*** 2010-2011 *** Cheer Parent Thread

[wdwmom0f3]

I am a new cheer mom!! My 12 year old DD just made cheerleader at the middle school here. She was so excited! We live in a small town and we do not have All Star teams here but that sounds like a lot of fun.

Our girls are working hard getting ready for cheer camp in Panama City Beach, Fl. We are all looking forward to it. The moms are also working hard doing fundraisers... not fun! lol

We just finished selling cookie dough and the school bought a run-through for the games with some of the money. The girls really like it so it should be fun and look really good too. For 2500.00, it better!

I think I am going to love being a cheer mom!!

 

[goofy!]

Well, we haven't started our year yet, but I thought I'd jump on board. My daughter (9) is on an all star team, this will be her second year. She loves it and we really enjoy watching her. We have some great families on the team and it has been nice getting to know them. We live in a small town, and don't have the most elaborate place to practice, but the coaches do an amazing job.
DD's practices don't start until August. They also have a parade group for the summer, but she didn't want to do that.

and to you too!

It is great seeing all the new people joining. It should be an exciting year.

 

[goofy!]

Happy Monday All! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

As for Worlds, we didn't do so hot as far as Jrs and Srs went this weekend. I do think they both deserved 2nd but some kind of way they each got 3rd. I mean one of the other teams never connected their pyramid because a stunt group fell. True we had a fall after a tumble pass but still the pyramid not connecting should have at least gotten us to 2nd. Ahhhh well...we live, learn and move on.

Our Youth team did AWESOME though..2nd out of 22 teams!!!

Now to move on to next season. Teams were posted this morning and DD9 is moving up to youth. She's soooo excited. DD13 has decided to take a break so no all star cheering for her. She is going to try out for school cheer on the 17th-19th... Pray for me.

Well..gotta get some work done....bye for now.

Fantastic, congrats!

By Worlds, are you referring to IALC or US Finals? Either one, 2nd out of 22 is quite the accomplishment!

 

[goofy!]

We just had our last competition of the season.. The teams all did great!
Our Youth level 1 placed 2nd out of 23 teams, our Junior 3 placed 1st and our Senior Coed 3 placed 4th out 17. We are definitely sad to have the competition season over. Tryouts for next year are at the end of the month. We are already looking forward to 2011.

Congrats. That is a great way to end a season!

 

[goofy!]

It's hard to believe it's that time again! Tryouts are next Wednesday. We have a new JV and Varsity coach and I have high hopes for them.
This year is different in that each girl has to make their own spirit shirts for tryouts. Our school colors are black and red. I went to the sewing store to look for zebra print ribbon to make their hair ribbons. Of course, they didn't have what I wanted. But the woman pointed out that they just got in zebra print in red and black! I was so excited...everyone has always used the black and white. So the shirts are almost done. They are black and they have decorated them and are wearing red Soffes. So the other day I was online and thought, Hmmmm, tube socks would be different. Something that no one else will think of (during the season, they wear no show socks. So I found some amazing tube socks for tryouts. http://www.cheerleadingonline.com/I...381/cid=114/page_no=1/shop.axd/ProductDetails

I LOVE these socks. I hope the website link shows the red ones..those are the ones they ordered.
So anyway, DD 15 decided she really wanted to stay on JV and DD16 will be trying out for Varsity again. Wish us luck!!

One of our teams did the socks for a couple of practices. They looked adorable.

 

[goofy!]

I am a new cheer mom!! My 12 year old DD just made cheerleader at the middle school here. She was so excited! We live in a small town and we do not have All Star teams here but that sounds like a lot of fun.

Our girls are working hard getting ready for cheer camp in Panama City Beach, Fl. We are all looking forward to it. The moms are also working hard doing fundraisers... not fun! lol

We just finished selling cookie dough and the school bought a run-through for the games with some of the money. The girls really like it so it should be fun and look really good too. For 2500.00, it better!

I think I am going to love being a cheer mom!!

Being a cheer mom is both lots of fun and stressful when your child is stressing over finals, not getting that skill they are working so hard on, etc.

If you want to try All Star, is Ace of Alabama close to you? www.acetribe.com. We have a friend that is looking into this gym, so it rang a bell

 

[princessmom29]

I am a cheer/dance mom of sorts and hope I can get some of my questions answered here. My DD6 dances at a studio, but they do not have a competition team so it is just classes and one recital. There is an acro class at the studio, but it is not really something they take seriously. It is more just for fun. We cheered park ball for football season this year. They practiced 4 days a week for 2 hours a day. As a parent I felt like it was not necessary to practice that often as a lot of practice was spent standing around or dealing with 5 year olds with no attention span. It was a strain on our time to be there that much and I felt like we weren't really donig anything. We are starting a tumbling class at a local cheer gym this week. I have a feeling my DD is really going to want to get involved with all-stars when she sees what it is all about. What would I be getting myself into, time wise and financially? I realize that you cannot tell me exactly as every gym and area is different, but ballpark how much time and money? The posted practice times for the allstar teams are an hour and a half twice a week, which is something we could handle at this point, but is it common to have lots of extra practices? How much do competition fees run? Gym fees? Uniforms?

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Being a cheer mom is both lots of fun and stressful when your child is stressing over finals, not getting that skill they are working so hard on, etc.

If you want to try All Star, is Ace of Alabama close to you? www.acetribe.com. We have a friend that is looking into this gym, so it rang a bell

You are so right about that! It is stressful & fun at the same time. Lindsey is working on her tuck now and she has pulled a tendon in her upper leg, but that should be fine by next week. That was a scare!

As for ACE, the closest one is about an hour from us in Birmingham, so that would be a little hard with everything else that is going on right now. We are busy with our cheer team 6 days a week, three days with the team, 2 at the gym & private lessons on Sunday afternoons. It sounds like so much fun though. I may look into that when we move out of this tiny little town. For now, she LOVES cheering for the school. She wants to do it in high school too, so she is working hard to push herself.

I must say, this has been just as much fun for me. I LOVE to watch the girls cheer & tumble. I am a stay at home mom too, so being around the other cheer moms and going to the cheer camp with them will be so fun for me. I also enjoy the special little projects that we have to help with. I think this is going to be a great year!!

Thank you for the warm welcome.

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

One of our teams did the socks for a couple of practices. They looked adorable.

I know I'm taking a chance, but I searched Google images for cheerleaders with tube socks and they looked great! And I ordered them Sunday night...I was going to pay extra shipping for them so they would be here by next week. But since I'm on a budget, I went with regular shipping. Checked the tracking number this morning and they are in Charlotte today so I should get them tomorrow. YAY!!

 

[czycropper]

Hi everyone - both of my DDs (12 & 10) have been in cheer comp for a rec team for the past few years and now they are both going to be doing both rec and AllStars so I'll be having a whole year of cheer . I think that I'll just be camping out at the gym since the rec cheer comp already practices at that gym and now I'll be there more for the gym AllStar team - at least we won't be traveling until Dec!

I'm in Central New Jersey.

 

[polkadotminnie]

I am a cheer/dance mom of sorts and hope I can get some of my questions answered here. My DD6 dances at a studio, but they do not have a competition team so it is just classes and one recital. There is an acro class at the studio, but it is not really something they take seriously. It is more just for fun. We cheered park ball for football season this year. They practiced 4 days a week for 2 hours a day. As a parent I felt like it was not necessary to practice that often as a lot of practice was spent standing around or dealing with 5 year olds with no attention span. It was a strain on our time to be there that much and I felt like we weren't really donig anything. We are starting a tumbling class at a local cheer gym this week. I have a feeling my DD is really going to want to get involved with all-stars when she sees what it is all about. What would I be getting myself into, time wise and financially? I realize that you cannot tell me exactly as every gym and area is different, but ballpark how much time and money? The posted practice times for the allstar teams are an hour and a half twice a week, which is something we could handle at this point, but is it common to have lots of extra practices? How much do competition fees run? Gym fees? Uniforms?

I can answer a few of your questions. I have 3 girls who have or are currently doing all-stars. The amount of money does depend on the gym, state, area... We spend about $2500 a year on cheer per child. The monthly tuition is not really any different than dance if you divide the cost per hour. The expenses are competition fees and travel (hotel, gas, parent admission....). A weekend can easily get pricy. Our uniforms are approx. $250 and shoes are about $80. The gym breaks the payments down over several months to help with costs. We practice twice a week for 3-4 hours total. Near a big competition, we may practice every day. Two of my girls love it. All three girls have gained self confidence, discipline, and sense of accomplishment from cheer. My oldest decided to not try out again last year because she was frustrated with her tumbling so it can be a stressful sport as well. The kids have to love this to stick with it since it is a lot of time and work but it has a lot of rewards too. I hope that helps.

