All-Star Frustrated With Cheer Princess

[luscheermom]

Like my daughter reminded me, we aren't the ones who actually have to do a standing tuck, full, or back hand spring, they are! Best bet is to support them, get them to the gym as much as possible and what I do also is when they get the skill, get them somekind of reward :)

 

[minamay]

What I'm saying is (sorry I always take so long to get to the point) but maybe she could benefit from maybe a tumble class elsewhere. Anyways regardless of wether you do that or not I'm sure she will come around. She seems awesome and hey tucks would scare me too! Good luck to her and let us know how it goes!

I could not agree with this post more.

For the past three years I have had a mental block on my tuck. I gained my tuck four years ago when I was in 8th grade. I cheered for my middle school then as well and threw my tuck on the dead mat at games all the time.

At cheerleading tryouts for high school the next year, I knew I had an excellent chance of making varsity because I could tumble well. In warm ups and the tryout days I threw my tuck fine but when it came down to the actual tryout the nerves got to me and I busted twice, slightly injuring my knee as well. I did end up making varsity despite the tumbling bust. However, I began to get nervous when I did my tuck after that though I still pulled them every once in a while.

Fast forward to our first competition of the year, the regional competition. This is THE biggest competition of the year in terms of people you know being there, it's at a high school in the district, so you see your cheer friends from other high schools and it is always packed to the max. The week before this competition, our star flyer/tumbler sprained her ankle throwing a full and was unable to tumble or jump. The next best tumbler on the squad was me so I became last pass for tumbling. Which put a LOT of pressure on me not only as last pass but as one of two freshmen on the squad competing for the first time in high school. I threw my tuck fine in warm ups but when I went out on the floor my nerves were all over the place and as known from previous experiences, I don't do well with nerves when tumbling. So my fear of that led me to not pull my tuck at all, only a robhs. I was devestated. I felt like I was such a failure and that I let my team down, no matter what anyone said, I was so upset with myself.

Since then I have just not had the confidence to pull my tuck at all. I have tried multiple coaches, my old allstar gym, a new gym where we did choreography camp for school, everything. Nothing worked.

Then I found out about this gym about 45 minutes away from me that was having open workouts, two hours a day, four days a week for $50. That is a great deal so I went with a new friend of mine and LOVED it. The coaches there, the girls, the facility, the atmosphere and everything was incredible. In just two weeks they had me throwing my tuck again on my own and I now regularly attend tumbling classes there.

The new environment was exactly what I needed and I'm so glad I found this gym.

(Holy long post, Batman. Sorry!)

 

[TheVipersMom]

I could not agree with this post more.

For the past three years I have had a mental block on my tuck. I gained my tuck four years ago when I was in 8th grade. I cheered for my middle school then as well and threw my tuck on the dead mat at games all the time.

At cheerleading tryouts for high school the next year, I knew I had an excellent chance of making varsity because I could tumble well. In warm ups and the tryout days I threw my tuck fine but when it came down to the actual tryout the nerves got to me and I busted twice, slightly injuring my knee as well. I did end up making varsity despite the tumbling bust. However, I began to get nervous when I did my tuck after that though I still pulled them every once in a while.

Fast forward to our first competition of the year, the regional competition. This is THE biggest competition of the year in terms of people you know being there, it's at a high school in the district, so you see your cheer friends from other high schools and it is always packed to the max. The week before this competition, our star flyer/tumbler sprained her ankle throwing a full and was unable to tumble or jump. The next best tumbler on the squad was me so I became last pass for tumbling. Which put a LOT of pressure on me not only as last pass but as one of two freshmen on the squad competing for the first time in high school. I threw my tuck fine in warm ups but when I went out on the floor my nerves were all over the place and as known from previous experiences, I don't do well with nerves when tumbling. So my fear of that led me to not pull my tuck at all, only a robhs. I was devestated. I felt like I was such a failure and that I let my team down, no matter what anyone said, I was so upset with myself.

Since then I have just not had the confidence to pull my tuck at all. I have tried multiple coaches, my old allstar gym, a new gym where we did choreography camp for school, everything. Nothing worked.

Then I found out about this gym about 45 minutes away from me that was having open workouts, two hours a day, four days a week for $50. That is a great deal so I went with a new friend of mine and LOVED it. The coaches there, the girls, the facility, the atmosphere and everything was incredible. In just two weeks they had me throwing my tuck again on my own and I now regularly attend tumbling classes there.

