All-Star Crossover Hints. How Did You Survive Two Teams?

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mamabear

Cheer Parent
Jul 10, 2012
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My ten year old is crossing this year. I am asking for crossover hints. How did you survive two teams?I think my biggest fear (not counting logistics) is that she will have two uniforms . I really don't want her losing a few hundred dollars worth of sparkles during the day. Help ;)
 
And does anyone have suggestions for quickly switching out bows?
 
Yes! Assuming you use multiple elastics for the ponytail, instead of using the elastic that comes on the bow take a zip tie and secure it to one of the random elastics so on comp day you just have to do a quick snip of the zip tie and then secure the next bow. I hope this makes sense it's a little harder to explain than I thought lol.
 
We didn't have the uniform issue, but we barely survived the last year my kid crossed. Practices overlapped and she never got to tumble. Competition times were almost always first team of the day and last session of the day (except for UCA when one team was at warmups at WWOS while her other was competing at Indiana Jones). It was awful. Never again!! Hopefully the comp schedules allow for enough time to change but won't keep you there all day! Can you meet her with her second uniform right after she competes so that you can help her change and make sure you have all of the pieces accounted for?
 
Yes! Assuming you use multiple elastics for the ponytail, instead of using the elastic that comes on the bow take a zip tie and secure it to one of the random elastics so on comp day you just have to do a quick snip of the zip tie and then secure the next bow. I hope this makes sense it's a little harder to explain than I thought lol.
Wow, this is a great idea!
 
You might want to consider bagging the uniforms separately with your daughters name on it. If the teams have a team mom give the bag for the "next " team to the team mom. She will be able to make sure your daughter is changed and ready for her next team and be able to keep all of the uniform pieces together. This works great when the compete times are really close.

Also, I know our bows have the elastic AND pieces that can be tied to the ponytail. I always use ONLY the tie pieces and tie the bow to my daughters ponytail (tied once to avoid a knot - knots make it harder to get out quickly). I keep it secure by using 6 bobby pins - 2 on each bow tail in a criss-cross and the last 2 over the tie pieces to keep it tied. This makes it easy to just move the bobby pins from the bow and put in the new bow.
 
My suggestion is a garment bag; we don't cross, but when younger did dance a lot of the kids double, tripled and even quad teams. They make bags with pockets, specifically for dance, and they would put everything they needed for each outfit in a separate pocket. It also meant only carrying one thing around at competition.
 
We crossed for 2 seasons and took this year off from crossing (she was asked and said no thank you).

* The biggest thing was getting our report times and performance times as soon as possible and coming up with a game plan for coordinating the day.

* I always packed her 2nd uniform in a large ziploc bag with her name and team written on the bag, and included the bow. That way quick changes could be done.

* I never mastered the quick change with the bow and settled with the fact that I was going to have to touch up the hair. One comp the co-owner offered to help CP change because she had 15 min between performance times (she was a Tiny crossing to a Youth team and needed help). I was standing in the fan zone and to my horror, CP's bow was half falling out, flopping like a limp pancake, and twisted sideways with a nasty case of bedhead. After that incident I was given permission to keep the same bow in her hair for whatever team she was with 1st. The co-owner discovered the time and energy our crossovers went through to get ready and how hair can be a nightmare.

* The hardest part was for her trying to figure out what team to hang out with at comp's. She was always either in warm up or performing and at different times, and could never hang out with her friends. She always ended up picking a favourite/preferred team even though the girls were all nice. She found she fit in with one team better than the other team.

* We were fortunate that both teams practiced the same night and back to back, so we didn't have to drive multiple days and feel like we were living at the gym. If don't know if we would have crossed if we had to be there 4 days for practices, plus another day for tumbling lessons.

* Mentally prepare to be at a comp ALL DAY. We reported early with her one team, and reported mid-day with the other team. So we didn't really have a chance to leave. Sometimes we'd leave for lunch and then had to rush back for her report time. The year she started crossing was the year I started wearing ear plugs to comp's and it helped reduce the cheer hangover from being there all day.
 
When's she was of age my daughter loved crossing over. We were lucky enough to be super close to gym so I could bring food/water to her if needed. She also coached a yth and SN teams which killed us more with early comp times and then her I5 team at night the majority of comps.


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Mine only crossed for two seasons, her last two years on a junior team. The second year she had two uniforms, and just changed into the second one as soon as she finished with the first one. Fortunately the bows were the same so that was not an issue for her. I always had mixed feelings about crossing over and was happy when it was no longer an option. I found the multiple nights of practice and one night of back to back practice much harder on me; competing twice at competitions was not difficult unless the two teams were scheduled too closely together.
 
Yes! Assuming you use multiple elastics for the ponytail, instead of using the elastic that comes on the bow take a zip tie and secure it to one of the random elastics so on comp day you just have to do a quick snip of the zip tie and then secure the next bow. I hope this makes sense it's a little harder to explain than I thought lol.

Omg that is so simple! I am surprised that I didn't think of it myself, since I use zip ties for everything! Thank you.


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Thank you all for the feedback! I really appreciate it. Luckily, her practices are on the same night, so we aren't making the drive everyday. She still gets to tumble with the higher level team (which was a major factor in our saying "yes") .

Comps will be long , but we usually stayed most of the day anyway. I am hoping things won't get too hectic. Her coach already told us not to worry about changing if the schedules are too tight.

Feeding her and the social aspects worry me. I am thankful that she is crossing with her bff. It will make things more fun (I hope). Both teams share a coach too, so hopefully I won't be running too much to keep up with her. (No one wants to see me run!)

I do have to say that the advice that I am absolutely going to take is lots of chocolate and wine [emoji7]


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Bit annoying when I used to cross over this year (JR2 and SR2) because as I was competing on JR2 literally when the SR2 team was back in warm ups, so I had only 15 mins inbetween until I competed on SR2
 
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Ditto to the uniform/bow in a labeled ziploc bag and the tied/bobby-pinned bow. Though I may have to try the zip tied bow idea this season - that's genius. Label everything!

Another competition tip, I make a schedule on my phone that looks similar to this.

Comp Name
Arena Address
Hotel Name
Hotel Address

Day 1
Team A
M - 12:00 bottom of escalator
W - 1:32
C - 2:06 Arena A

Team B
M - 1:30 team room 212
W - 3:25
C - 3:57 Arena B

Day 2
(repeat above formula above except add A for awards time and locations)

M = meet, W = warmups, C = compete
Then, as the day goes on, I'll delete the times off the note so I'll have less to confuse me and less to keep up with. Hide a flask in your boot and/or cleavage. Feed and rehydrate her as you safely can without upsetting her tummy before or between teams and decide this time in advance. Come to terms with the fact that you might be there all day and scope out a safe/quiet place to nap or rest when possible. Bring an extra phone charger or chargeable case. For larger comps (i.e. Cheersport) I make a printed schedule and wear it in a plastic lanyard around my neck. It keeps me from having to constantly pull out my phone. Make sure that before she takes off to warm ups with Team A that she knows where to go or who to follow after she comes off the floor with them.
 
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