In Northern Virginia, our athletes are allowed to do both. Our coach is very understanding and tries to work with the girls. I think that is because she was an AS cheerleader herself. We only compete during the fall. During that time, until States, hs comes first. Our AS gym is very supportive too during the fall. This usually works out well, as our state competition is usually the first week or two of November. During basketball season, the girls have to find a substitute if it is their turn to cheer. We probably have about 4-5 AS girls on the varsity squad. I will say that my CP was frustrated with the lack of commitment from most of the hs athletes. She is not used to people not showing up for practice, or using "injuries" to get out of practice, and the lack of enthusiasm for advancing their skills. Additionally, with a lot of the hs athletes, their stunting skills were not correct or just plain dangerous. My daughter felt a lot of the time, the girls just wanted to get the stunt up at whatever the cost. This resulted in a LOT of injuries. We had 7 concussions this year on a team of 24!
