Hi! My daughter switched from gymnastics to cheer last year. She was a level 4 gymnast which corresponded to level 2/3 cheer. While the skills are different, she picked up flying very easily....she's naturally flexible and the conditioning in gymnastics helped with her tight body positions and balance. Based on our experience, I would say gymnastics skills and training are transferable to cheer. Your daughter will likely be elite and the gym will determine the level. Levels work differently in a team sport and not every athlete on the team has to have all of the skills for that level. Gyms piece the teams together based on the skills they have kind of like a puzzle.
You can jump straight into elite, and do a Level 1 team to build her stunting skills to make her a well-rounded athlete. Her tumbling at a level 2 without stunting skills could place her a L2, depending on the tryout results/how the gym you choose builds teams. I know a lot of people who think that tumbling skills are indicative of an all-star cheer team level placement but as you stated yourself, knowing that she's never stunted before and being open to start there will allow her to get the elite cheer team experience and training, build herself as an athlete, and move up with her new, stronger skills. My daughter began 2 seasons ago in a J1 Elite program, and is now in a J4 as a base/tumbler and Sr4.2 as a brand new flyer. I don't think she would have had the skills to be where she is if we had not started her off in a level 1 to gain the full realm of experience even though she was a strong tumbler. Whatever you decide, I hope she enjoys it and does amazing!
