Can someone talk with me about cheer and gymnastics?

[southernm]

DD 5 is on the developmental gymnastics team and going for an hour and a half twice a week. She is starting to hint that she wants to quit. I think she is really starting to do a lot of conditioning and feels like it's hard work. I do not think she is mature enough to make the decision to quit at this time. So to compromise, I've let her try a cheer class. So we go to class tonight and they barely get past warm-ups. They worked on clapping. Seriously. So of course she now loves cheer because "it's cool" and "gymnastics is hard work". I have hesitations about cheer as a whole and the crowd and atmosphere is very different from gymnastics. I'm used to silent, library quiet lobby and viewing area. Cheer was anything but that.

 

1. What is cheer like? What am I getting myself and DD into?

 

2. Anyone have a little gymmie that has been through the same thing?

 

and yes I know to those on the outside of the sport 3 hours of gymnastics seems like a lot, but it's quite the norm for her level. Cheer class in only 45 min.

[MiniBlondes]

1. What is cheer like? What am I getting myself and DD into?

This depends on what kind of cheer you're talking about. There are 3 different kinds of cheerleading. Rec cheer in the younger ages is mostly focusing on motions and putting short choreography together. Sideline cheer is a little more advanced than that, learning 30-50 full cheers and chants and a dance routine or 2. The difficulty of sideline cheer varies a lot from team to team and district to district. My daughter does allstar cheer. It is a cheer/gymnastics combo that is heavy on tumbling and stunting. It's much more strenuous than the other 2. We are at cheer gym 4 days (6+ hours a week).

 

2. Anyone have a little gymmie that has been through the same thing?

Sort of. Both of my girls wanted to take gymnastics. One loves to cheer and the other hates it. So one of mine just takes gymnastics and the other does Allstar which is a cheer/gym combo. The good news is that both sports go hand-in-hand in many ways so she will learn a great deal from doing both.

[southernm]

This is cheer at a cheer gym. She would have 3 competitions. I think they said her group was called "shimmer" and was a part of the "tiny" age group. Im clueless!!:tongue_smilie:

[blondeviolin]

Well, I don't have this issue with gym since my oldest is just being introduced to it... BUT Emmett last year was having a hard time with swim. He was at the pre-team level, with swim team beginning at 7...he was barely 4. :glare: He wasn't paying attention as well as the other kids (6+ years) because he was so young. His swimming ability was remarkable, but it didn't matter one iota because developmentally he was young for the class. (We would have put him in private instruction, but it would cost $200 a month for JUST HIM.)

 

So, we pulled him for 9 months. He played around with an intro gymnastics course.

 

Just this month, he went back to swim. It is obvious that he has matured LEAPS and BOUNDS. He still gets bored and starts swimming in circles, but when the teacher talks, he listens. When he can't figure out a skill, he doesn't throw a temper tantrum or give up. Rather, he keeps trying until it's perfected.

 

Also, because of him and a few other swimmers, the swim team has been compelled to start testing out an under-six swim team. It will be a gentle introduction to team and he is excited that he gets to "do meets."

 

All of that to say, I am not sorry that we pulled him out of something he loved. It gave him some time to grow, helped him mature, gave the swim team time to catch up to his demands, and made him realize that he really does LOVE swim. In a way, it's a lot like when a child is ready to begin reading at a young age. You start with where they're ready and when they stop wanting to do it, you slow it down and go at THEIR pace.

 

That's just my $0.02, though.

[Snickerdoodle]

I stayed up the other night and watched this. Why? I can't tell you but it was interesting.

 

[MiniBlondes]

This is cheer at a cheer gym. She would have 3 competitions. I think they said her group was called "shimmer" and was a part of the "tiny" age group. Im clueless!!:tongue_smilie:

 

 

Aww yay! Yes, tiny/mini are the itty bitty ones. They are my favorite to watch!! Since it is at a gym it will never EVER be quiet or reserved. :lol: It will be loud and all kinds of fun!

[MiniBlondes]

I stayed up the other night and watched this. Why? I can't tell you but it was interesting.

 

 

This is Allstar.

[southernm]

Aww yay! Yes, tiny/mini are the itty bitty ones. They are my favorite to watch!! Since it is at a gym it will never EVER be quiet or reserved. :lol: It will be loud and all kinds of fun!

 

Which is why I think she likes it! She has the talent for gymnastics but so not the robot work horse personality lol!

