All-Star Tumbling variations

[DonnaM]

I've been teaching music classes for camps at my center and we had acro dance this week- and I have to wonder-why is it that cheer doesn't use more of the tumbling skill variations used in acro at the lower levels? There were some that definitely seemed like they'd be legal, but I can't recall ever seeing, even on "tumbling pass across the floor in front of a stunt".

 

[CoachHannah]

I coach school cheer and only did all-star at higher levels, but my kids have rules similar to a level 2 all-star team. For us, our score sheets are usually pretty specific about the kinds of skills the kids need to do to max out, and there's such limited time in a routine to add much else. I would be really curious as to what kinds of skills you're referring to though, as there may also be illegality elements to why they aren't used in lower level choreo.

 

[emo_wifey]

I've been teaching music classes for camps at my center and we had acro dance this week- and I have to wonder-why is it that cheer doesn't use more of the tumbling skill variations used in acro at the lower levels? There were some that definitely seemed like they'd be legal, but I can't recall ever seeing, even on "tumbling pass across the floor in front of a stunt".

Not very familiar with acro dance, so I'm not sure what all of the possible skills are, but I think it's probably that 1 - athletes aren't trained in those skills and 2 - those skills aren't taught because they are less common. It's a chicken and egg problem. Our mini team has used a chin roll in a front pass a couple of times, and I think it looks really cool. I agree that if the skills are legal, more teams should use them. As a parent/spectator, more creativity in choreo helps level 1 and 2 teams stand out.

 

[Darenn1000]

Coming from acrobatic gymnastics I have now on-boarded onto a Cheerleading team. I was a bit stunned on how strictly the rules in Cheerleading are compared to acrobatics (code of points / tables of difficulty) - especially on Senior-level in acrobatics gymnastics there is almost no restriction. But in Cheerleading there seems a progression-rule to ensure safety - as far as I can tell.

We had some really flexible girls in acrobatic gymnastics doing like walkover on fore-arms into a split, or Tic-Tac or Valdez - or boys backhand-spring into handstand.
- I dont see those currently in my Cheerleading-team and I think they are not really worth to practice because it requires a lot flexibility that the majority probably needs to have and then it must be rather uniformly executed.

Additionally the focus imo is caught by vertical elements the stunt groups usually provide most of the time in background - the tumbling is imo some minor attraction sometimes difficult to spectate because it is on floor level (geographically).