New (obviously) And Feeling Dizzy

[KimmeeA13]

I have a daughter (age 11) who quit gymnastics this spring and now wants to do cheer. I was quite disappointed that she left gymnastics as that was a sport I had gotten used to and I knew my way around it pretty well, plus she was a darn good gymnast. But we've always told our children that it's their sport and they can decide to go or stay, and she went.

So we've just put her in a local cheer gym and they seem happy to have her. Due to her gymnastics background they are putting her in J3 and because of her size (a whopping 64 pounds) they want her to be a flyer. I kind of feel like my head is spinning because I don't know how cheer works. We have her uniform and I've ordered her shoes. Choreography starts soon. I don't know choreography, I know routines! I can do gymnastics hair all day long (tight to the head, no flyaways, lots of hair spray) but what goes on with cheer hair?

Has anybody else made the transition from gymnastics to cheer?

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

I know there are a few athletes and parents here who have done the switch from gymnastics to cheer but I can't remember any of them at the moment....

But you're sure in the right place to learn all about all star cheer! :P Welcome and good luck to your daughters team this season! If you don't mind me asking, what gym are you guys at?

 

[dawgshow]

Welcome to the dark side! The one thing that you can do to make your transition easy is to sit back, let the coaches do their thing, and ask 1 very important question to your daughter after every practice: "Did you have fun?"
Now, if you want to be a bit more informed, check out the USASF website for rules, but don't get obsessed. Cheer hair varies greatly by gym. They'll tell you what to do. Once you're able to here on the boards, check out the parents forum. There is a lot of good info there.

 

[Cheer Dad]

I have a daughter (age 11) who quit gymnastics this spring and now wants to do cheer. I was quite disappointed that she left gymnastics as that was a sport I had gotten used to and I knew my way around it pretty well, plus she was a darn good gymnast. But we've always told our children that it's their sport and they can decide to go or stay, and she went.

So we've just put her in a local cheer gym and they seem happy to have her. Due to her gymnastics background they are putting her in J3 and because of her size (a whopping 64 pounds) they want her to be a flyer. I kind of feel like my head is spinning because I don't know how cheer works. We have her uniform and I've ordered her shoes. Choreography starts soon. I don't know choreography, I know routines! I can do gymnastics hair all day long (tight to the head, no flyaways, lots of hair spray) but what goes on with cheer hair?

Has anybody else made the transition from gymnastics to cheer?

Choreography = routine.

ETA: different terminology but same thing

**shall I release the hounds**

 

[Official OWECheer]

@FlexyTumblerMom Might be able to offer some advice.

 

[rallymom]

2nd post

 

[KimmeeA13]

I know there are a few athletes and parents here who have done the switch from gymnastics to cheer but I can't remember any of them at the moment....

But you're sure in the right place to learn all about all star cheer! :p Welcome and good luck to your daughters team this season! If you don't mind me asking, what gym are you guys at?

I don't know enough to know if I should mind. :-) She's at a CEA gym here in Virginia.

 

[FlexyTumblerMom]

Sounds exactly like my CP - and me ;).

The team aspect of cheer is so amazing compared to gymnastics and dance. Watching your child's team hit their routine on day 2 of a 2 day comp when they were in first place after day 1 and you KNOW (and they know) that it means they are going to win is one of the greatest things ever - and there is nothing in gymnastics that compares to how great it is. It is especially great when the dance is the last thing and they just hit the pyramid - the joy on their faces while they dance and do that ending pose is just amazing to watch (I have two videos this past year where that happened and every time I watch them I start to tear up when that dance song starts cause they are so happy).

I think hair and makeup are fun - but I had a dance mom background going into cheer so it was an easy transition. If your gyms hair and makeup is elaborate, they will likely do an instructional class for new parents. There are also a lot of videos online for doing cheer hair, but every gym is different how they do it.

My CP picked up flying pretty easily - her gymnastics speciality was beam and IMO flying uses a lot of the same talents that make a kid good at beam. In fact, I think so much about what makes someone a good gymnast translates to flying - my CP went from not flying ever to doing L4 stunts in 4 months). A hard thing about flying though is that the entire teams success is depending on those flyers staying in the air, and as much as you hear people say it's the entire stunt group that keeps a stunt up, etc., when there is a stunt fall, it's the flyer that will *feel* the brunt of the negative energy - people don't say "Sally and Lucy messed up their grips and dropped their flyer", they say "Suzie fell", and it's a lot of pressure - a lot more than my CP ever experienced in gymnastics. She explained it that if you fall in gymnastics, it only affects your score, if you fall in cheer it affects the score of 20 people :/.

Overall it's an easy transition though and cheer is a very fun sport for both the kid and the parent. And competitions are a lot louder! :). Good luck.

 

[KimmeeA13]

Yeah, we watched some video and my husband commented that the parents were very loud (in a good way) while the squad was competing, which is not allowed in gymnastics. I talked to my daughter about the team aspect vs. the solo aspect of being a gymnast. I'm not sure the team could be any harder on my CP that she would be because she's a bit of a perfectionist. Thank you for the insight! It's nice to know I'm not alone.