All-Star Maxing Out Of A Level

[cheergoogle]

What do you consider to be maxing out a level?

Example: Heard a mom say that her child would "max out Mini 2" next year because her child (6) was working on a tuck. Wouldn't maxing out a level include stunting, dancing, jumps and performing? Does only tumbling dictate level at tryouts?

 

[wcsstilldeath]

i think tumbling has a large portion to do with it but there are many other aspects to cheerleading. If this mini cant do jumps, remember dances, hold stunts and perform well over all it doesnt matter how well they tumble because they cant be placed up on a higher level team. Just because a girl throws a full doesnt mean shes going to be on a level 5 team. Guess this mom is one of those "when will my susie____" type of mothers.

 

[KB_Legend]

well since you can't even do a tuck in level 2 I'm not sure how that is relevant.... I would say basing/flying prep level one legs, doing double or tripple jump combinations, standing handspring pause handspring, and round off multiple back handsprings would be maxing out level 2...

 

[cheeromgbre]

i know at least 2 girls that can throw a full but they are on level 3 teams and they and their mothers complain about it (one left the gym). apparently they do not realize that their daughters cannot stunt, jump, or perform like a level 5 or even level 4 athlete. this can go for sooo many people. at my old gym there was a girl that was on level 4 and was moved to level 3 mid season because of various reasons. she left the gym because she and her mother truly believed that she belonged on the level 4 team. the girl had inconsistent tumbling, was in the last row of jumps, squatted during stunts, and couldnt dance or do motions to save her life. she didnt contribute to anything. just because someone can tumble, does not mean they belong on the level they are tumbling at.

 

[newcheerdad]

Unless there's a mini 3 team at that gym, I'm not sure why you'd want to move someone up that young to a youth or junior team. I'm sure it happens, but I can't imagine how a 6-year-old could function on a higher-level team with older kids.

 

[flipmac]

We base our tryouts off of tumbling, as we believe we can make anyone stunt jump dance their level much quicker than we can get their tumbling up to par... yes kids get moved a little after tryouts.

 

[cheeeeer93]

Maxing out level 2 would include standing bhs, combination passes ending in multiple bhs, single leg stunts at prep, extended 2 leg stunts, tosses, combination jumps, ect.
And even if the child is pretty close to maxing out that level you have to think about a 6 year old doing level 3 skills.. extended 1 leg stunts, single downs from 2 legs, trick tosses (twist, toe arch, ball out, pike arch), multiple standing bhs, jump to bhs, passes ending with a tuck, punch fronts, ect.
Personally I think that most 6 year olds really cannot hold their own on a level 3 team but it all depends on the child. Mini 3 teams scare the crap out of me! Often times, the child has the skills but they can't put it together to be able to perform well

 

[kristenthegreat]

Has the mother had a child involved in gymnastics? That's what I automatically thought because it's a common concept in that sport. At my old gymnastics gym, we had the list of all the skill needed for the level we were on and the level above us. Once we got stickers on all the skills on our level and started getting the ones for the next level, we were able to 'max out' and move on (assuming the coaches wanted us up there ;) ). Maybe she's thinking that concept applies to cheer? Which it doesn't exactly, because stunt GROUPS can max out a stunt, but it doesn't mean individually they can do a harder one or that they'll be in the same group 'next level.' Plus some gyms pull kids up who HAVEN'T 'maxed out', but are useful in other areas. Sounds like she's setting herself up for disappointment.

 

[Num1Stunta]

Well, I always like to rank by age and tumbling to see where that leaves me. Example- 16 kids under 8 and only one bhs, I may consider putting the one bhs on youth 2 and making the rest of the team mini 1. It's trickier with harder levels, because your stunt group composition needs to be just right. If I have all my level 3 jr/sr aged tumblers on a senior team, I'm left with no strong backs and only 2 flyers... enter Level 1 tumbling seniors and level 3 tumbling little ones.... but I'm at a small gym. If you're at a gym that can field a decent mini 3, that's a different story for this kid. But I would doubt that at 6 she would be ready for higher stunting!