5 Months Of Privates Lessons & Still No Bhs...???

[Allstarmom2002]

Newbie here but would love to hear some others opinions on this as my husband and I are conflicted on this!

My daughter cheers on a L2 All Star team and currently practices two nights a week, tumbling class one night and a private lesson one night. She is in the gym a lot! She loves competitve cheer and wants to continue to higher level teams. She is only girl on her team that doesn't have her RBHS or SBHS so I put her in private lessons. We are now in our 5th month and she is still unable to do a RBHS or a SBHS. I switched coaches last month and I've seen some improvement in her skills but she is still scared to do them unspotted. Her coach says she over thinks it and it slows her momentum down. She has it perfectly spotted but it's almost like she doens't have faith in herself and her skils.

I just don't know what to do...do I continue the privates and hope she gets it, give her break or just continue putting money into privates? Will there come a time where it just clicks? My husband is to the point where he doesn't want to continue privates unless he see some positive progression.

Sorry for the long post, I'm just so torn!

 

[redsmom]

Newbie here but would love to hear some others opinions on this as my husband and I are conflicted on this!

My daughter cheers on a L2 All Star team and currently practices two nights a week, tumbling class one night and a private lesson one night. She is in the gym a lot! She loves competitve cheer and wants to continue to higher level teams. She is only girl on her team that doesn't have her RBHS or SBHS so I put her in private lessons. We are now in our 5th month and she is still unable to do a RBHS or a SBHS. I switched coaches last month and I've seen some improvement in her skills but she is still scared to do them unspotted. Her coach says she over thinks it and it slows her momentum down. She has it perfectly spotted but it's almost like she doens't have faith in herself and her skils.

I just don't know what to do...do I continue the privates and hope she gets it, give her break or just continue putting money into privates? Will there come a time where it just clicks? My husband is to the point where he doesn't want to continue privates unless he see some positive progression.

Sorry for the long post, I'm just so torn!

5 months is not that long, if she enjoys the privates and has a positive working relationship with the instructor (and you can afford it) , I would recommend you stick with it. It took my cp years to be able to land her back tuck without a spot, her coach would spot her with a single finger and she was perfect, take away the finger and she'd land on her knees every time. She did get it though. We stuck with the classes and privates the entire time, and they continued to work other skills during that time so she always had other areas she was progressing in. Also hopefully her coach is mixing it up for her, having her work on the tramp and/or tumble track, on the floor with wedge mats and tube mats etc...

 

[retiredl5cheer]

5 months is not that long, if she enjoys the privates and has a positive working relationship with the instructor (and you can afford it) , I would recommend you stick with it. It took my cp years to be able to land her back tuck without a spot, her coach would spot her with a single finger and she was perfect, take away the finger and she'd land on her knees every time. She did get it though. We stuck with the classes and privates the entire time, and they continued to work other skills during that time so she always had other areas she was progressing in. Also hopefully her coach is mixing it up for her, having her work on the tramp and/or tumble track, on the floor with wedge mats and tube mats etc...

Totally agree with this! It took me a little under a year to get a back handspring. Tumbling skills are a lot harder to learn than they may seem and take time.

 

[TheVipersMom]

Well I wouldn't stop the privates just yet but I will tell you what I know based solely off what I have learned from my cp.

Now I don't know how old your daughter is.. I'm assuming if she is on j2 she is probably atleast a little older then mine or a lot. Anyways my cp is 6 and she started learning back handsprings in maybe Oct 2010 and at that time she was 5.

When she first started learning them she had 2 major problems with them. She would eitheir separate her feet (like jumping one foot then the other and it looked just like a jumping back walkover). If she was spotted she would not do that but anytime they would take their hand off her back she would separate her feet. It was so frustrating and she wanted it so badly because she thought she would be so cool to be the only one on her tiny team to have a BHS. She also didn't want to be on a "little kid" team next season since she was serious and the others on her team weren't so much.

So to help her I would tie she shoes or her legs together and she could do it fine. So after a few months one day it just clicked and registered and she started jumping off both feet.

