All-Star Recruiting…any Ideas?

[BCAKT]

Our gym in its first season and currently only has one squad (junior level 2). Next year we're looking to have a senior squad for sure (as most of our girls will be beyond junior age restraints). But we're also looking grow our gym starting with the younger athletes (minis/youth). Any ideas on ways to recruit girls in this age group? We got most of our current girls because our one owner/coach also coaches at the local middle school. Any general recruiting tips would be appreciated also.

 

[MissCongeniality]

See if local schools will allow you to publish a blurb in their weekly(daily bulletin) or ask if you can put flyers in the office.

 

[cccheermom]

Our gym in its first season and currently only has one squad (junior level 2). Next year we're looking to have a senior squad for sure (as most of our girls will be beyond junior age restraints). But we're also looking grow our gym starting with the younger athletes (minis/youth). Any ideas on ways to recruit girls in this age group? We got most of our current girls because our one owner/coach also coaches at the local middle school. Any general recruiting tips would be appreciated also.

In my experience, word of mouth has been the best. Encourage your current members and parents to invite friends and family to come check it out. Send out flyers to your elementary schools, however they may have restrictions about that. In our area it had to be a nonprofit to get into the schools. Also consider attending events or participating where you will find lots of kids. For example, we have a local county fair, parade and other park events. Good luck! We were with a small gym for many years and it was a great experience.

 

[CheerBank]

Maybe see if you can have a free afterschool clinic at the local elementary schools or have a free clinic at your gym over the spring break. Be sure to have plenty of handouts for the parents as well as an easy-to-navigate website with all your information listed on it.

 

[Lazydaisytoo]

Definitely networking/word of mouth. Much of our gym came from several different youth rec leagues. They had comp teams, but lacked practice facilities, or higher level opportunities, or people aged out (or were too young), or there was insane drama.

The gym could also host "bring a friend" days or offer birthday parties to get new kids in the gym.

 

[BCAKT]

Thanks everyone for the advice! We do have a connection to our local YMCA so maybe we'll see if we can host cheer camps there this summer. Anyone use Facebook to recruit from local rec squads. I don't want to steal girls from other programs but I'm just trying to figure a way to get in touch with girls that might want to get out of the midget programs….not sure if that's an appropriate avenue to take...

 

[Lazydaisytoo]

I don't want to steal girls from other programs but I'm just trying to figure a way to get in touch with girls that might want to get out of the midget programs….not sure if that's an appropriate avenue to take...

Definitely a fine line to tread. I still remember being cornered in the canned vegetable aisle at Giant by the rec comp cheer director. She begged me to let CP join the comp team because she was one of the few sideline cheerleaders with tumbling. We were with that program for 4 years, but outgrew it.

We knew some people who'd switched to AS the year before we did. They had mixed experiences, so making the change was a leap of faith. The rec team sort of imploded, so it became a matter of which a AS gym to join, not if. CP ended up choosing the gym by following a former very successful rec coach. She is really happy in her gym, and so am I.

 

[notyourcheermom]

My CP is in her fourth season of all star now and I had no prior knowledge of all star. We saw a sign for summer camp that a cheer gym offered for a couple of weeks for tumbling and learning beginning cheer just posted on the side of a busy intersection and decided to give it a try. That is what got us in the door at least and she was a mini 1 that first year.

 

[Pebbles49]

My daughter and I did not know anything about Allstar Cheer 3 years ago, but my daughter was handed a flyer about cheer tryouts at a gymnastics competition and put the flyer in her bag, I guess for a rainy day. So this rainy day came when my cp was upset about her performance at a gymnastics competition; she pulled this flyer out and then begged me afterward to take her to the cheer tryouts to try a new sport... So I will say to try recruiting at some of the gymnastics gyms and gymnastics and dance competitions...

 

[12stepCheermom]

We did the local YMCA/Dance school "cheer" team for a basketball season with CP13 (when she was 5-6). Saw a yard sign from the local AS gym right with the phone number on it and website and I looked it up. If you don't have a professional website and twitter/facebook, you need to get one ASAP. the majority of people looking for a program will start there and it needs to be presented as something your kid would want to join and that is well put together and organized well to appease parents that it's a "with it" program.

 

[retiredl5cheer]

Thanks everyone for the advice! We do have a connection to our local YMCA so maybe we'll see if we can host cheer camps there this summer. Anyone use Facebook to recruit from local rec squads. I don't want to steal girls from other programs but I'm just trying to figure a way to get in touch with girls that might want to get out of the midget programs….not sure if that's an appropriate avenue to take...

That's a fine line that can earn you a bad reputation. It's always better to be allies with the rec programs, not enemies. Try approaching it from a different direction...contact the rec programs and see if they'd like to partner with you to offer their athletes some tumbling classes at your gym. Obviously they would pay, but you can give them a group rate and a class exclusive to their athletes. You could also see if their athletes would be interested in a half year competitive team, after the rec season ends. Once you expose the parents to all star, they generally don't want to go back.

If you're offering (or planning to offer) Mommy & Me classes or Tumblebees, make sure the instruction and classes are top notch. That's a great way to expose young kids and their parents to cheer.

The lesson I've learned as a mini coach is that it's really all about convincing the parents. You can't make the kids love it until the parents will allow it. So, good pricing, top notch instruction, and easy to find information are all really important.

 

[Lazydaisytoo]

With our old rec team, we literally had no regular practice facility. One day in a high school hallway, one day in an elementary school gym, one day in a high school cafeteria... The only time we practiced on an actual cheer floor was the night before a comp. we would rent out either an AS gym or a gymnastics gym mat. Be approachable without actually crossing the line

 

[CricketCheerMom]

Some gyms offer free tuition the first year for tiny teams. A lot of those kids have stayed with that program for years and spent lots of money on private lessons.

 

[Carriejoe]

We learned about our gym at a local outdoor summer festival. They had a booth and were offering a free class. My cp was hooked after one class. I know they get lots of younger athletes that way. Older athletes mostly come by word of mouth...

 

[mstealtoyou]

I think they outdoor summer festival thing is a good idea.

What about being in your town's next parade? Staff and parents could walk with the girls and hand out flyers.