High School Allstar to Highschool

[Cheermom1979]

How should an Allstar cheerleader prepare for highschool cheer?

Daughter is currently in 8th grade hasn’t done sideline cheer since 4th grade. She wants to cheer football in HS and continue with Allstar as well.

Allstar is a huge time commitment- concerned about the flexibility of HS - only really and issue Aug- October.

Any advise on the transition?

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

1. Start early with getting some non-spring floor tumbling experience.

2. Communicate. I did not necessarily mind sharing athletes between all star programs and my high school programs when I coached but it was really important for them to communicate with me about what was going on. Preferably in advance. For example, if you get a calendar of important comp and choreo dates, I preferred to actually talk to the athlete and make a plan. Example: Knowing in advance that Suzy will miss 2 games as opposed to finding out last minute.

3. But I also know that life happens and I think people need to understand that life happens also on both sides. For example, Susie can’t help that her flight home from cheer sport was rescheduled and she’s going to miss regionals. That’s where being understanding comes in.

4. It’s important to know that there is going to have to be some give-and-take. For example if you had to miss a game for your All-Star showcase, you are not going to be allowed to then miss a pep rally next weekend because your all star team went to the haunted house for team bonding.

5. You also have to limit other absences when you’re sharing between two programs. For example, if you just missed a game to travel for all star comp, it can be tempting to turn around and miss Monday HS practice because you got back late on Sunday night. But being part of two programs often means getting up and showing up even when you are tired and would you otherwise skip.

 

[Cheermom1979]

Thank you for this! Helpful. I already know Allstar choreo dates for next year and typically have our travel calendar by Memorial Day- before HS tryouts even take place. a few things may change but are typically canceled (dependent of bids) or rescheduled on the same weekend. And we don’t start to compete until December when football is already over. August and November are typically our hell months. August may be difficult to juggle but I think football is done in Nov.

My daughter is not planning to compete on the HS team- she thinks it will be too much conflict as it is comp season for both- example
This month is a local comp, HS nationals, cheersport and NCA and tons of practice.

As a coach would you be annoyed that she isn’t competing for your team?

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

^ The understanding was generally that if you were on Varsity that you would be competing. I never had any girls who did not want to. Generally the athletes who were so committed to their All-Star team that they did not want to compete on high school or had too many conflicts to compete with high school would normally request to be on JV. JV at the school where I coached JV was more of the equivalent of sideline only rather than a “lesser squad.” It had a variety of grade levels on it not just freshman. It didn’t necessarily annoy me that a talented cheerleader didn’t want to compete on the varsity team, because everyone has different priorities. For example our JV had a couple of girls who played Varsity and Club Volleyball, wanted to cheer Football but could never commit to Varsity cheer because of their year round VB commitments.

 

[Cheermom1979]

Thanks! Our school has 4 teams. JV and Varsity Football and 2 comp squads- not sure the difference between the 2 comp squads. You have to cheer Football if you plan on comp; but comp is not required to do football.

My daughter really wants to make it to worlds and I think she is being so mature trying to plan realistically what she can handle…but things change so maybe she will compete w/ school one year…

I hope things go well for her.