After over coming that obstacle by I would say Jan 2011 we started realizing another problem. Her Back HAND springs became back HEAD spring. Her arms werent strong enough and also she wouldn't bring her arms by her ear. They were out more like a high V and she would bend and drop them and land on her head everytime. The only thing I will say is my daughter was never scared. From day 1 she would throw her hand spring by her self no matter how many times she landed on her head she would throw them. So I just started putting big bows on her head and her hair was real fluffy so it just softened the impact a little. Haha

She did this for the longest and it killed me knowing my daughter could land it perfectly with everything fine but she just bounced her head on the mat. My daughter started becoming upset and frustrated for working on something so long and just not being able to do it. I could see this and I bought her a 300$ incline mat and tried whatever I could and paid for all the privates she wanted with multiple coaches it just wasn't happening. I finally just told her one day you aren't going to have it before try outs. Stop stressing your self out and I backed off and just kind of let her be. I wasn't ever that mom screaming at my kid at practice or threatening them to get a skill because so and so is better but I did kind of push her a little now looking back. She knew I wanted her to have it just as much as she wanted it and at that time it just wasn't attainable. Anyways tryouts came April 2011 and let me tell you a girl that had been working with her and that had helped coach her tiny team came running out of the back and she said jaylen just threw her standing BHS and not only did she jump off both feet she straightened her arms and pushed off and did not hit her head. She said it was good and so was the rest of her tryout. So I was really happy for my daughter and yes she made the mini "little kid" team but they also put her on youth 2. Even though she had the skill I still worried she wouldn't measure up to the older girls but in not even a months time her BHS was way better, and she also gained a lot more from it.

Ok so I don't know why I told you my life story . I'm not real good at getting to the point but it does sometimes take more then 5 months. I'm not sure what particular part of the skill is it that is getting your daughter but I'm sure she will get it in no time if she already has it good when spotted. It may be mental but then again with my daughter I think she was just over thinking the skill because she wanted it so badly that she was trying to correct what she already knew how to do when spotted that she lost the actual ability to execute it. So since then I just back off and talk about how happy I am she is close to a new skill on here rather then let her know I want it for her as much as she does. She is only 6 now and she gets pushed by coaches enough she doesn't need me as her mom to do it to.
I'm not saying that is what your doing but I will say that I'm sure she probably works that much harder knowing that you support her and care to get those privates and extra lessons for her!! So good luck and let us know how it comes a long

Btw this is my Facebook page that I uploaded videos too all the time when I thought she had hit a new stage in her BHS till she actually got it.. If there private just let me know or you can add me..: but if you start from the bottom up on a few of them you can see the progression. Looking back now they all look bad .... Lol

Kristen Hughes | Facebook

 

[Cheerbubble]

I say if she still wants to work at it then by all means keep her in the privates. I wont tell you how long I have been paying for privates to get my daughter to do her ROBHS and SBHS, because you might cry..LOL That being said my daughter finally has it and she is so proud of herself!! recently I had my doubts she would ever get it and I was at the point where I was thinking of other sport options for her. but then I realized if she is willing to work at this for this long and this hard who am I to tell her to give up and if she is not giving up then neither will I.

 

[thecheernerd]

I would keep her in! Also find out if there is some conditioning she can do outside the gym to help with strength. One other thing is building confidence...hopefully she is getting lots of positive feedback for all her effort...its the only thing that's going to motivate her to believe in herself! It'll come with patience and hard work!

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[newcheerdad]

My daughter's in her second full season of all-star. It took her probably about 6 months of weekly tumbling plus privates to get a solid, confident robhs and standing bhs. It's taken her over a year from that point to get something approximating a consistent robhs tuck and front punch. By all accounts, her progress is actually pretty normal, if even a little faster than normal. Not all kids are prodigies who pick up tumbling skills in three weeks.

So I wouldn't put too much stock into not having a bhs at this point. When she's confident and comfortable throwing it without a spot, she'll throw it, as long as she's progressing and having fun.

