All-Star Thoughts On Traveling For Competitions

[CheerMom3285]

Hey Everyone!

Since this weekend has some big competitions coming up I figured I would post the question about what everyone's thoughts were about traveling for their competitions. My CP currently doesn't do any traveling because she doesn't compete due to the fact were in the process of getting ready to change gyms this spring. But we are looking forward to the traveling aspect of Cheer.

Since their are a lot of both Athletes and Cheer Parents on the Board, I figured we could hit both ends of the spectrum with responses!

Now that competition season is in full swing it would be fun to see what everyone's season looks like!

Here are a few thoughts:

What Gym/Level are you/CP at:
Where is your Gym Located:
What/Where are the competitions you attend:
How many out of town competitions do you attend per season:
Would you prefer local competitions, and then traveling for NCA/Worlds(if applicable):
What is the Farthest you have traveled for a competition:
Does your team stay and travel together or separately?



Thanks guys! Can't wait to hear back!

 

[L5cheermom]

I have an athlete on J2 and one S5. We're in SC and have 7 out of town competitions (not including NCA or Worlds for the teams that go there). The furthest we go is Nashville, TN and the closest is probably Myrtle Beach. The gym does arrange room blocks; sometimes through a third party booking agency and sometimes independently. We are responsible for our own travel arrangements.

 

[Cheer Dad]

What Gym/Level are you/CP at: Level 5

Where is your Gym Located: New York

What/Where are the competitions you attend: Spirit Cheer- Atlantic City NJ, Athletic Championship-Providence RI, Worcester MA, Spirit Fest- Hartford CT, NCA Dallas, All Star Challenge- Baltimore, one local and Worlds.

How many out of town competitions do you attend per season: All but one are local and even that is not so local for us as we drive 2+ hrs to get to our gym.

Would you prefer local competitions, and then traveling for NCA/Worlds(if applicable): local comps would be good if more competition in each level.

What is the Farthest you have traveled for a competition: This year will be NCA Dallas but have hit Vegas in the past.

Does your team stay and travel together or separately?Everyone is on their own for travel but we always try to stay with at least a few families so the kids can pal around.

 

[cheermomforever]

My Cp is on a Sr4 and an Ioc5 in Ct, 4 out of 8 are 2 day in Nj, Ri Ma ....closest is 45 minutes in Ct ......Our longest driving is Ocean City Md (5 hours). We are going for bids to Worlds and Summit..............so maybe possibly back to back weekends in Fl. Will figure that out if we are that lucky. Coach blocks off hotel for each comp, but free to stay wherever. We have done busses for MD in the past. I am very lucky that hubby works for Hilton -which I use employee discount for majority of comps .

 

[CheerBank]

What Gym/Level are you/CP at: Jr 3

Where is your Gym Located: NY

What/Where are the competitions you attend: 8 plus a local showcase for all our teams including half year and special needs. We have comps this season on Long Island, NJ, MD, RI, Myrtle Beach, MA and Philly. Myrtle Beach is our farthest one.

How many out of town competitions do you attend per season: Five overnight comps, but aside from the Long Island one, all the comps are at least 2 hours away.

Would you prefer local competitions, and then traveling for NCA/Worlds(if applicable): It's nice to have a mix. I'd like to see our gym do some of the really big comps like NCA and Cheersport. We don't have a Level 5 team this season so no Worlds for us. Yet

What is the Farthest you have traveled for a competition: Our first season with this gym but other gyms? UCA/Disney and Tennessee. And we went to Worlds as spectators a few years back.

Does your team stay and travel together or separately? Kids go to comps on bus together but they are not required to take it back after comp. Our gym blocks off rooms, we book on our own and all stay in same hotel.

 

[Cruella]

Cheer Dad You drive how far for practice? That's crazy. Is your daughter on a Senior team? How long have you been doing this?

 

[aggie1983]

CP graduated last year, but this was what our schedules typically looked like:
What Gym/Level are you/CP at: Senior 3
Where is your Gym Located: Cartersville GA
What/Where are the competitions you attend: 7

How many out of town competitions do you attend per season:
typically 3

Would you prefer local competitions, and then traveling for NCA/Worlds(if applicable):
Living about 45 minutes north of downtown Atlanta, there were a number of Atlanta competitions to choose from and the gym would alternate years between Battle under the Big Top, Cheersport and various smaller comps. Athletic Championship in Chattanooga and NCA were yearly constants.

