- Apr 25, 2018
- 2
- 0
I'm new to this cheer world. My daughter started all star cheering in prep, she finished her 1st full year of all star cheer. I'm looking for advice on the direction we should go moving forward. I feel I should give the entire picture so the best advice possible can be formed so I apologize about the lengthy message. We're at a small gym right now. As I'm learning different gyms do things different, small accommodate more than large gyms. For last season's tryouts my daughter had a back hand spring series but it wasn't clean so she was put on a mini level 1 team. No problem, I understand that. She progressed and within a couple of weeks after tryouts she was doing 5-6 back hand springs series perfectly. I noticed their level 2 team had 6-8 girls (out of 23) who did not have back hand springs at all and some not even a walkover. a couple were flyers but not all (they were all old enough to either go to mini 1 or make J1). I was annoyed but got over it, my daughter hadn't paid much attention, she only wanted to make J1 but she was only 7. We did a lot of individual competitions and she was able to perform her tumbling skills that way and loved it. Season is over and tryouts for the new season, this time we're up to doing layouts. I get a call that she made level 2 and although she can't base for level 3 they want her to double team on level 3. There's another girl who moved up to level 2 with her but she doesn't have level 2 skills yet and no, she is not going to be a flyer. In the mean time we have tried out at large gym and they would like to place her on a level 3 team there. I asked my daughter what she wants to do and she wants both, because the small gym is where her friends are (although only 1 moved up with her) but the large gym she knows she will continue to get the higher skills there. My dilemma is I like to be a loyal person, I don't like the inconsistency of the decisions on why they move some and not others for the same thing. How are you not good enough to be placed on a higher team 1st but yet you are good enough to double team on it? They are good to her but they don't 100% focus on the technical side of things. The larger gym does and I know that she can learn more for a longer period of time. I know she will be sad to leave yet she will eventually be ok. Should I allow her to stay at the smaller gym at least one more season (they have lost some good athletes on bad decisions) or would I be better moving her to the larger gym now? On a side note, we go to the large gym for tumbling classes already and they see her as a flyer due to her flexibility however it's not likely she'll be a flyer at the smaller gym because they pretty much have their flyers in place and since she doesn't fly now she doesn't really have the skills to do it on a team. She just turned 8. I do not want to seem like "that mom". I do not think my daughter is better than any other child her age. I do not believe she should be put on a team just because of her skills (so, no I'm not saying she needs to be on a level 3 or 4 team)but I do believe in consistency and I want to explain to her why she didn't get something and what she needs to do to earn it and then leave it in her hands. Any input would be helpful for those who have dealt with this before.