 

[cheerkd]

From my experience a bhs was the hardest skill for me to learn. It if your first skill in which you actually jump backwards making it the most fearful. I started tumbling privates at around 11 and did not get my bhs for almost a year. Once my fear was over i progressed much quicker getting a standing tuck in 2-3 months, and continued to progress quickly. Same for my sister. It took her almost two years to get her bhs. After that she ended up with a full two years later. So if privates are something you can afford and she enjoys it, I would keep her in them!

 

[MissBee]

Flinging yourself backwards and upside down is not human nature. As mentioned, the BHS is the hardest to learn, and it's mostly mental. For most people it's about a year to get it, some take more time, some take less time. Stick with it!

 

[Allstarmom2002]

Hey everyone, sorry it’s taken so long to respond, been a crazy day at the office and I haven’t had time to read all of the updates. Thank you so much for responding! After talking to my daughter, I’ve decided to keep her in privates for the time being and to continue with her weekly class. She is so dedicated and wants so badly to learn it, that I want to make sure I encourage her want and desire to learn. I sometimes forget that it’s easy for me to place expectations on her when I’m not the one flinging myself thru the air! Her confidence is building every day and her new coach is really helping her so much that I think it would be unfair to her to stop them.

I’ll keep you all posted on her progress!!!

Thanks again!

 

[SharkDad]

Hey everyone, sorry it’s taken so long to respond, been a crazy day at the office and I haven’t had time to read all of the updates. Thank you so much for responding! After talking to my daughter, I’ve decided to keep her in privates for the time being and to continue with her weekly class. She is so dedicated and wants so badly to learn it, that I want to make sure I encourage her want and desire to learn. I sometimes forget that it’s easy for me to place expectations on her when I’m not the one flinging myself thru the air! Her confidence is building every day and her new coach is really helping her so much that I think it would be unfair to her to stop them.

I’ll keep you all posted on her progress!!!

Thanks again!

A way to think about it when talking to dad about it is: why take away somethng she is very dedicated to? If she decides she doesn't like it anymore or wants to try soccer or hockey, then support her in that, but right now this is what she wants to do then why not?

When she gets each new skill after all the hard work she puts in you won't be able to beat that feeling. I personally find that the lesson of setting goals, working hard at them, and achieving them after not giving up is something that cheerleading teaches very well if you let it and talk about with your child when it's appropriate.

Good luck

 

[Phenomenon]

I know this is a really old thread but I am having a similar issue.
I've been doing private tumbling lessons for over a year an a half and still have little to show for it.
Am I just wasting my time with private lessons?

 

[ANNA!]

I had this same problem I could do them fine with a spot but was too scared to throw them by myself and then one day everything just clicked! I think the same might happen to your daughter. just dont give up on her if she has the drive it will happen!

 

[Allstarmom2002]

Hi all! Thought I would post a follow-up!

We ended up switching gyms (lots of reasons there) but went ahead and continued private lessons with CP at her new gym. After 2 privates, she was throwing a perfect BHS. She now has multiple standing and running BHS and she is working on her tuck!!!

I would say, if you can afford to keep your CP in then, than do. Maybe try a different coach. I think it just took that "ah ha" moment for my CP to feel confident and that she really could do them on her own. She is more confident now in her tumbling than she has ever been before and cant wait to hit the floor (never thought that day would come!).

I also think that maybe we just hadn't found the right coach orginally, now she is making progress with every lesson!

Good luck!

 

[SheCheers]

I never realized until recently how important the "right" coach is for some kids. My cp was always a really quick learner and advanced really quickly without having privates or even tumbling weekly. But now that she's working on more advanced skills, we're having trouble finding a coach to work with her that she's learning from. I don't even think it's so much the SKILL of the coach, either (that's so important, don't get me wrong), I think it's more the personality.

My point is, if after a month, you're not progressing...and I don't mean brand spanking new skills, but even improving technique, etc...then I'd switch to someone else.