Competition Cheerleading

[Deleted]

Anyone involved in this with their kids? My daughter is on three different competitive squads-two at her All-Star gym and also on her High School Varsity Coed.
In my house, cheerleading is life it seems. It is so time consuming for the entire family and also very expensive. But she loves it and it keeps her busy and out of trouble so I guess I can't complain!
This competition season we have had a couple of local comps, have gone to Birmingham three times, Chattanooga once, and Tuscaloosa once (all since mid-November), and we leave for Nationals in Orlando in two weeks. We then go a week later to Atlanta, and then two weeks after that back to Orlando again. It exhausts me to just think about it.
But I'll never forget the first time I saw her face on ESPN. I died laughing and crying at the same time.
Stupid I know.

[Sunnyhorse]

Hey, that was your kid on the TV -- it must've been a huge thrill!

I was never a cheerleader, but I'm fascinated by those competitions and invariably have to stop and watch for a while when I come across one on ESPN. My mother was a cheerleader, but that was back in the days of knee-length skirts and not much in the way of athleticism. I've always meant to ask her what she thinks of how cheerleading has evolved.

[intlschizo]

buttercup said:

But I'll never forget the first time I saw her face on ESPN. I died laughing and crying at the same time.
Stupid I know.

No, it's not.

[Deleted]

She started All Star cheerleading when she was eight and that was her big goal, to cheer on ESPN. Which finally happened last winter. The squad she is on is going for their ninth National Championship in two weeks. Fifth in a row. :-)

[tcukris10]

Yay! Cheerleading!

I did all stars from junior high until I graduated high school. I also was on my high school team and my high school competitive team. After that, I was on my college team and then coached the all-girls team where I went to grad school.

Is your daughter a senior this year? Is she going to try out in college?

[Ripley]

I was never a cheerleader, but damned if I don't watch every minute of a competition if I flip past one on ESPN.

[susyhomewrecker]

I was a cheerleader in high school, but my squad was nowhere near as good as the ones on ESPN! I love watching those competitions and those teams' athleticism is amazing! At my school, cheer was not considered a sport, so we didn't get any of the benefits that, say, the golf team got. We were not allowed to opt out of PE, we had to have a higher GPA than the "athletes," etc. However, we had three hour practices every day in which we had to run, do push-ups and crunches in addition to learning dance routines (sometimes in as little as three days) and complicated stunts. It's a sport.

[Deleted]

No, actually she is a sophomore this year. She made the varsity competition team as an incoming freshman. I think she will try out for college though. I get a little afraid of her getting burned out, but we have discussed the fact that you should use whatever talents you have to get where you want to go in life, i.e., athletic or academic scholarships. Right now, she is thinking of trying out at Alabama and probably some of the smaller schools here in state too.

It gets kind of tiresome sometimes, but it really is a lot of fun, and the level of unbelievable talent out there is crazy these days.

[tcukris10]

Cheering in college was the best thing I could have done.

I was burned out after high school and didn't want to tryout. I went to the tryouts and was very intimidated. I went for it and made the team. After nationals in high school we didn't do much, so from March until college camp, I had a break.

Being on the college team gave me a strong since of school pride. The football games were fun, but also allowed me to travel to a lot of places that I wouldn't have normally gone to- like West Point, Tampa, Colorado Springs, San Diego, Chicago, Philadelphia, Honolulu and more. Same goes for basketball and the NCAA tournament. And, going on the private school plane was always a huge bonus. Plus, I didn't feel the need to join a sorority.

What all-star team is she on? I'll look for them on ESPN.

What kind of pyramids and baskets are they doing? Since they can do more in college, she still has a lot of learning to do and it is so exciting. Encourage her to stick with it.

[Deleted]

tcukris10 said:

Cheering in college was the best thing I could have done.

I was burned out after high school and didn't want to tryout. I went to the tryouts and was very intimidated. I went for it and made the team. After nationals in high school we didn't do much, so from March until college camp, I had a break.

Being on the college team gave me a strong since of school pride. The football games were fun, but also allowed me to travel to a lot of places that I wouldn't have normally gone to- like West Point, Tampa, Colorado Springs, San Diego, Chicago, Philadelphia, Honolulu and more. Same goes for basketball and the NCAA tournament. And, going on the private school plane was always a huge bonus. Plus, I didn't feel the need to join a sorority.

What all-star team is she on? I'll look for them on ESPN.

What kind of pyramids and baskets are they doing? Since they can do more in college, she still has a lot of learning to do and it is so exciting. Encourage her to stick with it.

She cheers for Sparkman High School, who compete in Small Varsity Coed, and for Tumblebeez All-Stars, who will be in Small Senior this year.

Sparkman HS is the team that is going for number five in a row this year, actually next week. We leave in the middle of next week and the comp will take place that weekend.
All-Star Nationals will be the second weekend of March. Tumblebeez has already competed at Athletic Championships and Cheersport Regionals this year, and also at Jamfest. We do Cheersport Nationals in three weeks and then UCA in March.

Sparkman has a beautiful kick-double basket and also a pretty around the world during their cheer. They open with squad standing tuck tucks. Their routine is pretty difficult and if they can hit it I think they will be ok!