Too young???

[LoveTeal]

We have a few girls on our Senior Co-Ed 3 that are 11.
I think it just all depends on maturity, personally. Because some of the girls can handle it while others are quite insane and don't know how to act on a Senior team.

 

[lexie]

this is my first year in a senior team and i am turning 13 and i am the 3rd youngest on the team i was on juniors when the season first started and i was the oldest but there were not many ppl so our team was divided up and was put on seniors the level of the team did not change though so the only difference is tht im compeating with older girls now. my only opinion is the level of the team. i was at a competion once and saw a girl tht looked about 7 on a senoir level 6 she was very good but tht is kinda young if it was senior 2 tht would not be too bad but 7 yrs old???? kinda young

 

[powerXbaby]

I'm not sure I like the age of 12. Technically you go cheer on a youth team until you're 12 and then compete on a senior team the next year. I did it lol. I never got to be on a real junior team...or maybe they should lower the youth top age.

I dont really like being on a team with girls that are 12 when I'm 18. I feel like they get left out cause the older girls cant really bond with them. My team is like my best friends and I can't relate to a 12 year old very well.

 

[powerXbaby]

this is my first year in a senior team and i am turning 13 and i am the 3rd youngest on the team i was on juniors when the season first started and i was the oldest but there were not many ppl so our team was divided up and was put on seniors the level of the team did not change though so the only difference is tht im compeating with older girls now. my only opinion is the level of the team. i was at a competion once and saw a girl tht looked about 7 on a senoir level 6 she was very good but tht is kinda young if it was senior 2 tht would not be too bad but 7 yrs old???? kinda young

you have to be 17 to be on level 6...just sayin.

 

[powerXbaby]

Sorry, I would have edited but it was too late. I just wanted to add that I was 13 on my first senior team, and I felt like I was really young on that team. I think probably at 14-15 was when I was really mature enough to be on a team with 18 year olds and not feel out of place.

 

[Deleted member 4831]

I had experienced this a few years ago with my team. There were older girls(like seniors and juniors in high school) and younger girls(as young as fifth grade) it caused a few problems. they parents of the younger girls tended to talk to us older girls and made sure we were to open about our lives that would cause the younger girls to learn things too early. the older girls then felt awkward around the younger girls and we wouldnt really talk to them. the younger girls then felt unwanted on the team, which wasnt true. it also wasnt fair to a few senior girls that had flew their whole lives but because these younger, much smaller girls came on the team, they had to learn to base or back their last year cheering, and the younger girls had to learn to fly because they based or backed on their junior or youth teams. I also dont think its fair that the senior age girls(which i think is 14 and up) had their time on juniors and youth and went to senior at the appropriate time. I remember being on junior and i couldnt wait until i was old enough for seniors. now senior teams take younger junior age girls because theyre little.

 

[njopencheer84]

I agree that very young girls with the 17-18 yr old girls would be difficult because of language and break chats, however what do you do when you are a VERY small gym. I'm talking just enough girls for barely 1 team? You have similar level tumbling throughout all the age groups. If you put together a junior team and it has 1/2 of your members so maybe only 12 girls, do you want them competing against a team with 24 or more? It's not fair to your girls. My gym has about 25 members right now, and as much as I'd prefer a 12+ or 14+ senior team, I may not have a choice since we only have about 5 or 6 12+ girls. As a small gym sometimes you have to accommodate the members you have how ever you can. Losing the senior aged girls because we decided to only have a junior team or vise versa would be a huge impact on our tiny gym. It's a very tough decision, and you have to take a LOT into consideration when making the level/division choice. I don't want to hold anyone back if they have great skills, but I also want to make sure EVERYONE'S best interests are kept in mind.

 

[katrinacheers]

on our team we have reallyyy young girls on our senior teams. but thats because we are a VERY small gym (tiny 1, mini 1, senior 2, senior 5, and international open coed 5) and we have no choice but to go senior or else some girls wouldn't have a spot.

My team has girls as young as 7 on it and girls as old as 17.
Its a very mixed group but everyone gets a long amazingly.
The little girls are treated almost like little sisters, but they still have friends their own age.
And the older girls also have friends their own age.

It works, it just depends on the gym.

 

[icame2WERQ]

I would say 14!

 

[Audrey]

Last year there were 2 younger girls on my senior team and I don't think it worked very well to have younger girls. One of the girls was good and worked hard and I could relate to her. But the other one had no technique, flew just because she was tiny, blamed everything on her bases, cried if you corrected her, and I just didn't know how to talk to her. It depends on the girl's maturity level and not all girls of the same age have the same maturity level. However just to be safe, I think people on senior teams should at least be 13 or 14.

 

[thtpr3pkid]

On my Senior Level 4 team I have a girl who is 10 and I feel that she's not ready to be on the team. She's just too immature but then their is a girl who is the same age as her and she is mature. So I feel it depends on if they can handle it.

 

[glittergirl]

On my Senior Level 4 team I have a girl who is 10 and I feel that she's not ready to be on the team. She's just too immature but then their is a girl who is the same age as her and she is mature. So I feel it depends on if they can handle it.

Same situation for me, except it's a 4.2 team. They pull it out in competition, but they're silly in practice. We still love them though. :)

 

[BelieveInTeal]

Last year we had an 8 & 10 year old on our senior 4 team. Guess who was more mature?? Yep, the 8 year old. Plus she was better than about half the team!! Ha. Although she was fierce and an AMAZING contribution to the team, toooo younggg !!! I think about 13 or 14 is a good age.

 

[xomckenzieee]

12 is still pushing it for being on senior teams. i was on a senior team when i was 10 but that was back before there was a lot of teams. now i think it's ridiculous that you have 18 year olds basing little tiny babies. there skill may be there but there maturity lacks. even at high school; when a girl is only 2 or 3 years younger, it's still a different atmosphere. i'm 17 on open coed this year and i'm the youngest and the kid who bases me & sometimes with me is 10 years older. even that is weird for me cuz i am the baby and i am behind them maturity wise but honestly when you're older you fit in better with older older kidss than say a 12 year old and an 18 year old. they joke with me all the time cuz i am young but at the end of the day i know what's going on and they don't have to hide stuff or be careful what they say.

 

[icequeen]

I wish they would go back to the old age grid when you had to be 9th grade or 14 to be on a senior team.