Should I Do High School Or All Star Cheer?

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Mar 1, 2016
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Hi! I wanted to know if you thought I should do high school or all star cheer. I wanted to cheer at a state university when i go to college (i start high school next year), and I wanted to know if I should tryout for high school or just go to an all star gym to help me achieve my goal. It's not just about college cheer though I really do like cheer. I don't have any cheer experience, and the closest gym is like 45 minutes away. My high school doesn't do any tumbling and they do really basic stunts, and they don't compete. The only thing you do at tryouts is a cheer, dance, chant, and 3 jumps (herkie, spread eagle, and toe touch). My parents said that if I don't do high school that they would drive me to the all star gym 45 minutes away for private lessons once a week until I get my license then I can go like 3 or 4 times a week. And I don't have like any skills like at all, I would have to start from like basics at private lessons. I know that college dream is like really stupid and its probably not going to happen, but I still want to know what you think is best.
 
Judging from where you are, it seems like all-star would be a better fit for what you would want. If you are going to a school that is more game day oriented, you aren't going to be able to get the tumbling and advanced stunting work that you could get from an all-star gym. I currently cheer in High School and absolutely love it but my program is a program that attends state competitions each year and is pushing toward competing at the national level pretty soon. I'm in a position where the nearest cheer gym is about 45 minutes away as well but because of other circumstances, I cant cheer all star and only can cheer High School, so it works out for me. I would suggest working on that tumbling right away and joining All-stars which will get you in a more advanced program than your high school and would help get you closer to your goal of cheering in college. Also, look into Universities that you would want to cheer at and maybe email the coach and see if they have any clinics so you can get a feel for what you need to get in able to cheer where you want! Best of luck to you
 
Don't forget, though - you're gonna need game day experience if you want to make a game day oriented college squad. My CP has done all stars for 11 seasons, but has no game day experience. I don't think she would make the team at any of the universities she's considering unless she did school cheer at least one year (or somehow got privates to learn game day).

ETA: my CP doesn't plan to cheer in college because game day doesn't interest her - it's very different from all star. She's still deciding whether she wants to look into doing A&T which, in her opinion, is closer to all star than game day.
 
Don't forget, though - you're gonna need game day experience if you want to make a game day oriented college squad. My CP has done all stars for 11 seasons, but has no game day experience. I don't think she would make the team at any of the universities she's considering unless she did school cheer at least one year (or somehow got privates to learn game day).

ETA: my CP doesn't plan to cheer in college because game day doesn't interest her - it's very different from all star. She's still deciding whether she wants to look into doing A&T which, in her opinion, is closer to all star than game day.

In my opinion, Game day is pretty easy to learn, sidelines and stuff are pretty easy to pick up with the experience of choreography and such. Plus a lot of game day is stunting to entertain the crowd and band dances and such.
 
Judging from where you are, it seems like all-star would be a better fit for what you would want. If you are going to a school that is more game day oriented, you aren't going to be able to get the tumbling and advanced stunting work that you could get from an all-star gym. I currently cheer in High School and absolutely love it but my program is a program that attends state competitions each year and is pushing toward competing at the national level pretty soon. I'm in a position where the nearest cheer gym is about 45 minutes away as well but because of other circumstances, I cant cheer all star and only can cheer High School, so it works out for me. I would suggest working on that tumbling right away and joining All-stars which will get you in a more advanced program than your high school and would help get you closer to your goal of cheering in college. Also, look into Universities that you would want to cheer at and maybe email the coach and see if they have any clinics so you can get a feel for what you need to get in able to cheer where you want! Best of luck to you
I think I'm going to talk to my parents about private lessons at an all star gym, and then when I get my licences and my skills are better trying out for an all star team. But I might ask about doing both this year because usually all 8th graders that tryout make jv and since my mom would have to drive to and from the gym until I get a car and she has a full time job I would probably only go an hour or two a week. I'm thinking i'm just working on my skills at home during the summer to get the basics like cart wheels and front walkovers and stuff, and then in the fall starting private lessons. I would start working on it right now but were moving and i just started doing all of my school testing so I have to study a lot. And I think I already know what college I want to go to (U. of SC) so I guess i'll look more into their cheer program. Thanks, you were really helpful!
 
