Individual Routines

[Shaw5lee]

I've been hearing about people doing individual routines, how does that work? Does your gym have to offer it or do you just go out and somehow find a place to compete? And do you choreograph it yourself or do you need to get someone professional to do it? Do they offer individual competing at most competitions? Could you go to a competition with your team and at the same one compete individually?

 

[cheernerd5678]

Some competitions don't offer individuals (Jam live doesn't) but many do. I don't know if all gyms offer it, at my gym it's not like "do an individual!" But if you ask the coaches if you can enter one they'll be all for it. You can have a coach, professional, or you yourself choreograph it. You can compete an individual at a competition with your team, or you can go to a comp solo and just do an individual if that's okay with your gym owner/coach. You do have to pay an extra fee to enter your individual. But I've been seeing individuals less and less over the years.


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[mommycheer]

Our gym has had a few individuals over the pasts few years but not that many, most girls just love to be with their team

 

[cheermom02]

Our gym allows individuals but of course there is an extra choreography fee and extra competition fees. Not everyone is allowed to do one. The girls basically have to "try out" to do a solo or duo. We are going to a competition this weekend and 4 girls are doing solos. My cp is doing one but hers is more of a way to push her to get past her tumbling "block". They are a good way for kids who are on let's say a level 3 team but have level 4/5 skills to be able to use their skills.


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[mybabywantstotumble]

No one at our program really does individuals. I'm not a big fan of them since cheer is a team sport. The athlete should be focusing on their team performance, not one that focuses directly on them. I suppose if you do an individual at a competition that your team isn't competing at then it isn't affecting your team but I hear from others that the team mates think it's obnoxious when someone does one.

 

[cheernerd5678]

Our gym allows individuals but of course there is an extra choreography fee and extra competition fees. Not everyone is allowed to do one. The girls basically have to "try out" to do a solo or duo. We are going to a competition this weekend and 4 girls are doing solos. My cp is doing one but hers is more of a way to push her to get past her tumbling "block". They are a good way for kids who are on let's say a level 3 team but have level 4/5 skills to be able to use their skills.


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Yes, that's why I like them. We have a girl on our junior 2 who has all level 3 tumbling skills, but still has this whole season and next season before she's eligible for a senior team (and we're tiny and don't have enough kids for a junior 3). She competes individuals as a way to use her tumbling skills that she can't in her routine.


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[SmileyRyleigh]

I did individuals for the first few years I cheered and I loved it. I was the only person at my gym who did them. I loved attention when I was younger so I liked having all eyes on me for once. We hired a UT cheerleader to choreograph mine, I think I only won like twice and didn't even place at nationals, lol


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[DropAndRun]

Droplet did one last year, and does a duo this year with another mini child. Both times I have paid through privates to have it choreographed by a coach at the gym and I have gotten the music myself. I used a mom I found out about on this board that does a wonderful job with it and she did both last years music and this years.

It's been fun.. Droplet has decent tumbling skills for a mini and it gives her a chance to use them on the mat, since she is otherwise on a level 1 & level 2 team. She will not do one after this year, so we are enjoying it while it lasts. It's usually the smaller competitions that we do that offer it.. (Xtreme spirit, Americheer, sometimes CSG/nations choice) and we always go with the team. Never alone. I would never go without a coach. We are doing one competition at the very end of the season with our half season teams, but our regular coach goes to those so it's no different.

 

[CoachTamara]

We opened this up to our kids this year for a local competition and they LOVE it. We did the routines with old, leftover music and just threw some stuff together, but all of the people that did it had a great time. America's Best offers these specialty divisions, so a lot of our kids are doing it again this weekend and we even had a few kids add in because they saw it and wanted to try. They still compete with their team, it's just a whole different vibe doing it yourself. We also did two stunt groups so that some of our kids could begin learning new skills and I've been super impressed-we have a junior 3 team and they formed a stunt group and have nailed tons of level 5 skills that they had never attempted before. I don't think it's a bad thing-just something new and different for the kids to try.

 

[liz_the_friz]

Props to anyone who can go out on the mat by themselves. No way, now how, could I ever do that.

 

[MLawson16]

Almost every competition my team has gone to this year has had at least 3 individuals. A few girls at my gym do them a lot because they have level 5 skills and we are a level 4 team. Our coach just choreographed their routines for them and mixed the music herself. The individual fee is typically like 20 dollars so it's not too much. I think you should talk to your coach about it and see if they will help you out. Good luck!

 

[cheermom02]

My cp competed her individual this past Friday for the first time this season. She has been struggling with her tumbling and lacking confidence so we thought doing her individual might help her get some confidence back. She was in the mini age groups and they weren't split by level which we knew going in bc we went last year. I knew the competition was going to be really tough and there were 9 in her group so I was just really hoping she would do good for herself. She did awesome!!!! She needed up 5th out of 9 and every girls that beat her had a full! I believe if she was doing her "normal" tumbling she would've placed even higher. I was so proud of her and she even surprised herself I think. AND as of last night she starting tumbling soooo much better. Needless to say I'm a proud momma!


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