Anyone else have a DD trying out soon to be a Cheerleader?

[wdwmom0f3]

So my DD who is in sixth grade is wanting to try out this year to be a middle school cheerleader. I feel like I have opened up a can of worms. She loves it and she has been taking classes for two years to learn her back handspring and all of that jazz. She is doing really well but these classes are not cheap & it takes up a lot of time. She is bound to do it though. We are taking several classes a week.

Here is my concern. She is good friends with all of these girls. They were friends way before all of this cheer thing started. If DD does not make it, she is going to be heart broken. I am already dreading it. While she is really good, they all are, so it's going to be tough.

Anyone else out there going through Cheer try outs soon?

Oops, I ment to put this on the Family board.

 

[momxx5]

I have a 6th grader who wants to try out for the cheer team at our Middle School. Tryouts here are not until the last weeks of school.

The problem we have is that DD has not taken any dance (ballet, jazz, tap) in quite a few years. She has never taken a cheer or gymnatsic class.

At our school the "dance team" is much more popular and definately hard to get on. Tons of drama wbetween the girls, the coaches, the parents, etc. Not to mention the types of dances the perform.....let's just say the are not age appropriate and some look like they need a pole

I am thinking of getting DD some cheer lessons. My girls do musical theatre at a local dance studio. Since I sew most of the costumes, the girls are offered free classes. It is more a matter of finding the time to fit it in our schedules with brothers taking basketball, soccer approaching, etc.

I can understand the feelings and trying to save her from heartbreak. I really don't know what to do or how to handle that situation.
DD has been in 3 talents shows....singing. The first 2 shows she did not place at all. The last one, last spring in 5th grade, she placed 4th with Judge's Choice. The times she did not place she was disappointed but since many were in the show and did not win she was not alone in losing.

Trying out for cheer, she would be trying out with many of her friends. Most of them are currently taking Jazz dance classes and some take gymnastics. It would be hard to figure if she would actually make the team. Some of DS's friends cheer and have offered to show her the Middle School cheers, so at least she would have an idea of how to do them.

I don't think I've been much help. But I do want to say good luck to your DD. Try to stay positive and may keep in mind that if she does not make it then she can practice more and try out again the next year.

Keep us posted.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I have a 6th grader who wants to try out for the cheer team at our Middle School. Tryouts here are not until the last weeks of school.

The problem we have is that DD has not taken any dance (ballet, jazz, tap) in quite a few years. She has never taken a cheer or gymnatsic class.

At our school the "dance team" is much more popular and definately hard to get on. Tons of drama wbetween the girls, the coaches, the parents, etc. Not to mention the types of dances the perform.....let's just say the are not age appropriate and some look like they need a pole

I am thinking of getting DD some cheer lessons. My girls do musical theatre at a local dance studio. Since I sew most of the costumes, the girls are offered free classes. It is more a matter of finding the time to fit it in our schedules with brothers taking basketball, soccer approaching, etc.

I can understand the feelings and trying to save her from heartbreak. I really don't know what to do or how to handle that situation.
DD has been in 3 talents shows....singing. The first 2 shows she did not place at all. The last one, last spring in 5th grade, she placed 4th with Judge's Choice. The times she did not place she was disappointed but since many were in the show and did not win she was not alone in losing.

Trying out for cheer, she would be trying out with many of her friends. Most of them are currently taking Jazz dance classes and some take gymnastics. It would be hard to figure if she would actually make the team. Some of DS's friends cheer and have offered to show her the Middle School cheers, so at least she would have an idea of how to do them.

I don't think I've been much help. But I do want to say good luck to your DD. Try to stay positive and may keep in mind that if she does not make it then she can practice more and try out again the next year.

Keep us posted.

Our try outs are in March, just before Spring Break. There will be a ton of girls trying out & only like 24 will make it, if that many.

It's good that your DD has had dance before. My DD has not, but she has had to learn dances for cheerleading for the City before, the team that you just sign up for. If you could get free classes for cheer, I would jump on it. It has taken my DD and these others, a while to get it all & they are still learning. My oldest DD has a friend who is a cheerleader for the high school & she is about to start working with Lindsey with cheers & jumps once or twice a week. I think this will really help her too.



I have never been to try outs before and I'm not sure how the judging goes. I know it's so many points for jumps, cheers & things like that but I have no idea what else to expect. It will be stressful though.