[Tasia]

My son started all-star cheer last year, at 8, so we missed out on the "tiny" and "mini" levels. There are lots of videos on Youtube that you could check out to see what those levels look like when they get to competition time.

[Sukale]

I think cheer will get harder fast. My niece does a lot of the tumbling in her cheer routines. We tried both gymnastics and cheer with my oldest and each only lasted a few months. She has never been a sporty kind of girl. Now at almost 14 she jogs on my treadmill to get some daily activity in. She did enjoy art classes and book clubs for several years. My 4 yr old has done gymnastics for a year this month and loves it. She goes 9 hours a week now that she is on the team and would go more if I would let her.

[momma2three]

I stayed up the other night and watched this. Why? I can't tell you but it was interesting.

 

 

Fascinating. I just watched it.

[bettyandbob]

Unless you have a reason that gymnastics is nonnegotiable, I would let her try other activities/sports . My dc always did two sports. One was rec level of whatever they chose. Sometimes they chose something new every season. The nonnegotiable in my house was swimming. At 8 or 9 both my older dc chose to focus on something more seriously with a bigger time commitment year round. At that point they both had tried a few things and chose something they felt passionate about. I would not be investing in pre team gymnastics, club soccer, pre pro ballet, or something similar unless my dc had the passion nd interest herself. Until one of my dc requests that level, we just pure sports with general eye on fitness and learning new skills. Reading what you have said, itdoesn't oun like your dd is mature enoug make a commitment. If you make her do this, you are setting yourself for regular arguments. You may also be frustrated with the amount of money you put in the activity when your dd doesn't appreciate it

[southernm]

I stayed up the other night and watched this. Why? I can't tell you but it was interesting.

 

 

 

Wow that was a great video. I should stop ignoring the signs. Dd5 refused to watch the Olympics but wanted to watch every minute of the video. Now she wants to go to competitions, get a jacket, and get all the bows. Oh goodness!

[Georgiana Daniels]

DD 5 is on the developmental gymnastics team and going for an hour and a half twice a week. She is starting to hint that she wants to quit. I think she is really starting to do a lot of conditioning and feels like it's hard work. I do not think she is mature enough to make the decision to quit at this time. So to compromise, I've let her try a cheer class. So we go to class tonight and they barely get past warm-ups. They worked on clapping. Seriously. So of course she now loves cheer because "it's cool" and "gymnastics is hard work". I have hesitations about cheer as a whole and the crowd and atmosphere is very different from gymnastics. I'm used to silent, library quiet lobby and viewing area. Cheer was anything but that.

 

1. What is cheer like? What am I getting myself and DD into?

 

2. Anyone have a little gymmie that has been through the same thing?

 

and yes I know to those on the outside of the sport 3 hours of gymnastics seems like a lot, but it's quite the norm for her level. Cheer class in only 45 min.

 

One of my daughter's wanted to quit gym at that age and we let her--no regrets. Found out soccer is her thing!

 

The other one--I can only guess when enough will be enough. The time/money commitment increases as you go, so does the intensity of training. If you suspect your daughter is going through a phase, then encourage her to stick it out. But if she really has her own reservations, now is the time to walk away. LOL, it'll only get harder later.

[KungFuPanda]

DD 5 is on the developmental gymnastics team and going for an hour and a half twice a week. She is starting to hint that she wants to quit. I think she is really starting to do a lot of conditioning and feels like it's hard work. I do not think she is mature enough to make the decision to quit at this time. So to compromise, I've let her try a cheer class. So we go to class tonight and they barely get past warm-ups. They worked on clapping. Seriously. So of course she now loves cheer because "it's cool" and "gymnastics is hard work". I have hesitations about cheer as a whole and the crowd and atmosphere is very different from gymnastics. I'm used to silent, library quiet lobby and viewing area. Cheer was anything but that.

 

1. What is cheer like? What am I getting myself and DD into?

 

2. Anyone have a little gymmie that has been through the same thing?

 

and yes I know to those on the outside of the sport 3 hours of gymnastics seems like a lot, but it's quite the norm for her level. Cheer class in only 45 min.

 

She may not be mature enough to make the decision to quit, but she also wasn't mature enough to make the decision to start. She's 5. Let her try new things. Nobody should be bound to an activity for life because they thought it would be fun to try it at five. Kids who are truly motivated get it from within themselves and their parents don't NEED to convince them.

