All-Star Keeping Up Flying Skills

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Keep_Believing

Staff member
Cheer Parent
FBOD:LLFB
Apr 11, 2011
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My 13 year old CP was on an amazing Worlds team. Unfortunately, my finances have taken some hard hits. So, she won't be able to finish her season. :( She is a great kid and very appreciative, but taking this very hard. She already misses it and hopes to return. She is very worried about keeping up her skills,; especially flying, stunting, Coeds, baskets, endurance, etc. I have had some Cheer friends share ideas with me. Thought I would also ask here. Right now it is cathartic for me to share. I feel very guilty and sad, but am trying to pretend like I am good in front of my kids. Thanks
 
Is doing Allstar prep an option? This way she can still cheer, even if its on a lower level, but its less money and timecommitment. Maybe she could use open gyms/tumbling classes to keep up on her actual level skills ?
I hope things get better for you soon!
 
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She has been cheering for 8 years and went to Worlds last year. She loves Coed stunting. We live in a small town and hard to make a long drive for a prep team. I guess we are both in denial and having a hard time accepting reality.
 
She has been cheering for 8 years and went to Worlds last year. She loves Coed stunting. We live in a small town and hard to make a long drive for a prep team. I guess we are both in denial and having a hard time accepting reality.

I know it sucks... but those big, awesome worlds-team gyms are often on the higher end of the price scale. Is there a smaller, cheaper gym near home for her to take a tumbling/stunting private or at least go to a weekly open gym? CP may feel it's a downgrade at first, but at least she'd be using her skills.

Or even a once a month or for special occasions as a"treat," drive to the big gym for a coed stunt private?

As far as endurance, that's easy to do from home. She could go to a regular gym and keep working out or even just her have her run around your neighborhood for cardio. Consistent strengthening and cardio could have her coming back in better shape than she left and the muscle memory will remain in her tumbling as long as she uses it here and there. Heck, maybe she could go out for the track team or something at school to keep her in shape.

Cheer is so astronomically expensive, and it sucks. :( Sorry for you and CP, but try not to be so hard on yourself.
 
My 13 year old CP was on an amazing Worlds team. Unfortunately, my finances have taken some hard hits. So, she won't be able to finish her season. :( She is a great kid and very appreciative, but taking this very hard. She already misses it and hopes to return. She is very worried about keeping up her skills,; especially flying, stunting, Coeds, baskets, endurance, etc. I have had some Cheer friends share ideas with me. Thought I would also ask here. Right now it is cathartic for me to share. I feel very guilty and sad, but am trying to pretend like I am good in front of my kids. Thanks


Is her skill set enough to possibly coach/ teach privates in exchange for "gym" time? That way she could still keep up her skills and possibly maybe work out something with the team/gym? Sending good vibes your way. Peace and love to you sister.
 
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I wish, she is only 13. The gym doesn't use athletes that young for any kind of Coaching positions.
 
I unfortunately don't have any ideas for flying, but I do for tumbling. Maybe look into if there are any gymnastics gyms near you. A lot of times I see cheerleaders tumbling at my gym because our open gyms cost half as much as the cheer gym ones. Most gyms will have a floor strip you can tumble on and also the 40x40
 
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Adding on, instead of starting a new thread. About how long off till you start losing skills and endurance?
 
Adding on, instead of starting a new thread. About how long off till you start losing skills and endurance?
Generally speaking, endurance 3-4 weeks, but it likely would only take 2-3 weeks to get back in to shape. I run 5-6 miles 3 or 4 days per week. I can't run during the worst of the winter months and since I hate the gym I normally take the majority of February and half of March off. I find that it takes a few weeks to get back to running the same distance and pace comfortably, but nowhere near as long as it took to get to that distance and pace when I first started running several years ago. Muscle memory has a lot to do with that I think.
Losing skills is an individual thing. I know some kids who took a full season off and came in to the gym and could still do the same tumbling and stunting they had when they left. I know others who only took a few months off and had a lot of trouble tumbling again. I think it is more mental than physical.
 
I just wanted to offer some support. I had to pull my CP two years ago for financial reasons. It was so hard- more for me than for her because I felt like I let her down. It ended up being great for us both. It put cheer back into the proper perspective/priority in our family's life. My daughter got to go to all the school functions she'd missed for so many years and reconnect with her school peers. She played basketball (which was comical from a flyer sized kid), and she loved it. That helped her stay in shape. She went to every open gym she could get to and visited every local gym to get to know them while she wasn't committed to one.

About mid-season, I got a call that our former gym had an injury and needed someone who could quickly step in and learn quickly. They scholarshipped her and she finished the season with them, including a win at UCA.

Through that year, I was making plans and had finances allocated for her to return to all stars the next year. She tried out and made a world's team in her first year as a twelve year old. This current year is her second since that season off and she hasn't forgotten yet how quickly it can all go away, she understands the sacrifices and work that go into giving her the opportunity to cheer. We have rare, truly supportive relationships with multiple local gyms and we have the boundaries we need to ensure our family still gets the time it needs to stay strong.

Keep your head up. These seasons of our lives teach us a lot more than the easy seasons. I wouldn't trade that off season for anything in the world!
 
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I definitely feel like I let her down. That part is the worst.
 
Reading this for sure breaks my heart! I work at a camp, and when kids can't come to after school care when mom or dad lose their job it's always a very sad time for the kids and even the staff.
I'm sure not all gyms can help, but does your gym offer any kind of financial assistance like a scholarship or fundraiser at all?
 
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There weren't any scholarships or sponsorships available. I definitely asked. There was a fundraiser, but I still wasn't able to meet my financial obligations. I tried everything I could think of.
 
hopefully something works out, even if it's at a smaller non-worlds gym. i've been in this situation (not cheer) and i took the less premium route for a short while while i recovered. it wasn't the first option, but it was an option that allowed me to keep my focus and keep up my skills, even if i didn't see the improvement that i was hoping for at the time. keeping up my skills or barely improving those skills, at a less than premium place, was better than stagnating at no place. i came back either right where i left off or slightly better than before the break. that's not to say that any place is better than no place; at some less than premium places, it may be better to not go to them then to go to them.

question to anyone, how does being an alternate work when it comes to tuition? i know its probably different at different gyms. perhaps one could get a free/partial ride the entire year ( for team practices) if they volunteer as an alternate? that way one can still get that team environment practice for no/less money? im also guessing that the bigger gyms have no shortage of alternates for their worlds teams.
 
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