All-Star Rumor Control-senior Age Change

[CGAcheer]

I've read some of the other post and another thought came to me. Instead of just having a bottom and top age on senior, why not them on all divisions?
This is what I personally feel like the division should start & stop..
Tiny:3-5
Mini:5-9
Youth:9-12
Junior:10-14
Senior:14-18
I don't know if it will work, but it seems reasonable to me...but i'm just a mom in the cheer world...:)

Some people will take this as more Small Gym Crying, but the reason this is bad and should never be passed is because smaller gyms could not make decent teams this way, larger gyms might even have trouble with it.

As it is now, we have the flexibility to make teams based on skill and age.
If we had narrow age ranges, we are forced to go almost solely on Age unless we have enough kids to fill two or more skill levels per age range which is obviously unlikely if you are a smaller gym

With your proposed ranges I would have to make the following teams
Mini with 21, so now I'm barely large (with kids ranging from can't cartwheel to nearly having a tuck)
Youth with 29, I might could split that into a youth 1 and a youth 2 and bump up the older minis
Jr with 14, I might could bring up some of the older youth kids since there is a 3 year overlap there?
and finally my Senior Team with 5 kids on it (imagine how competitive that team would be)

and I know of plenty of gyms that only have 30 kids ranging from 6 to 17 years old. What are they going to do? have 4 teams of 7 or 8 kids?

and that is why I'm against having bottom Age Caps.

 

[fierceboardmama]

I was 12 and in 8th grade..late birthday? so not all 12 years are in 6th grade. i know a girl who is 11 and in 8th grade.

That sounds really odd, I have a 6th grader who just turned 12, unless the 11 yr old is ver advance there is no way they could be in 8th. 14 and 13 yr olds are in 8th because by freshman yr they are 14-turning 15 into sophmore year. But getting back on topic, I agree the age for any senior team should be 14, and I wish the Junior bracket would be more defined too, because as of now you also can have 5th graders with 10th graders depening on birthdays. I guess there will always be some flaws just like in any sport

 

[socratesofcheer]

Again, 12 year olds belong on a senior team. If you don't want your 12 year old on a senior team, then don't. Seems easy enough to me. Seems like the whining is from 14 and ups getting beat out by younguns. Sorry, I don't really care, I'll fight for 12 year olds, SOME parents might not like it but oh well.

Not arguing if a 12 yr old "belongs" on a senior team or not. But, is that what is best for the industry. Jr. 5 took a major hit this year in quality and quantity. I suppose it will take another hit this coming season.

 

[Mclovin]

Not arguing if a 12 yr old "belongs" on a senior team or not. But, is that what is best for the industry. Jr. 5 took a major hit this year in quality and quantity. I suppose it will take another hit this coming season.

I agree that J5 has taken a hit, but I'm not so sure it's because their putting junior aged kids on senior 5 teams. At least that's not the biggest reason. I think it's because of the senior OPEN 5 divisions more than anything else.

 

[notimeforthat]

Not arguing if a 12 yr old "belongs" on a senior team or not. But, is that what is best for the industry. Jr. 5 took a major hit this year in quality and quantity. I suppose it will take another hit this coming season.

well you could be like a lot of programs and cross compete all your age eligible jr 5 atheletes.... Worlds teams in the wings

 

[socratesofcheer]

I agree that J5 has taken a hit, but I'm not so sure it's because their putting junior aged kids on senior 5 teams. At least that's not the biggest reason. I think it's because of the senior OPEN 5 divisions more than anything else.

Possibly. I know several programs were either without a jr team or it was not as good as last year. This leads me to think they are takin the heavy hitters to their worlds team.

 

[Mamarazzi]

I've read some of the other post and another thought came to me. Instead of just having a bottom and top age on senior, why not them on all divisions?
This is what I personally feel like the division should start & stop..
Tiny:3-5
Mini:5-9
Youth:9-12
Junior:10-14
Senior:14-18
I don't know if it will work, but it seems reasonable to me...but i'm just a mom in the cheer world...:)

I like this idea, in theory. But what it also doesn't allow for is that beast athlete who has every level 4/5 skill down pat and happens to be 8. Do you have a mini 4 or 5? We had a few minis last season that had doubles, but it wasn't enough to make a team (and we are at a huge gym,) so they crossed over to higher level teams in order to keep growing their higher-level skills.

 

[Mclovin]

Possibly. I know several programs were either without a jr team or it was not as good as last year. This leads me to think they are takin the heavy hitters to their worlds team.

