Raising The Bottom Age For Worlds

[glitterdiva]

I am not in favor of this unless there is an exception for small gyms.

but under usasf defination of small its 75 athletes or less we have 85 I would consider ourselfs small still

 

[Mclovin]

but under usasf defination of small its 75 athletes or less we have 85 I would consider ourselfs small still

Agreed. I didn't mean JUST for small gyms that were designated small gyms, but just a "smaller gym" in general.

 

[glitterdiva]

Agreed. I didn't mean JUST for small gyms that were designated small gyms, but just a "smaller gym" in general.

I figured you ment that but I just dont know how usasf would regulate it and wouldnt it creat more divisions which we dont want?

 

[Mclovin]

I figured you ment that but I just dont know how usasf would regulate it and wouldnt it creat more divisions which we dont want?

Which is why I am against it. But if they INSISTED on raising the bottom age, I definitely think they need to exclude smaller gyms. Otherwise, those gyms will never get off the ground floor...

 

[glitterdiva]

Which is why I am against it. But if they INSISTED on raising the bottom age, I definitely think they need to exclude smaller gyms. Otherwise, those gyms will never get off the ground floor...

Yeah I hope the dont for the sake of smaller gyms. How ever in my perfect cheer world were everyone had a big successfull gym i would want the cut off to be 14.

 

[Mclovin]

Yeah I hope the dont for the sake of smaller gyms. How ever in my perfect cheer world were everyone had a big successfull gym i would want the cut off to be 14.

Eh, not me. Even in other sports where the olympics has a bottom age of 16, the younger athletes have the junior olympics and junior worlds, etc. to attend. In our sport, without worlds its NCA or Cheersport and that's it. I know at our gym our junior 5 team is no where NEAR trained as hard as our senior 5. There's a big difference in atmosphere and training schedule. For her, she loves the intense training, as do I. I firmly believe it should be left up to the discretion of the coach/parent.

 

[lollypop]

If you raise the age to 14, you might want to consider going back to straight up stunts.....or at least simple full ups and switch ups to max on the scoresheet. Todays level of acrobatics stunting is requiring smaller lighter flys, and many gyms must dip into their juniors to some degree.

We can't have it all ways. Be careful what you wish for.

I'm genuinely curious, how do gyms approach this, if they're relying on their junior age athletes to fly the elite sequences, what do they do when these girls (often) grow to be larger and as per this approach are no longer ideally suited to execute these moves? Do the girls generally continue to fly, are they always trained in other aspects of stunting (i.e. basing), or are they then required to learn a new skill set - and if this is the case, do they get brought back a level or two or are they required to become proficient in basing these elite skills while simultaneously participating in their elite level squad?

 

[Mclovin]

I'm genuinely curious, how do gyms approach this, if they're relying on their junior age athletes to fly the elite sequences, what do they do when these girls (often) grow to be larger and as per this approach are no longer ideally suited to execute these moves? Do the girls generally continue to fly, are they always trained in other aspects of stunting (i.e. basing), or are they then required to learn a new skill set - and if this is the case, do they get brought back a level or two or are they required to become proficient in basing these elite skills while simultaneously participating in their elite level squad?

Well, I think this new philosophy of using smaller junior aged fliers on senior teams is a new concept for most gyms. I bet most haven't even gotten to the point of having to figure out what to do with them when they get too big to fly. I can tell you my junior aged flyer is also basing on her junior team (full ups, tick tocks, switch ups, etc.), so I am hopeful that if and when she gets too big to fly on seniors she will be proficient enough at basing that she'll be just fine. What happens with kids who never learn to base....that's a very good question. I can tell you, too, though that I have seen numerous fliers step into a basing position and learn it very quickly and do just fine.

 

[Mamarazzi]

Apparently this thread turned into a thread about my cp...darn growth spurt...