What is the Farthest you have traveled for a competition:
GA to TX for NCA, we also usually closed out the season with a comp in FL (i.e. UCA/Orlando or Jacksonville)

Does your team stay and travel together or separately?
The gym always booked a block of rooms, but it was not mandatory to stay in that particular hotel. Travel arrangements were made individually.

The travel was fun, but I admit the comps in Atlanta were a lot easier and when you have a child in high school, we would try to minimize missing school.

 

[Cheer Dad]

Cheer Dad You drive far for practice? That's crazy. Is your daughter on a Senior team? How long have you been doing this?

Yes, CP is on a senior team (3rd year on sm coed) and he is a sophomore so we are possibly looking at 2 more years of this. Our trip is about 320 miles round trip which equals around 4 hrs 30 mins depending on traffic and weather. This is our first year making this trip ourselves but in previous years have made this same trip with others we carpooled with.

If it helps my case we do not have the longest commute. There are a few on here that definitely commute further than we do.

 

[TheVipersMom]

What Gym/Level are you/CP at: Stars Vipers


Where is your Gym Located:Schertz, TX (San Antonio)


What/Where are the competitions you attend:
There are 2 one day CheerPower Comps (San Antonio)
There is an ASC one day comp (Houston)
There is a UCA regional one day comp (San Marcos)
There is a NCA one day classic comp (Houston)

Then the major comps with 4 of them awarding jackets to division winners and one of them awarding hoodies
2 day ACA national (Ft.Worth)
2 day CheerPower national (San Antonio)
2 day WSA national (New Orleans, LA)
2 day NCA national (Dallas)
2 day Athletics Championship (San Antonio)

WSA New Orleans and NCA Dallas are back to back weekends lol

How many out of town competitions do you attend per season: 5 (all require hotel stays)
the New Orleans one is new this year in place of UCA Nationals because our gym goes every year! We should be back at UCA next year

Would you prefer local competitions, and then traveling for NCA/Worlds(if applicable): I like local but I look forward to out of town comps if they are big ones and prefer those!

What is the Farthest you have traveled for a competition: well it will be New Orleans this year but for our gym it has always been UCA in Orlando Fl.

Does your team stay and travel together or separately? you can stay and travel wherever long as you are at comp when they say to arrive! This year for New Orleans people have the option to take a bus. Me and my cp are going to take the bus but most others choose to drive!

 

[Cruella]

Yes, CP is on a senior team (3rd year on sm coed) and he is a sophomore so we are possibly looking at 2 more years of this. Our trip is about 320 miles round trip which equals around 4 hrs 30 mins depending on traffic and weather. This is our first year making this trip ourselves but in previous years have made this same trip with others we carpooled with.

If it helps my case we do not have the longest commute. There are a few on here that definitely commute further than we do.

OMG. Does he drive? And there are others that drive further? They must be really nuts!!

 

[ACEDAD]

While no longer with any active cp's, we traveled for 16 years with Kentucky Elite and ACE. The traveling competitions were the best and gave us the opportunity to meet lots of fantastic people. I definitely recommend it.

We typically traveled to Jamfest Nationals, NCA, WCA (Nashville), Cheersport and UCA.

Please be sure to take every chance to meet parents from other gyms.

 

[Cheer Dad]

OMG. Does he drive? And there are others that drive further? They must be really nuts!!

You say nuts, we say dedicated.
CP is only 15 so not even a learners permit yet but that is okay we really enjoy the time with him. We drive the furthest from our gym but there are others on the boards here that travel much further to their gyms than we to ours. There are even a few that fly in for practices and some that even relocate their kids to other states.

 

[Cruella]

You say nuts, we say dedicated.
CP is only 15 so not even a learners permit yet but that is okay we really enjoy the time with him. We drive the furthest from our gym but there are others on the boards here that travel much further to their gyms than we to ours. There are even a few that fly in for practices and some that even relocate their kids to other states.

I'm just funning with you. We traveled last year too - both to gyms and competitions. Met a group of really fabulous parents. We are at different gyms now, but still keep in close touch

 

[Cheer Dad]

I'm just funning with you. We traveled last year too - both to gyms and competitions. Met a group of really fabulous parents. We are at different gyms now, but still keep in close touch

Well I certainly wasn't taking offense so no apologies required How far was your commute?

 

[Cruella]

Oh, it was a little over 2 hours. But we had a carpool - like you did - so it wasn't too bad.