Tumbling Progressions

[Pebbles49]

Thank you cmghas3 and the best part about it, she loves doing and chose this sport herself...
Sadly, I know I was a gymnastics SM and it took me a good 2 years after she quit gymnastics to really appreciate how hard she was working in cheerleading. I actually was trying to make cheerleading so unbearable for her, so she will quit and go back to gymnastics and train to be that Olympic hopeful that I wanted her to be- :(

 

[Official OWECheer]

Thank you cmghas3 and the best part about it, she loves doing and chose this sport herself...
Sadly, I know I was a gymnastics SM and it took me a good 2 years after she quit gymnastics to really appreciate how hard she was working in cheerleading. I actually was trying to make cheerleading so unbearable for her, so she will quit and go back to gymnastics and train to be that Olympic hopeful that I wanted her to be- :(

I respect your honesty! I think that's a natural reaction that many parents have. :)

 

[123jump4!]

Yeah good honesty there pebbles49, I hope you're over it now! :)

I wanted my kids to do gymnastics too. But when I saw how much fun cheer seemed I finally said yes to "Can I do cheer instead of gymnastics?"

Gymnastics seems kind of slow on tumbling at level 1! Or maybe it was just our gym. I mean my 6-y-o has gone to gymnastics for 2-3 years, she was on pre-team and she had no idea how to do a backbend or BWO until she started cheer last month.

 

[CGAcheer]

I like to add this in every time I see a thread like this-

Just because it says "Gymnastics" on the door does not mean that they train their kids any better, especially their rec classes. I've seen the videos from some of the local gymnastics gyms and it scares me. One has a progression of round off handspring then round off tuck then round off whip pike layout thing then fulls and can't connect multiple standing handsprings. Another gym "spots" fulls as a full twisting rebound that is caught in a cradle and then flipped over- they literally twisted straight up and down vertically then were swept into a cradle and then flipped over.

but to answer the question, we typically start drills for the next skill while perfecting the current skill and reviewing earlier skills

 

[retiredl5cheer]

I like to add this in every time I see a thread like this-

Just because it says "Gymnastics" on the door does not mean that they train their kids any better, especially their rec classes. I've seen the videos from some of the local gymnastics gyms and it scares me. One has a progression of round off handspring then round off tuck then round off whip pike layout thing then fulls and can't connect multiple standing handsprings. Another gym "spots" fulls as a full twisting rebound that is caught in a cradle and then flipped over- they literally twisted straight up and down vertically then were swept into a cradle and then flipped over.

but to answer the question, we typically start drills for the next skill while perfecting the current skill and reviewing earlier skills

THIS. I saw videos of a kid I used to coach working BHS at a local gymnastics gym. I saw her at the gym a few weeks later (her sister cheered for me) and asked to see her BWO, assuming she had one. The kid couldn't even do a backbend. There are plenty of cheer gyms that nix progressions too but gymnastics gyms are the ones always claiming to do it correctly.

 

[cheer25mom]

THIS. I saw videos of a kid I used to coach working BHS at a local gymnastics gym. I saw her at the gym a few weeks later (her sister cheered for me) and asked to see her BWO, assuming she had one. The kid couldn't even do a backbend. There are plenty of cheer gyms that nix progressions too but gymnastics gyms are the ones always claiming to do it correctly.

We had exactly this experience at a local gymnastics gym, before I knew any better. CP could not do a standing backbend, but they worked handsprings with her. This was par for the course in their " tumbling only" classes for non gymnasts. All the kids wanted that BHS and didn't care about the other stuff, so that's what they taught.


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[Pebbles49]

The people who are saying that the Gymnastics gym did not follow a tumbling progression - What I am thinking those gyms are not a registered USAG - United States of America Gyms, which is gymnastics federal organization that mandate the teaching of athletes who are selected to train and rules that govern the organization. Similar to Cheerleading has a governing body. The gym that my daughter was going to many of the trainers were part of working with Olympic athletes and the Head Coach was an Asst. Coach for the Olympic Male Team and out of that gym, 3 Olympiads was on the 2004-2012 teams.

 

[CGAcheer]

The people who are saying that the Gymnastics gym did not follow a tumbling progression - What I am thinking those gyms are not a registered USAG - United States of America Gyms, which is gymnastics federal organization that mandate the teaching of athletes who are selected to train and rules that govern the organization. Similar to Cheerleading has a governing body. The gym that my daughter was going to many of the trainers were part of working with Olympic athletes and the Head Coach was an Asst. Coach for the Olympic Male Team and out of that gym, 3 Olympiads was on the 2004-2012 teams.

One that I mentioned competes usag and aau and the full twisting cradle flip over gym competes aau as far as I know.

You will not see a team gymnast in a gymnastics gym rec tumbling class. My cheer team kids take the same classes and get the same attention and technique and progression as anyone in our classes. Classes at a cheer gym are not an after thought schedule filler to make some money off of a girl who wants a back handspring by just flipping them over til they give up, any kid who walks into a cheer gym is a potential cheerleader, a 13 year old beginner is not going to become a gymnast

 

[cheer25mom]

The people who are saying that the Gymnastics gym did not follow a tumbling progression - What I am thinking those gyms are not a registered USAG - United States of America Gyms, which is gymnastics federal organization that mandate the teaching of athletes who are selected to train and rules that govern the organization. Similar to Cheerleading has a governing body. The gym that my daughter was going to many of the trainers were part of working with Olympic athletes and the Head Coach was an Asst. Coach for the Olympic Male Team and out of that gym, 3 Olympiads was on the 2004-2012 teams.