[southernm]

She may not be mature enough to make the decision to quit, but she also wasn't mature enough to make the decision to start. She's 5. Let her try new things. Nobody should be bound to an activity for life because they thought it would be fun to try it at five. Kids who are truly motivated get it from within themselves and their parents don't NEED to convince them.

 

You are very right. Thanks for reminding me. She did try a week of soccer camp and that was enough soccer for her!

[Dmmetler]

My suggestion-for now, see if you can find a rec cheer-something like YCOA or Upward Sports, or even a 45 minute once a week class at an All-star gym that competes only regionally (which is what it sounds like she visited)-but keep at least one class at the gymnastics gym as well, even if she wants to drop the developmental team. My DD moved to the tumbling track in her gymnastics gym when it was a choice of moving to pre-team or continuing in rec because she just plain prefers cheering to gymnastics-but even her cheer coach told her, flat out, that she was getting better training from gymnastics coaches on tumbling than she'd get in the cheer gym-because they're focused on JUST training the gymnastics/tumbling skillset, while cheer coaches tend to be focused on stunting first and the GROUP skills, not perfecting the individual ones. From what I've seen, gymnastics gyms also have more equipment available, too.

 

My daughter's current goal is to make an elite team (one that competes nationally) and to compete on a UCA competitive cheer team in college. She has NO desire to do sidelines cheer (she doesn't handle heat, cold, or lots of noise well-I'm amazed she can handle cheer competition at all), but loves the competition part of it.

 

As far as costumes, glitter, hair and all that, cheer has a bad reputation, but honestly, my DD's cheer uniform covers more of her and is a lot more modest, as are the moves and dances they do, than most dance studios in the area. Her uniform has a full bodysuit with a vest/skirt over that, and boy-shorts under that. The problem tends to be more that the uniform is too HOT in a gym situation. It is not atypical for all-star teams to have bare midriff uniforms starting about level 3-4, and one reason for that is that you want the bases/spotters to be able to grab on to the girl's body if a flyer is out of position-not potentially get a handful of cloth, but those costumes are still going to cover all and they're NOT going to move-because that's a safety issue. And, in fact, a uniform that can be potentially unsafe in many ways is a mandatory deduction before a team even steps on the mat.

 

Makeup tends to be big, because your audience is a distance away from you, and you want to see the girls' faces. Hairstyles change-it's been the curled ponytails most of the time since DD started, but I'm starting to see a return to sleek ponies and french braids, so it may be that the age of the pin-curls is almost over (I'll be just as happy to NOT have to spend hours putting DD's hair in rollers!). In general, the pony-tail wigs are NOT a good idea for cheer because you don't want anything that can fall off/out-so a vast majority of girls will use their natural hair, and some coaches can get downright picky about girls changing their hair during competition season (I know the elite teams have a statement to that effect in their agreements, although my DD's team does not).

 

Cheer has been one of the best things my DD has done-and I never would have chosen it as an activity if it weren't that we'd missed dance class sign ups for the fall, years ago, and she saw the sign and wanted to try. It's a real strain for a kid with sensory issues to handle being touched and flying, to handle the noise, smell, and scratchy uniforms of competition, and just to be out there and do it. And she does it because she LOVES being part of her team and loves the feeling she gets when they win or lose together. She constantly pushes and challenges herself.

[southernm]

Thanks D. If she goes back to rec she will have to go to the little kids class because of her age. I know that would not be good for her at all. I think I am going to let things stay as is until cheer ramps up and she decides for sure she likes it. If that's what she wants to do then I will support her 100%!

 

ETA: I've already talked to the gym about just letting her do one class but it's a no go. They have started making all the kids at her level go twice a week which has caused a bit of controversy, but I understand why they are doing that.

[itsheresomewhere]

Thanks D. If she goes back to rec she will have to go to the little kids class because of her age. I know that would not be good for her at all. I think I am going to let things stay as is until cheer ramps up and she decides for sure she likes it. If that's what she wants to do then I will support her 100%!

 

ETA: I've already talked to the gym about just letting her do one class but it's a no go. They have started making all the kids at her level go twice a week which has caused a bit of controversy, but I understand why they are doing that.

 

Not all gyms to that. Find another gym. Ours has a rec gymnastics and it is done by level. Then we have the comp team.

[Kathryn]

She may not be mature enough to make the decision to quit, but she also wasn't mature enough to make the decision to start. She's 5. Let her try new things. Nobody should be bound to an activity for life because they thought it would be fun to try it at five. Kids who are truly motivated get it from within themselves and their parents don't NEED to convince them.

 

:iagree: