All-Star What Means The Most To Allstar Cheerleaders Who Want To Cheer In College

[INeverStopCheering]

Is allstar breeding this entire generation of talented cheerleaders who, largely, just dont care in general for sidelines?

I would agree with this. Most kids I know who have been raised Allstar don't care for the idea of sideline. To me, it just seems dumb, not to mention dangerous. When you spend your whole life trying to stake a claim for your self and your sport it's hard to transition to a position where you don't matter. Yes, people watch the cheerleaders, but we're here to support the football team. It's not about my standing tuck or needle, it's about the football players. I was not raised to be on anyone's sideline.

I would love to cheer college competition and I wish they would sell that side more. The only stadium I want to cheer at is one where I'm the competition

 

[Keep_Believing]

I know a girl who is on the Texas A&M cheer team. She loves that they aren't allowed to do sideline cheer for the Aggie football games. They have yell leaders instead. To her it is a waste of time. She wants her focus to be on improving her skills and competeting. Her only complaint is that their team isn't at a higher skill level.

 

[CoachMandiCF]

I have to say that my athlete loves all- star but ALSO loves cheering at school! She loves her varsity squad, cheering for the teams, sideline, the fans.. The whole school spirit atmosphere! Now, is it the same high she gets from competing at Worlds or for CA? No, but she does enjoy it and plans on attending at D-1 school for Cheerleading. She can't imagine not cheering at CA or at an all-star gym but if her squad competes, she will be happy I think. She is a junior so we will be going through this soon. She has her sights on OSU, OU, Alabama... But still talks about UofL and Kentucky. She can't wait to be on that football field cheering!
Any advice for me on scholarships that will help? Any other advice as we tackle this road? Thanks y'all! :)

I would start now going to meet the coaches of the program. Sometimes that is the deal breaker. Take her to football games, let her experience the atmosphere. Some larger schools will let you come on a visit and meet the team and see game day action. Also ask about practices and classes. At Pitt we weren't allowed to have class before 10am or after 5pm. That limits you to certain things. Good luck to you guys!!!

 

[CoachMandiCF]

I agree that your high school experience is a presser for college. I came from a true Friday Night Lights town. Everything shut down for football. All day affair. Set the tone for everything else.

 

[yojaehs]

kingston my opinion is that talented all-star kids enjoy their team doing well and being respected. There are many colleges that don't respect these kids. If a kid does high school AND allstar, when they cheer the high school games they are associating with the students that come to the games in class and at LEAST getting recognized for their efforts (good or bad) "hey I saw you at the game". Not the case in college. Respect is way down.
Now I will agree that SOME colleges would be a blast to cheer the games, but not all and not all respect the time and energy that goes into something as simple as the fight song.

 

[tumbleyoda]

Tease!

LOL. No just a little bit older and a whole lot wiser.;)

 

[ohsnapitslex]

I think many allstar athlete's reaction to college cheering will be based on their HS cheering experience. If they attended a HS that did NOT have school spirit, or the cheerleaders were viewed as a hindrance to a game, etc. THOSE are the kids who have morphed into strictly allstar cheerleaders. They're the ones who dread the sidelines, want JUST to compete, and would hiss at a pom pom if they saw one.

My school was 'Eh' on the sideline cheering, and I'm a performer/competitive athlete by nature so I tolerated sidelines. I LIVED for competition though, because I actually felt appreciated for my skills then. If a cheerleader feels like they're not missing anything from sideline because they got nothing from it in HS, you're gonna have a hard time drawing them to the college crowd.

I'm sort of the opposite on this reaction. I am a senior in high school, and my school ABSOLUTELY HAS NO SCHOOL SPIRIT (the visiting team sometimes has more fans attending our home games) sad isn't it:( . I started out being an all star cheerleader, and as you see my HS cheering experience was bad, but I definitely want to go to a school with a lot of school spirit so I can get pumped on the side lines:cheering: . It's actually a category on my pro & con list for my college list.:D

 

[CAmamakat]

So you are a prime person to ask. I don't see a school like Auburn (who has a fantastic football team but does not compete) but I do see Kentucky (who when it comes to a good football team they will tell you they have a good basketball team [rimshot]). That has to be considered completely based on competition and not on sideline cheering?

I think it's based on good cheer schools, yes. I would love for her to look at Auburn! UofL and Kenucky on down on the list now... ;)

 

[CAmamakat]

I would start now going to meet the coaches of the program. Sometimes that is the deal breaker. Take her to football games, let her experience the atmosphere. Some larger schools will let you come on a visit and meet the team and see game day action. Also ask about practices and classes. At Pitt we weren't allowed to have class before 10am or after 5pm. That limits you to certain things. Good luck to you guys!!!

great idea!! Thank you!!!

 

[LabbyGirlMOM]

My cp is only 7(she will be 8 on Monday) and whenever we see sideline cheerleaders or the topic comes up she goes into a rant on how much she hates the idea of sideline cheer because she says she is a superstar and she doesn't need to cheer for no silly boys lol. She is still young so that may change when she is older...

 

[Ashley]

I would start now going to meet the coaches of the program. Sometimes that is the deal breaker. Take her to football games, let her experience the atmosphere. Some larger schools will let you come on a visit and meet the team and see game day action. Also ask about practices and classes. At Pitt we weren't allowed to have class before 10am or after 5pm. That limits you to certain things. Good luck to you guys!!!

Wow, I straight up wouldn't have been able to do my major if we couldn't take classes before 10. Generally evening classes were off-limits, that's when we practiced, but sometimes exceptions had to be made.

 

[mariahnicole1216]

I absolutely love the idea of cheering in college. My choices of colleges are a bit limited though because 1. The major (i think) I want to get into is not offered at every college. 2. I really do want to be on a pretty competitive team. and 3. As a junior high school, in all the years i've done school cheer, i've never cheered for a losing football game. Football is HUGE to me. I would need to go to a school where football is a big deal.

Just thinking about all this stresses me out... :confused:

 

[Onfire381]

My daughter is just going into her freshman year of high school but, is already DREADING having to not do all star cheer at anytime in her life. She LIVES to fly, to compete and to continue becoming a better/more talented athlete. She hates the idea of sideline ( I can't for the life of me talk her into trying it for high school) as it doesn't provide the opportunity for her to improve and push herself. I have explained the difference in getting to be part of something amazing with cheering on the sports in college cheer but, I think her focus would be on a college that could provide a strong competitive team. Having the opportunity to funnel into an allstar team after the competitive season would be a big draw for her as well.

This is my daughter's 5th year as an All Star. She also cheered rec for 4 years and middle school for 2 years. She is starting High School in a couple of weeks and is a JV cheerleader for high school for the fall season only (football). She didn't particularly like rec cheerleading for football because she said it was boring. She is excited for high school JV football cheer because all her friends are also on the team. The only thing she doesn't like is that her school has a rule that to be on varsity you have to cheer both fall (football) and winter (basketball) to be on the team. She doesn't want to not cheer in high school, but she also doesn't want to spend 4 years on JV because she can't do winter cheer because of all star. I don't want her to give up all star because she wants to do varsity in high school. My question is do college's look at All Star cheer as closely as Varsity High School cheer? My daughter's school goes to a few competitions each year, but it won't give her the competitive edge that all star gives her, but is cheering varsity better for getting into a college?

 

[Cheer_Explosion_Coach]

I have to say that my athlete loves all- star but ALSO loves cheering at school! She loves her varsity squad, cheering for the teams, sideline, the fans.. The whole school spirit atmosphere! Now, is it the same high she gets from competing at Worlds or for CA? No, but she does enjoy it and plans on attending at D-1 school for Cheerleading. She can't imagine not cheering at CA or at an all-star gym but if her squad competes, she will be happy I think. She is a junior so we will be going through this soon. She has her sights on OSU, OU, Alabama... But still talks about UofL and Kentucky. She can't wait to be on that football field cheering!
Any advice for me on scholarships that will help? Any other advice as we tackle this road? Thanks y'all! :)

LSU is a MUST to at least visit. It's only 7 hrs away and you can't beat the game day atmosphere. If you contact the coach, they'll let you get in free to a game on the sidelines as a "recruit" haha. So worth it!

 

[cheercurl]

Just like the title says, what means the most to allstar cheerleaders who want to cheer in college?

Is it being able to be on the sidelines?

Is it the perks?

Is it the idea of competing?

Do lots of you suffer through sidelines to compete or do you compete just so you can do the sidelines?

I have just been listening to lots of allstar cheerleaders recently about what they like and then I am hearing college coaches sell their programs to allstar cheerleaders (cause lets face it that is where 90% of the cheer talent is) with things it sounds like allstar cheerleaders don't care about. Parents feel free to chime in too.

Please keep all responses to your personal preference NOT what you think everyone else likes (unless you are a coach or happen to have a window into a group of what these athletes like).

Great question Kingston! I know for my daughter she really wasn't interested in competing in college at all. She had a clear vision of what she wanted out of her college experience and part of that was going to a BIG FOOTBALL SCHOOL. She would have loved to have just done football side line cheer and not compete at all but she chose to go to a school that had an incredibly competitive football and cheer program. She knew her chances of making the team were slim. She could have gone to many other schools and gotten on the team easily but she wanted BIG Football and she got it!

I guess my point is that some girls are done with competing by the time they get to college. For my girl it really was about spirit and being part of something big, not about competition.