- Apr 3, 2014
- 199
- 178
That's my CP's cartwheel too! I have bribed her to improve it. Once her tumbling coach is happy with it, she has asked for a Hershey's Cookies n Cream bar. I figure I can do that :)
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Yeah I think I asked him if he wanted an ice cream cone ! LolbThat's my CP's cartwheel too! I have bribed her to improve it. Once her tumbling coach is happy with it, she has asked for a Hershey's Cookies n Cream bar. I figure I can do that :)
There's a gymnastics gym close by that has the reputation of being the "miracle gym" and if your child can't get a skill, people from HS cheer will tell you to take your child there and ask for the "miracle" coach. Oldest had been working on her running tuck for over a year at her AS gym and could not get her set correct so cp begged to go to the "miracle" gym. After a few weeks the coach told her she had it on the tumble track, and told her she was read to throw it by herself. Her set didn't look much different to me, but hey, I was excited to finally see my kid throw her running tuck by herself. All I can say is when your child is laying on the mat after landing on their neck in a contorted, crumpled mess, you really realize how stupid it is to want something quickly instead of correctly. I can't tell you how grateful I was to see my child stand up, only to have that coach say, "learn from your mistakes, do it again". People flock to this coach and I will say her talent is her ability to convince kids they have a skill and to throw it whether they are ready or not. We didn't go back, but she's always booked.
That's impressive if you know because my post was about no one specific.I'm pretty sure I know who you're talking about and I feel the same way. I took my CP when she was 6 to learn her BHS. The very first time she stepped on the mat with the coach, she told my cp to throw it. No spot or anything. My CP was better off working on it at home with me. We pulled out the futon mattress and practice every night until she could do it by herself. She even made the mini2 team that year. I have a cheermom that swears by this coach and her no nonsense approach. She thinks it works best for her CP. I learned very quickly that that approach isn't a suitable coaching style for my CP. However, it doesn't work for some.
Maybe some pressure but it will always be a race to try proving Suzie is better.I'm sure the rush for younger kids to get their full ASAP has a lot to do w/ how a kid CAN compete at World's at 12. Just like w/ pointe shoes in dance, it's all about bragging rights - SM parents want to be able to say their kid is the youngest kid at Worlds cause she is so amazing. Also, some SM's may see it as a ticket to being a flyer by being the youngest kid on a senior L5 team - because at most gyms, the L5 team is senior, making a 12 year old w/ L5 skills very likely to be a flyer.
If they raised the age limit for senior teams, I think a lot of pressure would be off of the younger Suzies to get their fulls.
When I had a mental block, my mom was like this for a while and then she stopped and after she stopped I got over my mental block so the added pressure from parents really does not help your kid want to throw the skill.You just might be the best mom ever.
Can you take this conversation on the road - to the peeps whose kids I've done privates with?
There is nothing sadder than seeing a mental blocked kid with a mom who is constantly saying after lessons:
"I don't understand why you can't just throw it!"
"If you don't throw it by August, you have to quit!"
"If you can't get her to throw it, we'll have to go somewhere else!"
Or stopping me as soon as I step off of the gym floor with "Did she THROW IT TODAY?"
or my favorite:
"Can't you just let her fall a couple of times so she'll snap out of it?"
They are n0 closer to throwing it with all the above pressure. They're actually closer to just saying screw cheer and I never want to see this mat again.
The best you can do is just stop asking and just BE THERE.
I remember when I was young I didn't know anything about falling out of tumbling but that was before I was doing tucks or anything that needed to be safely fallen out of, I've been going to Woodward cheer camp for 6 years now and every year the first thing we do in the gym is learn how to fall safely on everything (trampoline, floor, beam, ect.) and I use this skill every single time I tumble. From what I've noticed at my gym, I'm the only one who knows this skill because everyone else immediately sticks their arms out to catch themselves (HUGE no no! I actually broke my arm twice doing this)You know @Official OWECheer, that is the one thing I mentioned a lot on this message board... I noticed that many cheer coaches are not teaching this skill to the cheerleaders and I wondered if it may contribute to many of the mental blocks that cheerleaders are experiencing. I know when my daughter was learning how to tumble, the gymnastic coaches taught the athletes ways to safely fall out and pull out of tumbling skills, which most involved tucking in the heads to the chest and round out the back and/or making the body go into a ball to protect the head and neck areas... I see so many cheerleaders just crashing, looking like crash dummies, there is no attempt to protect vital areas like the head and neck...
PS: I know my daughter's private instructor comes from the gymnastics background and he mentioned to me, he wanted to teach this skill, but many of the parents who are paying him for privates do not want him to use instructional time for this vital lesson...That may be the reason why gymnast practice so many more hours too,,, because I remember when my daughter was taking gymnastics they will spend the first 30 minutes working on something they call form and technique and everybody had to point their toes the same, correct hand movements and it included preventative tumbling too...
I am kinda in a different boat. I have a 5 year old who cheers on a Youth 2 team at a small gym. She currently has most level 3 tumbling skills but only level 2 stunting skills. The problem I am having is she is just getting these skills without being pushed. Tumbling just comes easy to her and I am scared with her being so young, that she might burn out from it. I don't push her at all and she would live at the gym if I let her. Any tips on slowing her progression? I like the fact that her stunting skills are not as advanced as her tumbling skills so she won't be rushed to move up levels cheer wise. How do you tell a kid to slow down an enjoy it?
About progression and the young ones:
I tell people with young ones (like Youth aged kids under 8) all the time that. KIDS. HAVE. UNTIL. THEY. ARE. LIKE 19. TO. BE. LEVEL 5.
Not sure what the rush is for your kid to be throwing a full by 10-12.
Restricted 5 and Worlds teams aren't going anywhere.
And really, if she's throwing a full BEFORE that, she's not going to be on a Level 5 because there are only like 5-7 Youth 5 teams in existence so she'll probably STILL end up on Youth or Junior 2-4 somewhere.
No reason to rush your kid if there is literally NOWHERE for them to cheer once they get to that point (unless you so happen to be within range of a program that fields a Y5 team.)
That, and there's a reason there's only a handful of those teams. That level of competition is not for everyone.
I live in an area with a successful Youth 5/Junior 5 program. The pressure is real.
The talent level tends to drop off pretty significantly at Y5. I've heard in numerous cases that many Twinkles and Youth Elite girls are not level 5 tumblers. During the Glitter Penguins fiasco it was reiterated a million times that most of the YE crossovers are not "true" level 5 cheerleaders. You can also see in the Twinkles video that some of those kids are on the team because they are incredible bases or flyers, but lack level 5 tumbling skills. It seems like Y5 teams are forced to/choose to turn to specialists more than J5 and S5 teams. My assumption considering those facts is that many of the Y5 kids are placed on level 3 or 4 teams once they age off Y5. It's easier to field a J5 or S5 will 100% level 5 skills, so many of those kids will be pushed to lower level teams.And would you say that being on one of those Y5/J5 teams is a "unofficial prerequisite" to later getting on that (or those) gym's top Worlds team down the line? I'm just curious cause I've always wondered this about those gyms w/ the Y5 teams - like if your ultimate goal is to eventuallybe on "the" World's team for that gym, do you need to come up from Y5 cause it's just the "elite path" for that gym?