All-Star How Do You Get To Practice?

[flyer10]

Yes, I only know what mapquest tells me. We're actually going to drive them next week and go see the gyms in person. I've been told it may be easier to get North than West at rush hour. But we're going to test it out and see which ones we can actually get to in the evenings. We're mostly looking at UA right now--we're supposed to go there next week for an evaluation. I may try to drive one weeknight this week and see how much of a nightmare it is.

We tried looking at gyms that could be gotten to on train, but all of them we had the same issue--getting from the train to the gym. And since we'll be new I feel a little weird asking people to pick my kids up at the train station. I'm hoping once we start somewhere and meet some people to find someone else who commutes from within the city and seeing if they want to carpool--like each of us drive one night a week. But for now I'll have to drive.

All my old cheer friends from VA are wondering what on earth is taking me 4 months to find a gym--THIS is the whole problem! We can't GET TO any!

And I want to make sure I'm going to be able to get them there EVERY PRACTICE before I commit. I sooooo do not want to be that mom that never brings her kids to practice.

 

[pailum520]

I didn't start cheer until I had my license unrestricted so I've always driven myself. Sometimes (depending on our schedules) I carpool with a friend of mine on my team who just happens to live 5 minutes from me.

 

[iCheer4G]

I sprout wings and fly! Doesn't everyone? Although sometimes Lady Gaga comes with me and we ride in matching eggs...

No my mom drives me... and our practices dont start til 730

 

[GoldChain]

I drive my self but my gym is less then 2 miles away; I could walk if i needed to.

 

[cheerleaderlauren2102]

My mom drives me now, but before my grandma did right after school. Like I actually changed in the backseat, but it worked out fine for me ahaha. My drive is around 35 minutes.

 

[omgitssydthekid]

My mom drives me 4-5 times per week and it's about a 45 minute drive.

 

[Mirandamae]

You guys are so old fashioned. Do you really not just take a private jet?!?... Just kidding. My mom drives me. Luckily, my gym is only 10 or 15 minutes away.

 

[The_cheer_obsessed]

my school ends at 4:15 and i take tumbling classes 5-6 and practice is 6-8..i ride by car cause my mom picks me up. on wednesdays i get out at 3 and i take tumbling classes 4:30-5:30 and practice is from 6-8..so i have a good hour not doing anything at the gym

 

[iluvcheer]

My current gym where I tumble is about 15-20 minutes away and I go 3 times a week to tumble. My possible new gym is 45-60 minutes away.

 

[XoxLibertyallstarsxox]

My mom and I carpool with two other girls from our area

 

[Audrey]

I have to drive myself. It's only 40 minutes but it's a scary drive.

 

[TheVipersMom]

Well as far as practice is concerned it's just a few minutes down the road and I drive my daughter so that's the easy part. She practice monday through Thursday and she has the be there at 5 and then on Sunday's she has to be there at 2!

My job requires I work 40 hours a week and the Sunday's are the hardest because I have to work 8-445 so I always have to get someone to take her. However; the Monday through Thursday is hard and I'm a young single mom. I have to work going in at 6 in the morning to 245 for everything to work out but that's not guaranteed. I work with 700 employees so it's very easy for anyone to get your time slot because they don't go off seniority! Of the 700 only about 20 are allowed to come in at 6 so I'm having to stress myself at work to stay ranked the highest so I can keep my schedule! Plus I'm going back to school full time so I'm taking 6 classes on campus a week!

I will leave my job before my daughter leaves cheer because regardless every hour through the week my daughter is not in school I refuse to work. It would make no sense for her to go into school and me be home then me go to work and someone else watch her. That is my daughter and I'm raising her and no one else! I love going to my daughters practices to see her grow! I miss Sunday's because I have to some times but I'm not going to miss it through the week! It is probably one of the most rewarding thing seeing her do what she loves!

So pretty much I understand where you are coming from when you started this topic. It's that constant struggle luckily I only have to deal with it from the job stand point to where you are having to juggle the job and transportation issues!
I'm sure it will work itself out it always does! So good luck with everything!

 

[mommadonna]

In my search for a gym, I've found that I apparently live in the center dot of a large perfect circle of cheer gyms--all of them seem to be an hour from us, no matter which direction. Most of the ones we've looked at have practice at 4:00 or 5:00 (maybe 6:00 if I'm lucky). So I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get my girls to practice (I'm also learning that cheerleading is definitely NOT an easy sport for a newly single mom to "do" alone). We don't even have a car because we live in the city and don't ever need one. So we'll be using ZipCar to get to practices, since the train doesn't go that far out of the city. But I'll have to leave work at least an hour early on practice days (fortunately my boss is awesome and has said this will be ok as long as I come in early those days).

So here's my 2 questions:
1. How do you get to practice? Car? Train? Walk?
2. How do most of you pull this off? I'm sure most people have jobs that go until 5:00, so why such early practices? And how are you guys getting your cp's there without getting fired? I don't think my boss realizes how often practice is, or how annoying me walking out at 3:30 a couple times a week is going to be.

So this is sort of "survey/curiosity" and sort of hoping some magical advice will fall in my lap.

I feel your pain. I was looking for gyms for my cp not too long ago, and I was overwhelmed because all the practices seemed to be before or at 5pm. Tough if you work until 5! I'm just glad there are folks out there willing to carpool! If someone can get my cp and their cp to practice, I can get my cp and their cp home!!! Good luck!

 

[Mandy]

I drive myself! Practice starts at 630, But I don't get out of class until 7, so I drive there dress and cheer! It's a 20 minute drive from school

 

[Just-a-Mom]

Well, I guess I should update this thread since it was me that started it! We have found a gym! We were doing a partial season team for the rest of this season but it's too far and too expensive--so after that ends on April 16th, we're moving on. We have found a permanent home! It turns out a friend is going to coach at a new gym so we're going there. We had a few gyms we were considering, but this one we'll have a few people we know already, so that increases my chances of finding car pool options. We're pretty excited to get settled somewhere finally! It's much closer to the city than where we are now too. In my search I've seen a LOT of awesome programs in Illinois, so we're really looking forward to competing next season.