- Apr 17, 2012
- 151
- 295
No one here will have the right answer for your unique situation, but here are some things to consider:
+ How competitive is your high school? Does your high school compete at all? If so, do you have the option to not compete (only cheer for football) and still do allstar? My high school kind of sucked so I just cheered football season and did allstar year-round. If it's an option, I highly suggest it.
+ How competitive are you - what are your cheer goals? If you were on a level 5 I assume you were probably pretty competitive. If you are a serious athlete looking to cheer in college or are just serious in general, allstar will probably offer you better training facilities and coaching as well as more practice time.
Just a side note: When I talk to parents about their kids leaving allstar for HS their freshman year, the number one reason I get is "I want my kid to look good to colleges." WRONG! Let me just point out that I didn't even include high school cheerleading as an activity in an of my college applications and I was still a competitive applicant at several Big 10 schools - so competitive, in fact, that I was offered scholarships (of the academic variety - I did not continue sports in college). As long as your child is passionate about SOMETHING, whether it is allstar cheer, theater, music, youth groups, etc., colleges don't really care if it is school-related or not, JMO.
Another side note: Although this would require an industry-wide change, why does our allstar season conflict with HS in the first place? Most other "club" sports have their off season during the HS season. The only state I for sure know this is a problem for is IL, and as an IL coach, let me just tell you how frustrating it is to train brand new kids and turn them into talented little machines and then watch them leave you for their HS teams. It kills me! So annoying. I wish IHSA had never made cheerleading a sport.
+ How competitive is your high school? Does your high school compete at all? If so, do you have the option to not compete (only cheer for football) and still do allstar? My high school kind of sucked so I just cheered football season and did allstar year-round. If it's an option, I highly suggest it.
+ How competitive are you - what are your cheer goals? If you were on a level 5 I assume you were probably pretty competitive. If you are a serious athlete looking to cheer in college or are just serious in general, allstar will probably offer you better training facilities and coaching as well as more practice time.
Just a side note: When I talk to parents about their kids leaving allstar for HS their freshman year, the number one reason I get is "I want my kid to look good to colleges." WRONG! Let me just point out that I didn't even include high school cheerleading as an activity in an of my college applications and I was still a competitive applicant at several Big 10 schools - so competitive, in fact, that I was offered scholarships (of the academic variety - I did not continue sports in college). As long as your child is passionate about SOMETHING, whether it is allstar cheer, theater, music, youth groups, etc., colleges don't really care if it is school-related or not, JMO.
Another side note: Although this would require an industry-wide change, why does our allstar season conflict with HS in the first place? Most other "club" sports have their off season during the HS season. The only state I for sure know this is a problem for is IL, and as an IL coach, let me just tell you how frustrating it is to train brand new kids and turn them into talented little machines and then watch them leave you for their HS teams. It kills me! So annoying. I wish IHSA had never made cheerleading a sport.