Don't forget, though - you're gonna need game day experience if you want to make a game day oriented college squad. My CP has done all stars for 11 seasons, but has no game day experience. I don't think she would make the team at any of the universities she's considering unless she did school cheer at least one year (or somehow got privates to learn game day).

ETA: my CP doesn't plan to cheer in college because game day doesn't interest her - it's very different from all star. She's still deciding whether she wants to look into doing A&T which, in her opinion, is closer to all star than game day.
I think I might still end up doing high school cheer sooner or later. I might be moving schools for 11th and 12th grade and they don't have a cheer team, so I could see about starting a team there. And I would be closer to the all star gym because it's a boarding school, so it would be easier if I wanted to cheer at the all star gym. I'm really not even too sure what I really want to do in college since i'm only in 8th grade and I have no cheer experience yet so I don't really know if I would be that advanced by the time I get to college. Thanks!
 
I would say do at least one year of high school Cheer so that way you get some sort of Game day experience. A lot of colleges especially top universities are really big on Game day and take both Game day and competition seriously. Now learning Game Day skills are fairly easy, but it can differ from school to school and especially from each university. Its also important to know that college and high school tryouts are very different from each other. College tryouts tend to be much more crowded and very prestigious while many high schools can have a "careless" attitude (there are also many high schools that do care and are serious). Its just important to know that there is no guarantee spot for you on that college cheer team.

After you have at least some sort of game day experience I would seriously consider trying out for an all star team and taking extra Tumble lessons, and private partner stunt lessons if its offered. This is what lacks in many high schools teams. Many high school teams lack on tumble lessons and partner stunting, and knowing that's what most top colleges like who has good cheer teams it sucks :(

So your chances of making a college team is much better if you go with all star cheer, but because all star cheer is so competitive game day spirit is overlooked (as that's not the main goal) so its important to get it for at least one season so you know what to expect. So I suggest while you're waiting to get your license take up on a season or two of high school and then go for all stars. If you could convince your parents do let you do both at the same time I think that would be wonderful :)
 
I tell all of my tumbling lessons the same thing, and I have no idea what your situation is, but start working out/ running. There's a reason that the typical elite college/high level all star athlete looks so fit (abs, toned bodies), they put in a lot of work. Tumbling, just like any other physical activity, will be easier to do when you're strong enough to comfortably and reliably perform the skill. Also, mentally, if you're more than strong enough to perform the skill, you'll be no where near as scared to execute it. If you'd like some workouts you can do at home, there are plenty of them you can look up online, or I can also help you! Good luck, you're starting early, which helps a lot!
 
I would say do at least one year of high school Cheer so that way you get some sort of Game day experience. A lot of colleges especially top universities are really big on Game day and take both Game day and competition seriously. Now learning Game Day skills are fairly easy, but it can differ from school to school and especially from each university. Its also important to know that college and high school tryouts are very different from each other. College tryouts tend to be much more crowded and very prestigious while many high schools can have a "careless" attitude (there are also many high schools that do care and are serious). Its just important to know that there is no guarantee spot for you on that college cheer team.

After you have at least some sort of game day experience I would seriously consider trying out for an all star team and taking extra Tumble lessons, and private partner stunt lessons if its offered. This is what lacks in many high schools teams. Many high school teams lack on tumble lessons and partner stunting, and knowing that's what most top colleges like who has good cheer teams it sucks :(

So your chances of making a college team is much better if you go with all star cheer, but because all star cheer is so competitive game day spirit is overlooked (as that's not the main goal) so its important to get it for at least one season so you know what to expect. So I suggest while you're waiting to get your license take up on a season or two of high school and then go for all stars. If you could convince your parents do let you do both at the same time I think that would be wonderful :)
I know I probably won't make the college cheer team, but i'm still planning too do all star if I don't so either way I still want to learn all the skills now. I'm going to tryout for high school next week, and i'll probably take a class at the gym for an hour a week until I get my license. I'm hoping I will be able to tryout for an all star team sooner or later, but I don't know if it would be possible with me going to school so far away and then driving to and from practice. And I'm not really sure how many classes I would be able to take after I get my license, because each class is like 40 dollars an hour and I don't know if my parents will be willing to pay 120 dollars a week for me to go to classes. How much do you think I need to practice at the gym a week to learn advanced skills by the time I have college tryouts? Thanks!
 