Nope, the gym we went to was USAG, owner was a former Olympic gymnast, ect. Tumbling classes for non team athletes were just money makers for them and mostly taught by older teens that trained there.


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[Official OWECheer]

Nope, the gym we went to was USAG, owner was a former Olympic gymnast, ect. Tumbling classes for non team athletes were just money makers for them and mostly taught by older teens that trained there.


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I've checked out the Chalk Bucket forum and there are definitely some gym owners with the "I'll just take their money" attitude toward cheerleaders. If cheerleaders come to a gymnastics gym to take tumbling, they expect quality instruction.

 

[Pebbles49]

I am so sorry to hear that these things are happening in the rec gymnastic classes...
I know at my daughter's gym before being selected to be on the Competitive Team - she was part of the Rec classes and they posted the tumbling progression - beginners, advanced beginners, Intermediates, Advanced and each level had a list of skills and the athletes are graded on these skills in order to move up to the next level and they kept a record of the skills achieved by each athletes and then the athlete is given a report card and told which level they should registered. Unless, the coaches select the athlete they will recommend them for additional training on a competitive team. Hence, those team athlete initially comes from the rec classes.

Side note: I can only speak for the 2 gymnastic gyms my daughter was attended and they posted all the tumbling progressions and in fact, the competitive team coaches were all involved with teaching those classes...

 

[CGAcheer]

I am so sorry to hear that these things are happening in the rec gymnastic classes...
I know at my daughter's gym before being selected to be on the Competitive Team - she was part of the Rec classes and they posted the tumbling progression - beginners, advanced beginners, Intermediates, Advanced and each level had a list of skills and the athletes are graded on these skills in order to move up to the next level and they kept a record of the skills achieved by each athletes and then the athlete is given a report card and told which level they should registered. Unless, the coaches select the athlete they will recommend them for additional training on a competitive team. Hence, those team athlete initially comes from the rec classes.

Side note: I can only speak for the 2 gymnastic gyms my daughter was attended and they posted all the tumbling progressions and in fact, the competitive team coaches were all involved with teaching those classes...

you were probably at a better one and with a younger child- Rec Gymnastics Classes for Younger Kids are a funnel to their teams. A middle school or older kid, who is taking "cheer tumble" at a gymnastic gym is not likely a potential team gymnast.

but it does go both ways- can't say all Gymnastics Gyms are bad and can't say they are all good.
Some are good and some are bad, I just don't like the assumption that "Gymnastic Gyms teach better technique than Cheer Gyms" That assumption probably comes from the fact that gymnasts train 10+ hours a week and the only kids that you notice as being former gymnasts are the ones that are good, but I'm sure there are plenty of mediocre former gymnasts who cheer

 

[cheer25mom]

I am so sorry to hear that these things are happening in the rec gymnastic classes...
I know at my daughter's gym before being selected to be on the Competitive Team - she was part of the Rec classes and they posted the tumbling progression - beginners, advanced beginners, Intermediates, Advanced and each level had a list of skills and the athletes are graded on these skills in order to move up to the next level and they kept a record of the skills achieved by each athletes and then the athlete is given a report card and told which level they should registered. Unless, the coaches select the athlete they will recommend them for additional training on a competitive team. Hence, those team athlete initially comes from the rec classes.

Side note: I can only speak for the 2 gymnastic gyms my daughter was attended and they posted all the tumbling progressions and in fact, the competitive team coaches were all involved with teaching those classes...

At they gym we were at, those classes were different than the tumbling only classes they offered to older dance and cheer girls. As a PP said they paid more attention to the younger rec classes as that is where they recruited from for teams.


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[Pebbles49]

I have thrown my hands up on what happen to older children who are not looking to be gymnast. I really only have experience with the girls who were in Rec classes and were selected to be on teams by coaches.

Side note: Story about how Gymnastics can break-up friendships-
I remembered one ex-girlfriend who daughter was in Rec classes with my daughter and we were very good friends, I thought. When her daughter was not selected to move up to a team, all heck broke loose that day... She accused the coaches of favoritism, even though the children were evaluated again by unbaised coaches after being recommended by the initial coach. It was unreal and surreal that this friend could not convinced the coaches to take a second look at her daughter, she started feeling too ashamed and felt her daughter failed in some way at 9, that she stopped being friends with the Moms, who children moved up to a team and ended up taking her daughter out of the program...

PS: I heard this girl, who is now 13, went on to be a great Track&Field star for her MS. Go Girl!

 

[icantihavecheer]

I encourage parents to look into a gym before they put their child their. When I first started cheer at 12 my parents put me in a tumbling class at a local gymnastics gym instead of the cheer gym because it was cheaper, but they didn't teach progressions. Older kids taught the classes, but just because they have good tumbling doesn't mean they're qualified to teach tumbling. Now at 15 I have a roundoff double but can't do multiple handsprings because they never taught a proper handspring. I can only do roundoff skills (roundoff tuck, roundoff layout, roundoff full, ect.) I'm a strong level 5 base and flyer, but all my basics in tumbling are awful.