 

[mombare]

Well....we are on the much younger end of this, and wondering what we got ourselves into! My dd (7) is on a mini competitive cheer team - first year it was offered. She had to "try out" last spring, and luckily there were just enough slots for most of the girls who showed up (minus a couple or preschoolers who cried or couldn't stay focused to practice). We had talked at length about the chance of her not making the team, and just framed it as "checking it out". I know it is quite different from your daughters, but I still had all those same fears.

Our dd absolutely LOVES it, and all her friends are on the team. She will pretty much be guaranteed a spot on the team for the rest of her career. That being said....cheer is a very expensive sport and very time consuming. She has to be up at 5 am this coming Sunday to travel 2 hours to a competition! Over the course of 2 weeks, we have 2 competitions, 2 performances, 2 practices, and 2 tumbling classes. When I step back and think about it, it makes me think we are insane! On the flip side, did I tell you she LOVES it? It has really shown her the importance of team work, and physical fitness.

Good luck with your try outs! Ours will be the last week in February...and then on to fundraising again! Ugghh....

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Wow! She went big time fast. We live in a small town so there is nothing like that here for that age. Our school is into the competition side of it too and they do travel so that will be a big expense, but it will be worth it. They went to Disney World two years ago. If she get's it I hope that they go back. That would be fun.

 

[lauradenise4779]

My 5th grader is preparing for cheerleading now, even though she can't try out until 6th grade (next February). She takes lessons from a lady who helps coach some local middle school and high school teams.

I know that tumbling is an important part of what squads around here are looking for. My daughter is expected to be able to do a cartwheel, one handed cartwheel, roundoff, front limber, back walkover and back handspring. I know they need to have good form...like pointed toes, straight legs, "springy-ness", etc.

She'll also be expected to learn a cheer, dance, perform jumps, and perform a tumbling pass.

My daughter loves cheering, and did it for the community pee-wee football teams for a few years, but she takes it very seriously now. I hope that when she tries out, she makes it b/c she will be super crushed if she doesn't.

I would hope since your daughter and these other girls have been such good friends before, that they could continue their friendship even if they all didn't make the team. However, I know how teenage girls can be. Just encourage your daughter to do her best, and if she makes it, remind her what good friends the girls are who didn't make the squad. Maybe she could help them and encourage them to try out again next year.

Good luck to your daughter!

 

[powellrj]

DD brought the paperwork home when she was that age to try-out. I wouldn't let her because it was really expensive with all the outfits and camp! I want to say it was over $1,000 just to get started, plus the cost of travel to the different camps and events.

I kept thinking this is public middle school cheerleading, it was nothing like this when I was that age!

They also had practice every morning in the summer which would never work because I work full-time and couldn't get her to practice every morning from 8-11.

Tell you DD good luck!

 

[rockyroad]

My girls both were on competitive cheer teams in high school.
And were middle school cheerleaders.

Here cheer is very very competitive.
My advice is to get them in tumbling classes as early as possible.
Preschool is not too early and tomorrow is basically a bit late.
But it it is something you and your daughter want, then find a good tumbling coach who teaches in a safe way. Go observe before you sign up. A cheap coach who causes an injury is no bargain.

And remember that competitive cheer is very expensive.
For us five years ago it was tumbling at least once a week year round...about $40 a month, at least.
Then there were coaching fees of $5 a day or $30 a week...ours practiced at least 6 days a week for at least 2 hours.
Plus at least $600 for uniform, shoes and all that.
Camp and camp clothes.
And $5 for mom to sit in the gym or stadium while she cheers at games once or twice a week.
And fees for competitions, plus entry fees for family to watch.
Then add in travel expenses including air fare for nationals at WDW.
(And they had to fly when the school board allowed which makes a bargain fare unlikely.)
At the nationals for the girls it was all business...practice and preparation.
Fees for gym rental and van. The kids got about 2 hours total to spend in the parks.

There were good and bad aspects to cheer.
Like when the school dumped a whole squad of varsity cheerleaders with no prior warning and put girls from one of the other squads in their places.
Or when a varsity team was moved down to jv...which meant that seniors on that squad were out.
It was painful for them and us, but my girls recovered.
(It was a lot like businesses now with downsizing and layoffs.)

This may sound a bit negative, but is just how it is in a school that has nation championship cheer teams.

My girls did develop toughness and learned to put on their game face and get on with the show.
They developed poise and had a few perks at school.

As for tryouts, as a mom I say that it is important for mom to be at the tryouts.
Even if you have to take off work!
They will usually make you wait outside the gym until the chosen team is announced.

