All-Star Gyms Turning Kids Away

[megsmom]

As a team mom at a large gym, I can tell you without a doubt that kids are not being turned away. We added a girl to our Minis team with 3 weeks left in the season last year! We added 4 new teams from last year to handle all if the new kids and each team is still over because we know over the summer kids will leave, gain skills, etc. any gym that turns kids away apparently isn't in this as a business. Just my opinion.


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[mstealtoyou]

I guess that I'm in the minority when I say I think it's sad that kids with no skill are getting turned away from a level 1 team. What happened to building the skill? Are coaches not wanting to spend the time with kids anymore to develop these skills and still be competitive?

I'm with you on this one!

 

[momma2mycheerprincess]

I'm with you on this one!

Me too!!

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[5-6-7-8]

Me too!!

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Me three! It sure makes it hard to be competitive in level 1 when some gyms require front / back walkovers.


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[CheerMomNTx]

It's not that coaches don't want to teach them, it's that you can't be competitive with brand new kids. Mini 1 is BRUTAL. You can't go to a competition in mini 1 with new cheerleaders and even place in the top half, which is usually top 5 since there are sooo many teams. It's rough.
I would rather allow that kid to begin and get out there and lose a few times, but it's not always a fun process. But hey, you have to start somewhere and if someday they want to be on a higher level, you have to build a good foundation...

Well not sure if a program such as Stingrays absolutely requires Bwo/fwo to be apart of their mini or tiny team but I wouldn't think they turned away kids if they didn't have the skill, and they are pretty darn successful at level 1.


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[cheermommaRN]

During the whole "Livi got cut from Grape" joke on twitter, Stingrays tweeted that they absolutely DO NOT cut kids from tiny 1...and that team is probably one of the most competitive tiny 1's in the country.
To be fair, every kid that tried out at CA that registered before tryouts was placed (not including IOC, which has age restrictions), the kids that have been waitlisted are being placed in what I would consider a timely manner. One of cp's friends was only on the list a short time before being placed on Swooshcats. No lower level kids were "cut" or suggested to the prep program as far as I know. They did add a 2nd tiny show team called Show Kittens but I think that had more to do with age/maturity then skill set.
My opinion is that all star prep has made it more feasible for big gyms to create strong teams. As much as I think it stinks for a kid to want travel team and get prep, it benefits the athlete and the gym for them to develop their skills at an "academy" level before going "club". Now instead of having a half a team struggling with a BWO, you can place them on a novice team in your prep program and just have the strongest level 1's on your all star team. I think it slightly hurts the smaller gyms that don't have prep programs to place these kids on.

 

[NEliteSteven]

This year, we for the first time didn't place a girl on our team. It was one of those tragic cases of a girl that had no coordination and was extremely immature for her age. There was no way we were going to "create" a junior 2 just because of her, and placing her on Senior 2 would have been a death wish. It happens. And I think she's sticking around for our half year team, which is what she needs.

 

[taytay]

I have personally been turned away from a gym because they didn't have my level and didn't want to bump me up or down a level by making a team go large with one extra girl. I think it's rude and unprofessional. WHO TURNS AWAY BUSINESS?!?!?! Especially in this economy and this business

 

[xtremeteal4life]

Not to be rude back, but I know the daughter of the woman who started allstar cheerleading Hilda McDaniel. She told me personally that Hilda started allstar back in the 80s because the pop warner girls she was coaching that did not make cheer in school wanted to keep cheering. Thus allstar was born. PS.....check Wikipedia under allstar cheer.

GAC was the first Allstar gym opened that is still in business right? @Bluecat can you confirm this from that thread? Anyway, the girls at our school in Greensboro couldn't compete like some high school teams could at these regional, state, and national championships and thus, how Allstar was founded here in Greensboro initially. I believe when it first opened up they were by invitation only (or at least asked). The requirements to even go to GAC were a BHS, and standing back tuck if memory serves me correctly. They were a lot harder than HS cheer here at the time, but at some point many years after I was done w/HS I believe they started allowing kids on teams in the county/state to compete.