 

[goofy!]

I can answer a few of your questions. I have 3 girls who have or are currently doing all-stars. The amount of money does depend on the gym, state, area... We spend about $2500 a year on cheer per child. The monthly tuition is not really any different than dance if you divide the cost per hour. The expenses are competition fees and travel (hotel, gas, parent admission....). A weekend can easily get pricy. Our uniforms are approx. $250 and shoes are about $80. The gym breaks the payments down over several months to help with costs. We practice twice a week for 3-4 hours total. Near a big competition, we may practice every day. Two of my girls love it. All three girls have gained self confidence, discipline, and sense of accomplishment from cheer. My oldest decided to not try out again last year because she was frustrated with her tumbling so it can be a stressful sport as well. The kids have to love this to stick with it since it is a lot of time and work but it has a lot of rewards too. I hope that helps.

Our gym is pretty similar.

Our gym and competition fees are broken down into monthly fees -around $290 per month (can differ depending on level). This covers competition fees, gym fees, tumbling and stunting classes, open gym fees and coaches' travel fees.

Then we had an additional $800.00 in fees which included the tryout fee, uniform, shoes, makeup, bow, practice uniforms. These are spread out for the next few months.

Our level 1-4 teams travel to two nationals. Our level 5's travel to three or four, one of them being Worlds. (if they get a bid, so far so good)

Our gym travels together, so we have to book our room through the gym. We have to be there on the Thursday before the competition and are not released till Monday - so we have 4 days of hotel, food, and then transportation to get there. Our gym is extremely good at passing on the group savings for hotel blocks to us.

For our family of 4, we spent approximately $2500 for our NCA/Dallas weekend. This is about average for our Nationals. However, it will vary due to airfare costs and the hotel costs at each competition. Also the venue makes a difference. When our kids competed at UCA Orlando, we had to buy 3 day park hoppers to watch your kids compete/practice. We are also required to have at least one parent in every single room so parents have to go. If you are level 1-4, you would do this twice, if you are level 5, three or four times.

We do have plenty of fundraising opportunities. We have a 501c3 parent group that runs a bingo session 2x per week. You work bingo 2 to 3 evenings per month. The payouts pretty much cover Nationals fees. You can also join the parent group that does concessions at some of our major sporting events, mainly the Denver Broncos. There are also smaller fundraising opportunities.

We have a very, very stiff monetary penalty if you quit the team (not including major injury, etc) once you have made a commitment to the team.

Our kids practice 2 times per week during the summer and fall. As competition season ramps up, many/most teams move to 3x per week, practicing approx 7-9 hours per week, again depending on level. The kids also take tumbling and/or stunting classes (included in the monthly fee) 1 - 2 times per week. Many kids also do a half hour private once a week (additional expense). Additional practices may include choreography practices as these are subject to the choreographers' schedules, or extra practices to fix something if somebody gets hurt, etc.

My kids have reaped so many benefits with all-star cheer. I was very skeptical when my daughter (who happens to be on the special needs team) wanted to join as I had a stereotype in my head, but I can easily say that it has been the best thing for my daughter and my niece (almost my kid as my brother is a single dad). It is expensive, but worth every single penny. My sons have friends on travel hockey teams. And I thought cheerleading was expensive. Hockey makes it look like a drop in the bucket. They are traveling all over the country all the time.

 

[Eeyores#1Fan]

Our gym is similiar to those that have already posted. I spent $5,000 alone last year with two girls and about to spend $3,300 on just one this year. She is doing cheer and dance this year. That doesn't include travel costs. Each season it varies because we always have a few different competitions each year. Last year we went to FL but this year we are not. Whatever you do make sure you are informed. They might say $125 a month up front but then you have $35 makeup kit, $65 shoes, $20 hair piece...etc., etc.

Good luck though! If your daughter loves cheer it will be worth it.

