All-Star Mom Won't Let Me Do All Star Cheer

[Florence]

So I had to quit a cheer team a month and a half ago because their practice days did not fit my schedule anymore so I tried out for another cheer team and I got offered a place on the senior team as my main team with a cross over onto A junior level 2 team. But I also do another activity ( football ) and my mom thinks it will be too much because it's my exam year ( in Ireland 14/15 year olds do a huge exam called a junior certificate) and I'll be getting extra classes to help me with some subjects. I told her I would only do the senior team then but she thinks it will still be too much and that I should just stick with football. Does anyone have any advice on what I could do to convince my mom to let me do cheer? I don't understand why she would let me tryout in the first place then ( she knows I'm not bad, I have good tumbling and I'm flexible ) she doesn't know i want to do all star cheer so badly what should I do?!

 

[Florence]

One of the main reasons she won't let me join is because my grades were really bad last year when I only did one sport she thinks I won't do well if I do two sports but I promised her I'll keep my grades up this year! How can I convince her I will?!

 

[SL&AM]

Honestly, as a mom, if your grade were bad last year I wouldn't let you do two sports this year. I think you're in a situation where you need to pick on or the other; if you up your grades, perhaps she'll feel differently next year. But realistically, you're in a situation where you have to earn her trust that you know how to juggle it all and that will take time.

I know it's not likely what you want to hear, but there really is no sure fire way to convince her otherwise.

 

[TealShades]

Can you wait one year? I feel like your mom has a good reason she doesn't want you to cheer for 2/3 teams. If you couldn't keep your grades up or do well in school last year, you may not do well again with 2/3 teams, school and to prepare for this big exam. I'd say wait until next year. Prove to your mom that you can get good grades and play football. I'm sure if you did well in school or kept your grades up I bet your mom wouldn't have a problem with you cheer on those teams. So I'm not sure there's a way to prove to your mom now that you can handle it until you start school and show her you can do it.

Eta: wow I said prove like ten times in that post lol. Oh I didn't think of soccer while reading "football." Duh

 

[123jump4!]

Do you mean football = you play soccer? I'm european so I get it I think, lol. Do you love that more than cheer?

 

[Florence]

Thanks to all who replied, your comments helped me understand where she's coming from she's doesn't want m to quit football since I quit two years ago and joined back and I promised her I wouldn't quit again I guess I'll beg her once more and if she says no there's nothing more I can do than study hard and wait till next year!
By the way I'm European and we call soccer, football lol

 

[Mamarazzi]

Thanks to all who replied, your comments helped me understand where she's coming from she's doesn't want m to quit football since I quit two years ago and joined back and I promised her I wouldn't quit again I guess I'll beg her once more and if she says no there's nothing more I can do than study hard and wait till next year!
By the way I'm European and we call soccer, football lol

Study, sweet pea. Hard. Then cheer later. Seriously, your education has to come first.

 

[momsy]

All four of my kiddos (ages 15 through 22) have heard the same story from me, repeatedly, over the years...

Academics FIRST
Athletics AFTER you've put Academics first.

Don't beg - just tell her how important cheer is to you, and tell her that your goal for this year is to show her that you can (and will) make excellent grades so you can cheer next year! All the best to you!

 

[mom2two]

I can see where she is coming from. CP has a rule that if she gets under a B she gets one of her sports taken away. Obviously not cheer because of the season length, but it really lights a fire under her butt. Maybe try to talk to your mom about a similar deal for next season.

 

[helen42049]

what gym in Ireland are you from??

 

[Helen uk uni cheer]

I am from england but live in wales currently. Last season we had quite a few parents pull their kids from the gym because of school even though we only practised 2 hours on a sunday each week. As a team member I would much rather a parent say no cheer, no crossover or only rec and prep at the beginning of the year rather than pull out late in the season when it gets to much we had people pull out march april. It affected everyone. Also I am assuming there are not many comps in Ireland so travel might be an issue too.

Ask your gym if they do rec or just tumble so you can be involved but it doesnt matter as much if you have to miss some

 

[TealArmySparkle]

So I had to quit a cheer team a month and a half ago because their practice days did not fit my schedule anymore so I tried out for another cheer team and I got offered a place on the senior team as my main team with a cross over onto A junior level 2 team. But I also do another activity ( football ) and my mom thinks it will be too much because it's my exam year ( in Ireland 14/15 year olds do a huge exam called a junior certificate) and I'll be getting extra classes to help me with some subjects. I told her I would only do the senior team then but she thinks it will still be too much and that I should just stick with football. Does anyone have any advice on what I could do to convince my mom to let me do cheer? I don't understand why she would let me tryout in the first place then ( she knows I'm not bad, I have good tumbling and I'm flexible ) she doesn't know i want to do all star cheer so badly what should I do?!

Hi Florence. I've not done football before but I've been in your situation the last two years with exams in Scotland. When I was in my third year of high school (I was your age at the time) I cheered on a senior, as well as a junior cheer team and did the junior and senior dance squads as well and trained nearly 4 times a week. When I went into my 4th year and started my school work for exams, I was meant to be on a Senior cheer team as well as a dance team. The workload when I started my Nationals doubled from what I was getting in third year and I also had to take on extra tuition classes for the subjects I was taking. I still managed to cheer that year but had to avoid doing the dance team as I could not dedicate the time to it. Last year with exams I was stretched even further with the workload and even struggled to cheer once a week for two hours because I had so much work to get through (it got so bad I was taking work with me to training and was doing it in any break we had). Basically what I am trying to say is it becomes very difficult to dedicate your time to more than one sport when you are trying to maintain decent grades and what not so I would either hang off cheering for a year, decide whether you prefer doing football or cheerleading or go to rec cheer for the year as it isn't as much of a dedication as competing. Either way academics always come before cheerleading, every time!