyway). That is the only gym less than an hour away unless you count AAU competitive teams

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[stingrayallstarsbri]

As a person who goes to school in the Milwaukee area, theres basically no teams except for Heat. Once you get in towards Madison there are gyms but I dont believe they have a level 5.

Yeah, theres Cheer Wisconsin in Sun Prairie I think. That would be an hour away. And of course Green Bay Elite 4-6 hours away in De Pere. Those are really the only gyms I can remember atm

 

[CaliChar]

In the LA area of Cali there's basically no gyms or level 5 teams. There's a few gyms in the San Fernando Valley, but none currently have worlds or r5 teams (Cheerforce Simi Valley had Diamondz a few years back, but they haven't been around for two seasons). Worlds gyms are either in the Anaheim/Ontario/San Diego area or north of LA.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

^^^^The "cheer voids" in really big cities are so strange to me. Like, who'd ever think that there is NOT a L5 team somewhere in LA or NYC?

 

[Audrey]

^^^^The "cheer voids" in really big cities are so strange to me. Like, who'd ever think that there is NOT a L5 team somewhere in LA or NYC?

I would think this is because rent costs are so high in the city. It probably economically makes more sense to be outside of the city so you can reap the benefits of the large population with lower rent.
It's the same way in the big city I live in. There are no gyms I know of within 20 minutes of me but TONS once you get to the suburbs.

 

[DancinginTeal]

I am a huge advocate for The New York City AllStars!!! I even have some amazing team name ideas for them (lady liberty, skyscrapers

In all seriousness though I think a gym in NYC could be a success..I see a lot of successful dance studios for children out here. I think the only problem would be finding a space suitable for a cheer gym in the city and then paying for that space. Whoever could back it would need a huge bank account..or be willing to take out a massive loan.


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[shawtyyBHADDx3]

I am a huge advocate for The New York City AllStars!!! I even have some amazing team name ideas for them (lady liberty, skyscrapers

In all seriousness though I think a gym in NYC could be a success..I see a lot of successful dance studios for children out here. I think the only problem would be finding a space suitable for a cheer gym in the city and then paying for that space. Whoever could back it would need a huge bank account..or be willing to take out a massive loan.


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Off topic but my old gym's tiny team is named little lady liberty and they're like 15 minutes from the city across the river in Jersey City lol


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[DancinginTeal]

I had no idea there was one that close!!!!! Do you have any idea if kids from the city cheer there?? I don't know if I would drive my kid (nonexistent kid) out of the city for an extracurricular.


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[CheerBank]

I am a huge advocate for The New York City AllStars!!! I even have some amazing team name ideas for them (lady liberty, skyscrapers

In all seriousness though I think a gym in NYC could be a success..I see a lot of successful dance studios for children out here. I think the only problem would be finding a space suitable for a cheer gym in the city and then paying for that space. Whoever could back it would need a huge bank account..or be willing to take out a massive loan.


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I don't see it working in Manhattan at all (I'm thinking that is what you mean when you say NYC) and I'm sure that's one of the reasons we have yet to see a successful gym emerge from there. In addition to the high rents, the sheer logistics of commuting to a gym by public transportation is daunting. Additionally, there are so many things going on in the city that are not sports oriented that I just don't think the interest is high enough.
Cheer is definitely more of a suburban phenomenon around here, and all-star cheer stems a lot from the success of the youth leagues and high school teams. When I tell my friends who live in the city that my girls cheer, they look at me like I have three heads.
I could see an all-star gym being more successful in one of the outer boroughs like Brooklyn or Queens (both of whom I believe do have or have had small gyms), and there have been gyms on Staten Island as well (but that's very far removed from the city lol). I've never heard of a gym in the Bronx but there are some in Westchester which it borders.


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[shawtyyBHADDx3]

I had no idea there was one that close!!!!! Do you have any idea if kids from the city cheer there?? I don't know if I would drive my kid (nonexistent kid) out of the city for an extracurricular.


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I'm pretty sure it's really just Jersey City kids that cheer there, but I'm not positive. It's a really quick commute to the city but I'm not sure how many would actually make it. I know for a fact there's a rec team in Manhattan, my rec girls competed against them last season


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