Definitely either taking them to worlds teams or senior open 5 for sure. But with the influx of senior open 5 teams, my guess is more gyms are creating senior open 5 teams which either eliminates or severely impacts the J5 division.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

Definitely either taking them to worlds teams or senior open 5 for sure. But with the influx of senior open 5 teams, my guess is more gyms are creating senior open 5 teams which either eliminates or severely impacts the J5 division.

I'm inclined to agree with @socratesofcheer that its worlds teams. Now that all those J5 teams can't go to worlds, those kids that are 12 and up with level 5 skills have no interest in J5. At least the ones I know. I believe the exact words said to me were "yuck. Why would I want to be on j5? When I could do senior 5 and go to worlds. J5 is for 11and under."

 

[Mclovin]

I'm inclined to agree with @socratesofcheer that its worlds teams. Now that all those J5 teams can't go to worlds, those kids that are 12 and up with level 5 skills have no interest in J5. At least the ones I know. I believe the exact words said to me were "yuck. Why would I want to be on j5? When I could do senior 5 and go to worlds. J5 is for 11and under."

Hmmm. At our gym (and every other gym I've ever been associated with), the kids don't get to decide. It's the gym/coaches decision where kids are placed. Must be nice to be able to say, "no thank you. I want to be on this team instead" and get your way. lol ;)

 

[Just-a-Mom]

Hmmm. At our gym (and every other gym I've ever been associated with), the kids don't get to decide. It's the gym/coaches decision where kids are placed. Must be nice to be able to say, "no thank you. I want to be on this team instead" and get your way. lol ;)

:-D

I knew after I posted that I should have clarified. This was a conversation about where she WANTED to be, not would be. And from what I've seen, she's right...all the kids I know that are 12 and up with doubles are on senior 5. 11and under J5. I don't think the kids are choosing...I just think the gyms feel the same way. Not as exciting to have a J5 when you could have more worlds athletes.

 

[Mclovin]

:-D

I knew after I posted that I should have clarified. This was a conversation about where she WANTED to be, not would be. And from what I've seen, she's right...all the kids I know that are 12 and up with doubles are on senior 5. 11and under J5. I don't think the kids are choosing...I just think the gyms feel the same way. Not as exciting to have a J5 when you could have more worlds athletes.

This is probably very true I guess. Not at T&S though. You stay on juniors until you age out, period. And I think my CP (who has 2 years left on juniors and has already been on J5 for 4 years) is very happy and okay with that. She had the blessed opportunity to double team and compete with seniors at worlds, but only as a double teamer. She still had to remain on juniors. I think it is making her an all around better athlete that way. She is happier than ever.

 

[cheer8]

WELL, GOOD GRIEF! Sorry I messed up the reply to Just-a-Mom! Meant to just reply to your thread and got carried away and hit send...
ANYWAY, my cp is at a small gym. The competitng gym down the road in our town is not "technically" small gym because they have two locations. However, neither of our gyms have ever competed at Worlds. Would we LIKE to?? Maybe. But realistically, unless the gyms were combined (which will NEVER happen) neither of these programs will ever compete at Worlds. We simply do not have enough level 5 tumblers and stunters to field a complete team. So, I AGREE with Just-a-Mom when she says that for a lot of small gyms, who don't compete at Worlds, the change will not matter.
The only rule that I would ask for (and they do have) is that I like to compete against other small gyms. That gives our girls the change to compete Level 5, even though we don't have a team full of true Level 5 girls. Our gym takes the girls we get and makes the most of it.
And not offended by Just-a-Mom. I get the point. I don't want any special rules, just like to be able to compete against same type gyms.

I understand your point but I am a small gym and I love competing against the Large gyms

 

[cheer8]

Again, 12 year olds belong on a senior team. If you don't want your 12 year old on a senior team, then don't. Seems easy enough to me. Seems like the whining is from 14 and ups getting beat out by younguns. Sorry, I don't really care, I'll fight for 12 year olds, SOME parents might not like it but oh well.

If I could shimmy for "12 years" I would lol!

 

[cheer8]

I've read some of the other post and another thought came to me. Instead of just having a bottom and top age on senior, why not them on all divisions?
This is what I personally feel like the division should start & stop..
Tiny:3-5
Mini:5-9
Youth:9-12
Junior:10-14
Senior:14-18
I don't know if it will work, but it seems reasonable to me...but i'm just a mom in the cheer world...:)

It will never work