 

[Arkansan]

We have to be there on the Thursday before the competition and are not released till Monday - so we have 4 days of hotel, food, and then transportation to get there.

How can the kids miss that much school?

I guess we've just been lucky. All our competitions this year were within driving distance (farthest was about 4 hrs. away) The gym does set up room blocks at hotels and passes the savings to us, but all travel expenses are in addition to any amounts paid. We usually went up the night before, but older girls who may not even compete until 5pm or so could even drive up the morning of. One Sunday competition we drove home after it ended. That was rough--we didn't get home until midnight! The girls were SOOOO tired!

Anyway re: fees. We paid a significant amount (over $1,000 p/DD) upfront. This covered their uniforms, shoes, comp. fees, etc. Then we paid $145/dd per month for the next 11 months for tuition. Their gym offers several payment options. To strictly pay monthly the tuition, etc. would have been more than $300 apiece. They practiced 4 1/2 hrs. p/wk but did have some additional practices added prior to comps. (This started in mid-Aug.) Over the summer, they practiced approx. 2-3/wk. That was all tumbling, stunting and conditioning. Then they had a week of choreography camp and 2 wks. of conditioning camp. Over the year, there were open gyms, stunting classes and partner stunting classes that they attended in addition. (These cost extra, but we got a reduced rate because they were cheerleaders at the gym.)

This year may be slightly cheaper, as they will receive a uniform credit and they didn't need to pay to try-out. Their warm-ups will also still fit so we won't need to buy new ones or a new gym bag. (These were voluntary expenses, though, and not covered by the fees.) They can wear last years shoes to practice, but will get new ones for comps. Needless to say, it is NOT a cheap sport! They love it, though, and have really gained co-ordination and confidence. They both danced for years and I've not seen gains like this year in terms of confidence and getting in shape ever. I guess cheer is just their thing!

Good luck to everyone in try-outs. My girls tried out early this week. The rest of the try-outs are Sat., but we'll be in Disney! We'll check the website on Sunday to find out their levels and new practice times. Then they'll hit the ground running when we get back! My DDs coach moved out of the area so it will be interesting to see how they respond to a new coach. If the few practices and one competiton they had under the new coach is any indication, it will be a GREAT year and they'll learn a lot!

 

[polkadotminnie]

Our gym used to make us stay in the same hotel but they do not make us do that anymore. It is nice because we frequently just cash in our Hilton Honors points or Starwood points and stay free. It helps tremendously with travel costs.

 

[goofy!]

How can the kids miss that much school?

Our schools seem to be pretty lenient about it. I should clarify that we don't have to be there till midnight on Thursday, so if a shorter flight, you can get most of Thursday in at school. No one is allowed to leave until after the last awards ceremony as you are required to support the other teams. So, since awards can run very late on Sunday, there are no flights allowed for Sunday night.

We have pretty strict rules from Thursday midnight to Sunday after last awards, (no swimming, no cell phones so no texting, no facebook, no out and about; ie no Disney if we are competing there), so really all there is to do during a competition is support your other teams, compete and do homework. The schools know our rules so are pretty good about assigning work, knowing the coaches will help the kids focus on getting it done.

We always have a practice or two on Friday. In Dallas, our gym rented a ballroom in the hotel and put a spring floor in it, so all the teams were in and out starting early in the morning. We had parent meetings throughout the day in the ballroom too for info. The kids also have their team dinner that night (included in the competition fees). After the last practice at the venue, the coaches take all 250 kids, including minis and special needs for a big team dinner. It is one of the highlights of the kids' weekend. I cannot imagine not being in town for that.

While the kids were gone, our charter buses made a grocery stop for us so we could grab some snacks for the rooms. Watch out Wal-mart, here comes a few hundred cheer moms and dads

 

[donnajon]

Happy Monday All! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

As for Worlds, we didn't do so hot as far as Jrs and Srs went this weekend. I do think they both deserved 2nd but some kind of way they each got 3rd. I mean one of the other teams never connected their pyramid because a stunt group fell. True we had a fall after a tumble pass but still the pyramid not connecting should have at least gotten us to 2nd. Ahhhh well...we live, learn and move on.

Our Youth team did AWESOME though..2nd out of 22 teams!!!