Be ready to get your daughter in the car and out of there right away if she does not make it. Don't take younger siblings if you will have trouble getting them in the car immediately.
As one of my daughters told me back then, "Don't let them see you cry"...
When they go back to school the next day they will want their pain to have remained private and then they can say that cheer is dumb and that they are happy not to have made it because it will give them time for other activities.

 

[czycropper]

I have two DDs and they are both in the Competitive Cheer team. Our town has a Recreation team and a Pop Warner team since they don't have official school cheerleader teams until high school. My DDs still had to try out for the comp team in the rec league and that's the one I know the most about and here it goes!

-Try-outs
Try-outs are in March. The girls have to be going into 3rd grade before they can try-out. They have 4-5 day practices prior to the try-out day where they learn a cheer and part of a routine with dance & tumbling/stunt. The day they try-out they are assigned times and try-out in groups of three. They are judged knowledge of dance, cheer, attitude (cheerful, loud, smiling, spark), tumbling skill (both DD have done cartwheel with a round off and cartwhell into a split & back hand walk-over). Parents are not allowed to be inside the gym and watch their DD perform. They are judged by judges that are certified by the State Cheer Association and not affiliated with our organization just to keep it fair. The girls are given a number and that's how they are known to the judges.

-Findout whether they made it
We're lucky that we find out whether they have made by e-mail instead of being posted in public. This past year it was decided to have teams no larger than 25-28 so not every girl that tried out made it.

-Fees
Since it's a town sponsored rec comp squad the fees are not that outrageous. It's $175 per DD. This fee is used for the registration fees at the competitions so we don't have pay registration fees at each competition. Last year we went to 8 competitions & 1 in-town exhibition.
I did have to pay to come see the competition and those entrance fee ranged between $5.00-10.00 per competition. We also had a couple of overnights, so if your team does that, you have to take into account hotel costs. We try and share suites - for example for the big competition in Wildwood, NJ we had 4 families in the Presidential Suite so it was only about $60 per family.

-Uniforms
Last fall I had to buy brand new unforms for both of my DDs and it ran about $375 when it was all said and done. That's the vest, skirt, mid-drift, lollies, 2 pairs of sneakers (practice sneaker & competition sneaker), jacket with their name on it, pajama pants that they wear into the competition with the team name. I'm hoping that this year I won't have to buy two uniforms since my youngest DD can wear her sister's from this fall but I will have to buy sneakers since their feet are growing like crazy
We were lucky that both of my DD got free team cheer bags a couple of years ago because now they are selling them for $25 instead.

-Other costs
We have to pay for the girls camp and practices at our local Cheer Academy which is an additional $450 per DD.
Please take into account any "souveniers" at the competitions, like t-shirts, and all the "junk" they sell at the competition including professional action photos which start $9.00 for a 4 x 6

I will say that my DD absolutely love cheering. They have made great friends and yes, I won't deny there is drama at times, but it has been a great experience for them. Our town is pretty big, we have 6 elementary schools, a 5th/6th Grade Intermediate school, and middle school. So being in cheer helps them when they go from the elementary into the intermediate school being able to know kids from the other elementary schools.

My eldest DD will be in 7th Grade next year and is already looking into trying out for the high school football cheer team. She's lucky that the Coach of the High School cheerleaders is one of her teachers at the Intemediate school so my DD already knows that she has to work on certain tumbling moves to make it into any of the HS cheer teams.

Good luck!

 

[mbfqueen]

Yep, what she said above!

Cheerleading is like any other sport .. and it's very competitive .. although where I live .. All Stars is WAY more competitive around here and yes GYM is where I would start for ANY sport!

My girls are in a competitive sport .. one is in roller skating .. the youngest in cheer/dance .. (she beat her coach when they were in the same category in the Individual!)

But here, the H.S. is a past time cheer squad, hardly competitive and goes to local ones, which isn't much, but it's a status thing and my youngest is not doing it cause they don't cheer for the right reasons lol .. she's 16 and sticks to the All Stars, which is very demanding ..

So I would find out how serious your daughters are and go from there .. and GYM, gym and more gym ..

I wish a mom would have told me that alot sooner for my girls .. it helps really in any sport they want to do!

 

[esk]

Sort of off topic, but back in the day, I didn't make my middle school cheer squad. I cried for a few days, mainly because I was embarrassed that people knew I had tried out and didn't make it. That was mortifying to me.

So how I got the gumption to try out for high school, I'll never know. (Got contacts, cleared up the acne and cut the Morticia Addams hair, which I know, deep down, helped a lot)

Ended up Capt my senior year.

But I will say....a cartwheel was about all that was required. Literally.

