All-Star Woodward 2015

[cheerbear]

Has anyone been to the California one? I'm thinking of sending my cp but don't know if it's worth the money.
Thanks.

I went to woodward west for two summers while I was still cheering and really loved it. Although that was close to three years ago that I went, I could still try to answer any questions you have!

 

[angelndscz]

My daughter is there now and says it is 10x more fun than when she went in 2011 when she was 8. I have a happy girl right now.

 

[Cheerfun2]

My daughter desperately wants to go next year! Do most of y'all fly them up there? We have a bajillion FF miles b/c my husband travels frequently for work, and definitely don't want to drive to PA...do they have a camp shuttle that picks up kids at the airport? She's 12, so would have to be an "unaccompanied minor" which I am fine with as they keep a close eye on UMs. Any experience with this?

 

[CaliCheerMomMTZ]

My daughter desperately wants to go next year! Do most of y'all fly them up there? We have a bajillion FF miles b/c my husband travels frequently for work, and definitely don't want to drive to PA...do they have a camp shuttle that picks up kids at the airport? She's 12, so would have to be an "unaccompanied minor" which I am fine with as they keep a close eye on UMs. Any experience with this?

Check your airline's rules - when my son and daughter flew this summer, they no longer qualified as UM's because my son is 12 and my (at the time) 10 year old daughter was travelling with him. It was a real gut check as to whether I thought they could handle it. The airline still allowed me to get a pass to walk them to the gate at the airport, but they were not walked from the gate to baggage at their destination, and would not have been escorted if there was a plane change.

 

[seein_starz]

My daughter desperately wants to go next year! Do most of y'all fly them up there? We have a bajillion FF miles b/c my husband travels frequently for work, and definitely don't want to drive to PA...do they have a camp shuttle that picks up kids at the airport? She's 12, so would have to be an "unaccompanied minor" which I am fine with as they keep a close eye on UMs. Any experience with this?

I flew Um for 5 years to Woodward west, they have shuttles to pick them up from the airport and take them to the airport when they leave. I didn't have a bad experience at all with the Woodward shuttles or flying there and back.

 

[angelndscz]

My daughter desperately wants to go next year! Do most of y'all fly them up there? We have a bajillion FF miles b/c my husband travels frequently for work, and definitely don't want to drive to PA...do they have a camp shuttle that picks up kids at the airport? She's 12, so would have to be an "unaccompanied minor" which I am fine with as they keep a close eye on UMs. Any experience with this?

Woodward does provide transportation to/from several airports for a fee. In 2011, my DH and another mom flew into State College to drop them off, then another mom flew to pick them up. This year, her friend's mom flew into Baltimore, rented a car, stayed overnight in Lewisburg prior to dropping them off. My DH will fly up and pick the girls up. I have no issues with her flying by herself but this was the arrangements we have made so far. Heck, both my middle school boys flew from Tampa to Germany unaccompanied before. LOL.

 

[angelndscz]

BIG DILEMMA!

My daughter got 'tapped' to go back week 12! Awesome for her. She did set a goal to try to get tapped and did! BUT, it is the first week of school! (We are in Florida so we get out early, go back early.)

Her dad is agreeing to let her miss the first week of school. He is more about "how much is this going to cost us" than her missing school since she typically makes all A's with an occasional B. She will be going into 7th grade. So as a parent, would you also agree to let your child miss school? I am okay with it as well, but I am going to have to take her to get her schedule the week prior, go to the teacher meet and greets, and be like "Hi, nice to meet you. By the way, she won't be here the first week because she is going to camp!" OMG, they are going to probably be like this mom has her priorities wrong.

 

[Mndl]

BIG DILEMMA!

My daughter got 'tapped' to go back week 12! Awesome for her. She did set a goal to try to get tapped and did! BUT, it is the first week of school! (We are in Florida so we get out early, go back early.)

Her dad is agreeing to let her miss the first week of school. He is more about "how much is this going to cost us" than her missing school since she typically makes all A's with an occasional B. She will be going into 7th grade. So as a parent, would you also agree to let your child miss school? I am okay with it as well, but I am going to have to take her to get her schedule the week prior, go to the teacher meet and greets, and be like "Hi, nice to meet you. By the way, she won't be here the first week because she is going to camp!" OMG, they are going to probably be like this mom has her priorities wrong.

While I doubt she's going to miss much the first week of school, I'd definitely check your attendance policy. Our school isn't too bad about missing days through 8th grade but our HS attendance policy is very strict. My sister's kids school is strict about it from 1st grade on, so it really depends on the district. Hope it works out for her!

 

[CheerBank]

BIG DILEMMA!

My daughter got 'tapped' to go back week 12! Awesome for her. She did set a goal to try to get tapped and did! BUT, it is the first week of school! (We are in Florida so we get out early, go back early.)

Her dad is agreeing to let her miss the first week of school. He is more about "how much is this going to cost us" than her missing school since she typically makes all A's with an occasional B. She will be going into 7th grade. So as a parent, would you also agree to let your child miss school? I am okay with it as well, but I am going to have to take her to get her schedule the week prior, go to the teacher meet and greets, and be like "Hi, nice to meet you. By the way, she won't be here the first week because she is going to camp!" OMG, they are going to probably be like this mom has her priorities wrong.