Now to move on to next season. Teams were posted this morning and DD9 is moving up to youth. She's soooo excited. DD13 has decided to take a break so no all star cheering for her. She is going to try out for school cheer on the 17th-19th... Pray for me.

Well..gotta get some work done....bye for now.

Sorry your Worlds weren't as expected. Were your teams by chance in Hall A? Someone on the fierceboard posted that one of the judges assigning deductions in Hall A was seen drunk at 3am the night before he judged their team at 8am. And he gave them a deduction for something that was not illegal. Then he was rude and put his hand in her face telling her he was done with her. She was not upset about not winning but about receiving this deduction for something that was legal - and she later watched the tapes over and over again to make sure. She said she would have had first without this deduction but also many of their other teams won. She was just concerned about judges getting drunk the night before a competition.
Good luck with your DD13 trying out for school. That should at least save you some money! Haha!
We have tryouts on Saturday. We're hoping for a big turnout so we can have more than three teams next year.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Dang! The all star cheer is expensive. I thought we were paying a lot for middle school. We have just started for this next year and I have already dropped about a thousand dollars and there is no end in sight. It's something everytime I turn around from building clinics, outfits for this and that, cheer camp and who knows what else. We also will be traveling some for comp's and that will be other expenses. Last year cheer moms said that they spent well over 2500.00, and this is middle school! lol Even with all of that, it's worth it.

I guess I should also add that I spend 125.00 every 9 weeks for a tumbling class (pretty cheap), and 30.00 an hour for private lessons once a week, plus open gyms when we do them. I don't even want to add up the cost of try out week when we were there from 5-10 each night after her cheer clinic. I thought DH was going to kill me! lol It was worth it though.

 

[Arkansan]

The kids also have their team dinner that night (included in the competition fees). After the last practice at the venue, the coaches take all 250 kids, including minis and special needs for a big team dinner. It is one of the highlights of the kids' weekend. I cannot imagine not being in town for that.

What a wonderful sense of community that must foster! Our girls (and a couple of boys, too) are encouraged to watch eachother and cheer for the other teams and, for the most part, they do. (Our gym won the "Spirit Award" at all but one competition this year.) For example, we had 2 jr. teams this year (one lvl. 2 and one lvl. 3) so they would often support eachother. But there were no team dinners, no caravans driving to the comps., no busses, etc.

I guess both ways are good. We enjoyed seeing the various cities we stayed in and will now know MUCH more for next year. (ie: restaurants, shopping, etc.) We liked having some family freedom and flexibility, but some of the community spirit like your gym has was missing. I think this year will be better, as the mix of kids will be different. I don't see the gym implementing rules as strict as yours though--no swimming, etc. My girls really look forward to that. And sometimes, it is the carrot that we need to get my younger son to be happy about going away for the weekend again!

 

[goofy!]

What a wonderful sense of community that must foster! Our girls (and a couple of boys, too) are encouraged to watch eachother and cheer for the other teams and, for the most part, they do. (Our gym won the "Spirit Award" at all but one competition this year.) For example, we had 2 jr. teams this year (one lvl. 2 and one lvl. 3) so they would often support eachother. But there were no team dinners, no caravans driving to the comps., no busses, etc.

I guess both ways are good. We enjoyed seeing the various cities we stayed in and will now know MUCH more for next year. (ie: restaurants, shopping, etc.) We liked having some family freedom and flexibility, but some of the community spirit like your gym has was missing. I think this year will be better, as the mix of kids will be different. I don't see the gym implementing rules as strict as yours though--no swimming, etc. My girls really look forward to that. And sometimes, it is the carrot that we need to get my younger son to be happy about going away for the weekend again!

I can see the benefits of both ways too. There are times I would love to be able to use our points for the hotels. But luckily, our gym has some unbelievable office managers that secure some great rates for us, so it isn't too bad.

Since it really is the only way we know, I like this system. The kids really do seem to get a great sense of camaraderie with the entire gym, not just their team. A lot of the parents also socialize. There are lots of spontaneous lunch and dinner plans as parents run into each other in the lobby or on the buses.

Here is a group of our special needs kids playing UNO in the atrium waiting for the buses. If we were all dispersed in different hotels, the kids wouldn't have these opportunities to bond.

But then again, there are times when I would love 10 minutes away from non-stop cheer.