 

[MissCongeniality]

Well, I think this new philosophy of using smaller junior aged fliers on senior teams is a new concept for most gyms. I bet most haven't even gotten to the point of having to figure out what to do with them when they get too big to fly. I can tell you my junior aged flyer is also basing on her junior team (full ups, tick tocks, switch ups, etc.), so I am hopeful that if and when she gets too big to fly on seniors she will be proficient enough at basing that she'll be just fine. What happens with kids who never learn to base....that's a very good question. I can tell you, too, though that I have seen numerous fliers step into a basing position and learn it very quickly and do just fine.

Took a few months and much work (including strengthening) but my former flyer CP learned to base lvl 4 and 5 simultaneously after growing a bunch. She worked hard during the Summer months and was ready to go by first comp.

 

[Goosepatrick]

but under usasf defination of small its 75 athletes or less we have 85 I would consider ourselfs small still

It's 75 registered athletes, minus spirit squads. If you take out all your cross overs and just count actual kids, you are 85? Sure?

 

[Goosepatrick]

I watched my cp compete senior as a 12 and 13 year old. I really think there is a maturity that occurred at 13 that is different. 14 is even more different, but 13 would be a good compromise. 12 is too young. There is a danger of these kids in the 10-14 year old range busting out big tumbling moves on their growing bodies. Push them too hard too soon and they may be in pain for years. It's a delicate balance.

 

[cheermom5678]

I disagree. Kids who get talent young and have the maturity level to do well on a Worlds team die waiting. My CP, like so many out there have the skills now...she is ten....no Worlds for Jr's....so you are saying that she must wait another 4 yrs? So besides NCA (she thankfully got a jacket last year) the next thing to try for is International All Levels? Have you been to one of those? 12 is good...IMO

I guess I understand the smaller gym thing, but here you are, a junior or senior in high school, planning on going to a big name cheer college, you are a small girl, a college size flyer, and you lose your flying spot on your all star team to a 12 year old, mostly because of size? How is that fair? How is that getting you ready to tryout in college? If everyone had to fly their high school girls rather than their pre-puberty girls~ teams would adapt. Stunts and pyramids would progress.

I guess I'm looking at this from a high school aged girl's mom's perspective, but....come on... I was so surprised when my daughter made the senior team when she was a freshman, now we have 7th and possibly 6th graders on the team? I love our babies, but lets give the high school girls a chance to shine rather than having to step down to this smaller girls.

I do have to add that our gym does keep our older, bigger girls in the air, but it still limits the number of older flyers on the senior team. Love the babies, but loving the older, more experienced girls too.

 

[fullinitup]

I never came up with the idea of raising the age but just thought if they want to raise it to 13 why not just go ahead and raise it to 14 and allow our sport to have some sort of structure that makes sense with the age grid we currently have with juniors being 14 and under. This would only be for a WORLDS eligible division. I agree with cheermom5678 that we should be having the bigger girls in the air even if it does hinder the crazy stunts for a while. What happened to teaching and relying on technique and strength and conditioning our athletes rather than somewhat sacrificing that by having smaller girls in the air. That is how I look at it I guess.

 

[lakerfantlc]

I guess I understand the smaller gym thing, but here you are, a junior or senior in high school, planning on going to a big name cheer college, you are a small girl, a college size flyer, and you lose your flying spot on your all star team to a 12 year old, mostly because of size? How is that fair? How is that getting you ready to tryout in college? If everyone had to fly their high school girls rather than their pre-puberty girls~ teams would adapt. Stunts and pyramids would progress.

I guess I'm looking at this from a high school aged girl's mom's perspective, but....come on... I was so surprised when my daughter made the senior team when she was a freshman, now we have 7th and possibly 6th graders on the team? I love our babies, but lets give the high school girls a chance to shine rather than having to step down to this smaller girls.

I do have to add that our gym does keep our older, bigger girls in the air, but it still limits the number of older flyers on the senior team. Love the babies, but loving the older, more experienced girls too.

I understand to a point...but at Worlds..if you have the skills and you dont weigh too much...no matter how tall..if you are good...they fly you...trust me...the young ones are usually the last option....I cant say I have EVER seen them replace a great flyer with a 12 yr old....