Super Seniors

[Mom Jeans]

I think this is another area that seems simple but it isn't. It might sound simple to have super seniors move to an international team, but for small gyms who barely have enough kids to make a small senior level 5 team, having an international team is impossible.

 

[Philly Pherocious]

While I can understand not wanting college kids on a team with a bunch of high school kids, it wouldn't quite be fair to super seniors to not be able to participate. Everyone has a team/gym they would die to cheer for. I think you should have the opportunity to move to that gym/team and be able to participate for 1 year before having to move on to the open teams. Not everyone can just move because they want to be on an amazing team before they graduate high school.

College cheer just doesn't provide the excitement that allstar cheer does. If I've worked for years to get a double punch double on a spring floor I'm not about to move to college, tumble on a hard floor, and not even be allowed to do a single double. I would so much rather be on an open team, and I think that is killing the college cheerleading industry. You should be super excited to move out of the senior divisions and onto bigger and better things, that is just not the case. I find myself and many others dreading the day we age out. I think college cheer wouldn't be a problem transitioning to if some things changed. I think it would be best if college just adapted to allstar cheer, spring floors, tumbling, etc. So many more college cheerleaders come from allstar gyms than competitive high school teams.

If college cheer was split into Allstar/NCA style and Traditional/UCA style divisions this could be possible. The Allstar/NCA teams could use spring floors, and have less restrictions. The Traditional/UCA style divisions can stay exactly how they are.

 

[ikarlyyy]

I think one of the difficulties with "super seniors" is the commitment level to an allstar team. In April/May when allstars are trying out, the kids are coming to the end of the season, many are sad to see it end and wanting to hang on to what they know. Then summer/fall rolls around and they get involved in their college activities and now it's more difficult to make practices, make practices sober, avoid scheduling conflicts, etc. That can be frustrating for the rest of the team. I want my kid to move on. Cheer college or not, if an open team opportunity arises she can consider it. Allstars have been a life changing experience for her and have provided her with opportunities she could never get anywhere else. Now it's time for her to take those lessons and move on...

This is a pretty broad generalization. It really depends on your individual commitment to the team and responsibility level. I got hurt and was out my entire senior year. I super seniored my freshman year of college. I went to school, worked a part time job, cheered on 5 teams (not at once, but throughout the season I was on 5 different teams), and also worked at the gym. It was a pretty tight schedule but I made it work. And I never had a problem "making practices sober." There's plenty of kids that are not super seniors that miss practices and have conflicts with other activities. As for my college team.........they were doing this and I was competing at Worlds.