Cp was tapped a few years back but did not go. I think she still has the bracelet though .
A bunch of her teammates have been tapped over the years and last year I think 4-6 of them went back. They said it was the same as any other week at Woodward and they wouldn't do it again because of the traveling back and forth for two separate weeks, especially since the tapped week wasn't any different than the regular week.
I would not let cp miss her first week of school in any grade to go back knowing that, but it is still exciting she was tapped!

 

[dawgshow]

Nope. My kid would not miss a week of school for tumbling. A day? Maybe. Never a week, especially middle school or higher.

 

[angelndscz]

I e-mailed Woodward and asked if TAP week was just week 12 or could she go week 11. They already replied and said she could go week 11 or 12. So that would be good news that she can go the week prior to school starting. It doesn't matter to me if it is the same as the previous weeks. My CP had a fabulous time. She has only been week 1 this time and week 3 in 2011, so she has only gone in really the lower attendance weeks. Going in a higher attendance week might change the experience but we shall see. I also think every camper is different. The girls she went with the first time didn't care to go back but CP did want to go back. I am thinking the girl she went with this year may not go back either. Not that it isn't a great time, just sleep away camp is not for everyone. My daughter is very independent since I had to leave when she was 7 to go overseas for two years and when I returned the military sent me to Georgia so I was only able to come home to Florida on the weekends for 2.5 more years. She stayed with her dad and 3 brothers. She really enjoys camp.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

BIG DILEMMA!

My daughter got 'tapped' to go back week 12! Awesome for her. She did set a goal to try to get tapped and did! BUT, it is the first week of school! (We are in Florida so we get out early, go back early.)

Her dad is agreeing to let her miss the first week of school. He is more about "how much is this going to cost us" than her missing school since she typically makes all A's with an occasional B. She will be going into 7th grade. So as a parent, would you also agree to let your child miss school? I am okay with it as well, but I am going to have to take her to get her schedule the week prior, go to the teacher meet and greets, and be like "Hi, nice to meet you. By the way, she won't be here the first week because she is going to camp!" OMG, they are going to probably be like this mom has her priorities wrong.

Is there a scholarship or some other significant opportunity attached with being tapped that warrants an entire week of missed school?

Like, is there something different about the tapped week? Or is it just another week of Woodward?

 

[CheerBank]

Is there a scholarship or something other significant opportunity attached with being tapped that warrants an entire week of missed school?

Like, is there something different about the tapped week? Or is it just another week of Woodward?

It's offered at a reduced rate (maybe $300 off? I forget the price difference) to tapped campers but is otherwise the same. Woodward is a fun camp, I can totally understand campers wanting to go back.

 

[dmd929]

Speaking of Tap week, you can send your cp as a regular camper on Tap week and they can get Tapped for next year's Tap week.

I did this in 2014...she got tapped ($300 discount for 2015) then I registered her early (another $100 off) Her younger sister is also going...registered her early ($100 off) plus a sibling discount ($100 off) Saved $600 this year!

From what I understand older CP will not be eligible to be tapped this summer but younger cp will be. Fingers crossed...then I repeat this entire thing next summer. (notice the avatar)

 

[angelndscz]

For TAP week they say that you can compete to win future discounts and free weeks. Now I think that is more on the BMX, Skateboard side. The BMX/Skateboard program there are always a lot more promotions, give-a-ways and sponsorships. I am going to give her a week to get settled back at home and see if she still wants to go back week 11 or just put that money to the side so she can go two weeks next summer instead.

From what I have read and can tell, TAP (Talent Advancement Program) use to invite athletes back for a free week, then it went to half-price, then the current$300 off. Also, from the girls I know that were tapped week 1, it looks like they are tapping a lot more knowing only a few will return. In my daughter's cabin of 12, all but 2 were tapped and those 2 are there for 2 weeks so they can be tapped week 2. In her gym group, 4 of 12 were tapped. I don't know if the remaining girls are there for additional weeks. It seems like they are tapping more kids?

By the way, the TAP letter says you can NOT combine the $300 with additional discounts.Although I read this on the letter, I also e-mailed and asked on Saturday if I can combine the $300 with either the $100 military discount or $100 returning camper (same summer) discount and was told no that you can not combine discounts. So the total discount would be $300 max. Good news is fights have went down from over $400 back to around $190 round trip on Southwest. If I were to get the total combined of $500 off, I probably would have already registered her to return.

With my daughter's age, an adult has to fly up with her because the airlines only allow unaccompanied minors on direct flights or connecting flights through specific airports and the available flights I checked have layovers at non-approved airports for minors. So for us, it is three airline tickets. 1 roundtrip for DD. 1 round trip to drop her off, 1 round trip to pick her up. The least expensive route we have found is to fly into Baltimore and rent a car with my military or employee discount, then drive 3 hours to camp. Perhaps next summer I can volunteer to work at the camp. I wasn't able to get the time off this summer.