The new environment was exactly what I needed and I'm so glad I found this gym.

(Holy long post, Batman. Sorry!)

Wow that is awesome. I'm so happy for you. :)

 

[jcheermom]

I could not agree with this post more.

For the past three years I have had a mental block on my tuck. I gained my tuck four years ago when I was in 8th grade. I cheered for my middle school then as well and threw my tuck on the dead mat at games all the time.

At cheerleading tryouts for high school the next year, I knew I had an excellent chance of making varsity because I could tumble well. In warm ups and the tryout days I threw my tuck fine but when it came down to the actual tryout the nerves got to me and I busted twice, slightly injuring my knee as well. I did end up making varsity despite the tumbling bust. However, I began to get nervous when I did my tuck after that though I still pulled them every once in a while.

Fast forward to our first competition of the year, the regional competition. This is THE biggest competition of the year in terms of people you know being there, it's at a high school in the district, so you see your cheer friends from other high schools and it is always packed to the max. The week before this competition, our star flyer/tumbler sprained her ankle throwing a full and was unable to tumble or jump. The next best tumbler on the squad was me so I became last pass for tumbling. Which put a LOT of pressure on me not only as last pass but as one of two freshmen on the squad competing for the first time in high school. I threw my tuck fine in warm ups but when I went out on the floor my nerves were all over the place and as known from previous experiences, I don't do well with nerves when tumbling. So my fear of that led me to not pull my tuck at all, only a robhs. I was devestated. I felt like I was such a failure and that I let my team down, no matter what anyone said, I was so upset with myself.

Since then I have just not had the confidence to pull my tuck at all. I have tried multiple coaches, my old allstar gym, a new gym where we did choreography camp for school, everything. Nothing worked.

Then I found out about this gym about 45 minutes away from me that was having open workouts, two hours a day, four days a week for $50. That is a great deal so I went with a new friend of mine and LOVED it. The coaches there, the girls, the facility, the atmosphere and everything was incredible. In just two weeks they had me throwing my tuck again on my own and I now regularly attend tumbling classes there.

The new environment was exactly what I needed and I'm so glad I found this gym.

(Holy long post, Batman. Sorry!)

I think that for some tumblers with a block, a change in environment, where you can feel like you are not being judged or scrutinized by your peers or your coaches, may just do the trick, where you can progress and just work at your own pace to regain your skills. I don't think that those with a block ARE being scrutinized, but I think that they feel that they have to live up to other's expectations, including and oftentimes us cheer moms who put a lot of pressure on CP to get over the block.

 

[coachlex1019]

I have to agree with all the "don't push" posts. My mom was my coach for allstar and during high school I was blocking on my tuck after a month or two off between seasons. It was hard for her not to push because she knew my capabilities and that I was just psyching myself out. She tried just about everything - spotting me, pressuring me in front of our choreographer, bribing me, etc. but nothing really worked.

My mom sent me to privates during the day with one of our tumbling coaches when no one else was in the gym so there would be no pressure. This coach decided to take a more hands-off approach and let me decide what we would do. When I got frustrating from continuing to bail on a tuck, she taught me other skills to get my mind off it and still make me feel like I accomplished something. I eventually decided to try robhs, high bhs and just continued to make that second bhs higher until I turned it into a tuck.

Sometimes it's just best to let your CP figure out what will work for her. My mom and my tumbling coach couldn't have known that telling myself I was doing ro2bhs would be the secret to pulling a tuck.

I also agree that a change of scenery might be nice - for me having privates during the day when no one else was in the gym was nice because it took all the pressure off from the other girls who knew what I was going through and who were genuinely trying to be encouraging but just made me more frustrated.

 

[gymcatmomx2]

There was a cheerleader on my oldest CPs team that has never been able to throw a running backhandspring. However, she is able to throw back tucks, layouts and layout-stepouts out of a running round-off!! I personally know about 4 cheerleaders that have never mastered the robhs and perform their skills from a running round-off, which seems much more difficult to me, but it works for them.

 

[proudmom]

Like my daughter reminded me, we aren't the ones who actually have to do a standing tuck, full, or back hand spring, they are! Best bet is to support them, get them to the gym as much as possible and what I do also is when they get the skill, get them somekind of reward :)

I love this! My daughter did quickly remind me yesterday that I can't do a tuck! Your right I can't! Thank you everyone! It's great to hear from parents that have already gone through this

 

[minamay]

Wow that is awesome. I'm so happy for you. :)

Thank you so much! It's been a long, hard three years trying to work past the block.