I know I probably won't make the college cheer team, but i'm still planning too do all star if I don't so either way I still want to learn all the skills now. I'm going to tryout for high school next week, and i'll probably take a class at the gym for an hour a week until I get my license. I'm hoping I will be able to tryout for an all star team sooner or later, but I don't know if it would be possible with me going to school so far away and then driving to and from practice. And I'm not really sure how many classes I would be able to take after I get my license, because each class is like 40 dollars an hour and I don't know if my parents will be willing to pay 120 dollars a week for me to go to classes. How much do you think I need to practice at the gym a week to learn advanced skills by the time I have college tryouts? Thanks!

Is that $40 a month? Or weekly for one class? Because if that's weekly for one hour long class that's extremely expensive.


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I know I probably won't make the college cheer team, but i'm still planning too do all star if I don't so either way I still want to learn all the skills now. I'm going to tryout for high school next week, and i'll probably take a class at the gym for an hour a week until I get my license. I'm hoping I will be able to tryout for an all star team sooner or later, but I don't know if it would be possible with me going to school so far away and then driving to and from practice. And I'm not really sure how many classes I would be able to take after I get my license, because each class is like 40 dollars an hour and I don't know if my parents will be willing to pay 120 dollars a week for me to go to classes. How much do you think I need to practice at the gym a week to learn advanced skills by the time I have college tryouts? Thanks!

You can find people at your (future) all star gym and can car pool .
 
I tell all of my tumbling lessons the same thing, and I have no idea what your situation is, but start working out/ running. There's a reason that the typical elite college/high level all star athlete looks so fit (abs, toned bodies), they put in a lot of work. Tumbling, just like any other physical activity, will be easier to do when you're strong enough to comfortably and reliably perform the skill. Also, mentally, if you're more than strong enough to perform the skill, you'll be no where near as scared to execute it. If you'd like some workouts you can do at home, there are plenty of them you can look up online, or I can also help you! Good luck, you're starting early, which helps a lot!
I started working out a while ago (not a lot because I don't really know what I'm doing), but its kinda hard with my current living situation since I only workout at home and theirs not that much space, but I'm moving so I'm going to start working out more after I move. I looked up work outs online and stuff but there is like so many and its kinda overwhelming because I don't know what I'm doing. It would be great if you could help me, since I'm like totally clueless. Thanks!
 
Is that $40 a month? Or weekly for one class? Because if that's weekly for one hour long class that's extremely expensive.


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Its 20 dollars per 30 minutes for a private lesson, but the group classes are a similar price. That's only at one gym though because I haven't looked into any other gyms yet. Is that too expensive?
 
You can find people at your (future) all star gym and can car pool .
I don't really know if I could do that because I don't think anyone in my town does all star. And most of the people at the gym either come from the town the gym is in or the opposite direction from the town I live in. But I don't think my parents would let me do that anyway because they are so overprotective.
 
Its 20 dollars per 30 minutes for a private lesson, but the group classes are a similar price. That's only at one gym though because I haven't looked into any other gyms yet. Is that too expensive?

$40 an hour for a private lesson is a pretty good good price. I misunderstood you, I thought you meant for a weekly group tumbling class.

The gym I coach at has tumbling once a week for $40 monthly, unlimited tumbling (3 classes a week is what it breaks down to as far as skill appropriate classes go) for $60 monthly, and unlimited classes (included tumbling, stunts, and conditioning classes) for $90 monthly. Our team tuition is $180 monthly which covers all practices and unlimited classes. And prep teams are $90-$100 a month (I think but I could be wrong, it includes practice and unlimited classes) It'll vary at every program you go to but it's nice to be able to compare numbers.


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