 

[njallday]

i am not saying it's okay to cut a kid just for the heck of it... but what's so terrible with it or sending them to a half year/prep team?


in this town you can't just "sign up" for all star baseball. you sign up for a regular season of little league (where no one gets cut) and they scout/recruit/invite you to play all star which runs through the end of summer - fall. you can't just walk on an all star team because you're willing to pay. you still need the skills to be there. this scenario could easily be translated to cheerleading in the coming years. little league = all star prep, and they invite you on to an all star team.

just the other day i was talking to a woman i work with who just signed her daughters up for rec soccer. they don't "cut" anyone either. however, after evaluations, they placed one of her daughters on a training team. they don't play games in the league - instead while everyone else is playing games on saturdays, they meet, run drills for one hour, and then scrimmage each other for an hour. most of the kids on that training team are happy with it and are growing the skills to eventually be competitive. again, why is it so terrible if this is how cheer becomes?

i am with @Coach Tamara on this one. all star prep may very well become the future for new kids.

 

[catlady]

Well not sure if a program such as Stingrays absolutely requires Bwo/fwo to be apart of their mini or tiny team but I wouldn't think they turned away kids if they didn't have the skill, and they are pretty darn successful at level 1.


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They do not turn kids away because of skill level. My daughters Sr. Level 1 two years ago had 7 back walkovers out of a team of 28 at the beginning of the season. They finished the season with all but 4-5 having one. About half had front walk overs by end of season. Tiny, Mini, and Youth usually have more percentage wise at the beginning of the season but, those that don't, usually get them fairly quickly.


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[Ashley]

i am not saying it's okay to cut a kid just for the heck of it... but what's so terrible with it or sending them to a half year/prep team?


in this town you can't just "sign up" for all star baseball. you sign up for a regular season of little league (where no one gets cut) and they scout/recruit/invite you to play all star which runs through the end of summer - fall. you can't just walk on an all star team because you're willing to pay. you still need the skills to be there. this scenario could easily be translated to cheerleading in the coming years. little league = all star prep, and they invite you on to an all star team.

Pop-Warner/Rec leagues are probably a better comparison to little league than all-star prep. You're right though that all-star has no obligation to take everyone.

 

[BlueCat]

Why are we trying to focus on whether anyone gets turned away? That is like trying to slam 24 Hour Fitness for letting people join who aren't in shape.

 

[Cheeranswers]

i am not saying it's okay to cut a kid just for the heck of it... but what's so terrible with it or sending them to a half year/prep team?


in this town you can't just "sign up" for all star baseball. you sign up for a regular season of little league (where no one gets cut) and they scout/recruit/invite you to play all star which runs through the end of summer - fall. you can't just walk on an all star team because you're willing to pay. you still need the skills to be there. this scenario could easily be translated to cheerleading in the coming years. little league = all star prep, and they invite you on to an all star team.

just the other day i was talking to a woman i work with who just signed her daughters up for rec soccer. they don't "cut" anyone either. however, after evaluations, they placed one of her daughters on a training team. they don't play games in the league - instead while everyone else is playing games on saturdays, they meet, run drills for one hour, and then scrimmage each other for an hour. most of the kids on that training team are happy with it and are growing the skills to eventually be competitive. again, why is it so terrible if this is how cheer becomes?

i am with @Coach Tamara on this one. all star prep may very well become the future for new kids.

but this is exactly why cheerleading has so many levels

 

[SparkleSpankies]

but this is exactly why cheerleading has so many levels

I agree, why have levels if you won't even try to accomodate? Lets face it, if you don't see potential in kids as a gym, you are missing something. We had a girl brand new to cheer try out a month ago and is an incredible base w/ 4 weeks of bi-weekly practice.... still needs work, but that's improvment.. hitting libs already.