Whatever you do, don't pressure your CP when they have a block. My parents didn't at first but after about a year I routinely got complaints about how much money they were wasting or had wasted on tumbling for me to get my tuck and tumbling for me when I had the block and wasn't progressing any. That was the worst feeling for me and there were many times I actually thought about quitting because I felt guilty for doing just that.

 

[coachbd]

There was a cheerleader on my oldest CPs team that has never been able to throw a running backhandspring. However, she is able to throw back tucks, layouts and layout-stepouts out of a running round-off!! I personally know about 4 cheerleaders that have never mastered the robhs and perform their skills from a running round-off, which seems much more difficult to me, but it works for them.

Omg my brother did this exact same thing for ages! Every time he'd try to do a ROBHS he'd bail out of it and freak out, but could RO anything else no problem. He could even do a standing BHS (single, multiple & connected to tucks) just not the running one. Tried out a new gym for tumbling class and now he has gotten his BHS :)

 

[SparkleSpankies]

I also have a mental block story.

At my previous school where I was coaching, we had an incoming freshmen try out with a full. She was a level 3 all-star cheerleader but her tumbling skills at the time were level 5. That season, she would throw a layout or a full, but you couldn't push her. So long story short... I missed a competition b/c of a family matter and in warm-ups the head coach INSISTED that she HAD to throw this full in warm-up and sometimes she would throw a tuck or 2 and then do her full on the floor, sometimes she would throw a full, sometimes a layout and when she went on the mat, she was a solo pass and threw a layout. That day when I wasn't there to defend her and the other assistant was working w/ something else, the head made her throw the full in warm-up. She did it and tweaked a knee. She was "fine" just a lil strain, but she never tumbled more then a round off handspring running again.

She is a senior now and I am not there anymore, but she really wants to tumble again to cheer in college, so I hope she gets it, but the catch is don't force her. She knows that once she does a tuck again, everything will come back and she will do anything w/ a spot or on a tumble track.

Sorry, long post, but she will when she is ready! Just support! AND a change of scenery w/ a new instructor could help!

 

[allstarmama]

If it is a mental block it will NOT help to get mad at her or even motivating her.

Exactly. My CP just overcame a block that lasted about 6 months. You need a very supportive coach that understands blocks and how to deal with them. We were so lucky to have an amazing coach that built her back up....in my opinion he is worth his weight in gold :) Coaches that truly understand and are able to pull kids through are few and far between!

 

[tdittmar]

Well there goes my mother of the year award. :( So glad this thread was started as we just changed gyms after 8 years hopefully to find a renewed love of the sport and especially tumbling. I'm pretty sure the pressure of all the younger girls passing cp up was hard and she was constantly told by the coaches ( and me, although now I see how detrimental it was) how she should have a full by now. So we switched gyms and I told cp that no one here expects anything from you and knows nothing about your past so enjoy it and work at your own pace. It's only been a week and I have seen her slowly trusting in herself again.

 

[Onfire381]

Well there goes my mother of the year award. :( So glad this thread was started as we just changed gyms after 8 years hopefully to find a renewed love of the sport and especially tumbling. I'm pretty sure the pressure of all the younger girls passing cp up was hard and she was constantly told by the coaches ( and me, although now I see how detrimental it was) how she should have a full by now. So we switched gyms and I told cp that no one here expects anything from you and knows nothing about your past so enjoy it and work at your own pace. It's only been a week and I have seen her slowly trusting in herself again.

Those are the magic words....."trusting in herself" because that is where is has to come from. My cp has been through 2 mental blocks. Took a bad fall on a ro/tuck and hasn't done it or her ro/bhs/tuck since November, she has just started doing it again a couple of weeks ago. We have changed gyms and I think the new environment and the encouraging attitudes of the instructors has helped her to get her confidence back.

 

[KTucker]

So from a CP's POV....
Parents, please let your kid make some independent decisions during a block. Whether they're dying to get onto the mat or never want to return, just listen and cooperate. I understand us CPs can be very driven and often just unhealthily fearless, but blocks are a great time for personal growth. I just went through one recently and my momma's encouragement paired with some great listening really helped me. All we need is some patience, cause we're doing all we can.