All-Star Convincing Males To Cheer

[Katie W]

My little brother is going into 6th grade this year and I'm trying to convince him to join his middle school cheer team. I wouldn't be if he didn't express any interest in it, but he enjoys tumbling and it seems like he wants to try out, but he thinks that it's too girly of a sport for a boy and he'll get made fun of. He has his back handspring and since he's a boy he's basically guaranteed a spot on the team if he tries out. I've shown him videos of male cheerleaders and coed teams but he's still not convinced. Should I just give up? Or is there more I can do to convince him?

 

[Michael White]

It takes a guy with a thick skin to be thrown into cheering. It helps when there are already guys on the team, but I don't know any specific ways to recruit him. A good way to start is say "Just try it for a week to see what it's like." That's what hooked me. I didn't have any tumbling, but I was strong and willing to learn, and picking it up quickly made it fun for me.

 

[Mndl]

I hear you. I think My 15yr old would love cheer; he loves tumbling, has fun stunting with his sister and would probably even like the dance portion(if it's more hip hop). The gymnastic instructor at his camp has tried the last two years to talk him into it(she's a former cheerleader) and had no luck. He's even admitted that he might like it, but feels weird about even trying it, it's a pity really. Maybe seeing male cheerleaders at Woodward the next two weeks will change his mind...

 

[Pebbles49]

I must admit, the MS years are the absolute worse time to convince young dudes to try cheer...I know these MS young dudes are trying to establish themselves and their peers are really tough on each other. I say, the time to interest boys will be before 10 and perhaps HS aged young men. I noticed, the HS young men will do it for the girls attention as a selling point.
MS aged young men are only interested in impressing their peers (young dudes) only...Tough age to pull these young dudes, peer pressure is REAL. Js

 

[Cheer Dad]

I must admit, the MS years are the absolute worse time to convince young dudes to try cheer...I know these MS young dudes are trying to establish themselves and their peers are really tough on each other. I say, the time to interest boys will be before 10 and perhaps HS aged young men. I noticed, the HS young men will do it for the girls attention as a selling point.
MS aged young men are only interested in impressing their peers (young dudes) only...Tough age to pull these young dudes, peer pressure is REAL. Js

I agree with you.


**j'applaudis avec mes cuisses de tonnerre**

 

[FierceIsTheName]

Maybe if you know of any guy cheerleaders in your area, like either all star/highschool or even coaches, you could get them to meet or talk and maybe he'd like it more? Not sure. I know when i first did a coed team there was 1 boy but he got all of his football friends to join him.

 

[njallday]

Yeah... our high school team only went coed when our coach had the football team in study hall and convinced a group of the 4 "most popular" football players to come throw the girls around. Once they joined, a few more boys came out of the woodwork to join the team because they really wanted to cheer but were afraid of the stigma. Then they had the built in "protection" of the tough guys to stop any bullying that they encountered. Not everyone is that lucky.

I'm all about doing what you love and all that, but middle school is hard enough without the stress of being the only boy on the cheerleading team. So hard, that I honestly wouldn't push him to join the team unless it was something he 300% wanted to do. I'd be more inclined to bring him to an all star gym and let him try it out privately rather than throwing him on the sidelines in front of the middle school to be ostracized by his peers. If he tries it at a gym and falls in love with it, it'd be much easier to transition to sideline school cheer and put up with any potential bullies calling him "gay" (and all the more derogatory terms that come with it) whether he is or isn't.

Kids are mean. But if he really wants to try cheer I hope he is able to! Sorry to be depressing.

 

[ScottyB]

i reluctantly joined my senior year of hs because a cute girl asked me to....so best of luck with a middle school dude

 

[dat.jpp]

cheer for me started out back in 2013 when I was watching TV on direcTV and I was going through the channels and then saw "The Cheerleading Worlds" so I clicked on it. I was like "That's sweet!". Then like a month later I wanted to do it for the 2013-2014 season for this local gym, but couldn't cause I didn't have the money to do it. So in the 2014-2015 season I did middle school but a month into the season my dad was picking me up from practice when he said I was going to be able to do allstars for the same local gym I wanted to join. Long story short: I've been doing cheer since October 2014 and all I can say is. IT'S ADDICTING! so yeah...