The requirements now, with the back tucks and back handsprings, amaze me. I realize cheerleading now is a competetive sport and when I did it, 20-something years ago, it was not. And I paid for my camp and shoes myself and it couldn' t have been that much. (Uniforms were free but we gave them back)

That said, DD5 wants to do it so badly. We don't have a Pop Warner or anything in our town, and there is one gymnastics place, that only has classes at 3:30....and I work, so that isn't happening for her either.

Good luck, OP, to your daughter, and the PP was right....if she doesn't make it, get her right into that car and whisk her away. Let her cry because this IS A BIG DEAL and yes, she is going to be embarrassed. But it will pass and she can try the next year.

And if she makes it---well, once a cheerleader, always a cheerleader. I think those 2 years of cheering for me shaped who I am, in so many ways. It is such a positive experience.

 

[cheerforchelsea]

Both DDs (who are now grown) cheered in middle school and HS. I think that it was a very positive experience for both of them. Now they are both outgoing and confident individuals with good time management skills. Tryouts were always a stressful time (especially for me). But you have to compete in everyday life and it they don't make cheerleader the first time - try again - anything worth having is worth "fighting for". My oldest DD didn't make it the first year she tried out (in 6th grade) but she sure appreciated it when she made cheerleader the next year!!!

 

[terri01p]

 

[wdwmom0f3]

We put in two hours a day three times a week right now at the gym but that is about to double now that we are down to the wire. There are girls who do much more but I can't can't see it. Lindsey has just about got it and we are already dealing with tennis elbow, or pulled tendon that she missed three weeks for so I don't want her to ever do it.

There have been a lot of girls getting hurt lately. One of her close friends broke her thumb two weeks ago, but she is still at the gym doing what she can.

 

[summerrluvv]

I find this thread so very interesting, my children are all grown and for the most part I couldn't even get them up out of bed let alone anything else.

But what I find interesting is that way back, yeah I did say way back whenever I was in school we just voted in the cheerleaders and of course anyone could try out but the school kids all got one day to vote for their choices of their cheerleader, and of course the most popular girls got the position. Is it not the same way now????

How many hours does this take up a week? A lot of things have come a long ways since I were in school and you just had a simple pep rally back them nothing more.

When I was a freshman in High School way back in 1990, they required try outs. The voting by peers seems so mean and unfair!

I remember being so nervous, scared I wasn't going to make it. Then found out I was one of two freshman that made varsity! It was the back handspring that got me in

Good luck to all those trying out! Many people think cheering is just standing there in a cute skirt, but it was a lot of work, and our team wasn't even competitive!

 

[mamalle]

okay my two cents from another part of the country:

dd is on 4th grade and is on a so called competitive cheer squad. The 1st year she did rec and the coach decided to create a competitive squad seperate from the rec. Normally the competitive squad doesnt start till the girls are 11-15. So she held tryouts and really took all that showed up. she encouraged us to register dd who she said is a natural. dd loves it more than cheering on the hot football sidelines so we said okay. We started up with once a week tumbling this past Feb once a week and our cheer practices over the summer. we have 5 competitions that started up in Nov and run through april of this year. we will be in disney next month and daytona beach in March. Depending on our scores we can qualify for some big one in either Va Beach (us parents said no way) or Orlando again in April. Its been a commitment for her with 2x per week practices and tumbling off and on. She has gotten her backhand spring and starting to work on her round off backhand spring this past Dec. Now mind you she has been working on this since Feb. I am told at least down here if you dont have the backhand spring for middle school tryouts- you most likely will not make it. Plus the fact they only take like one 6th grader. dd enjoys it and did get picked for the all star squad for the orange bowl activities, etc but we declined since she also made the state squad for her rec soccer team and she has been doing that over the past two months until cheer really starts up again next week. Im proud of her and how dedicated she is to her grades and her love of sports so what ever she chooses to do we will support- besides travel and extreme competitive cheering. Thats where we draw the line. Im hoping by middle school she will want to continue and try out for the school team. we will see.

 

[ceecee]

When I was in school, a cartwheel was all we needed to do! Here you can't try out for middle school without knowing how to do at least one back and front handspring. It really turns when our girls try out in 7th because the cheerleaders are all expected to hang out together and it's hard when the girls are coming from 6 different elementary schools and suddenly have to leave their old friends behind if they didn't make the team. The moms here are SO into it, it's like their favorite thing! I'm a cheer-mom shirt, bumper sticker, etc. When I had DD in a tumbling class at 3, many of the moms were priming the girls for cheerleading in HS. It was unreal, cheering was no big deal in my school (very small) so I had no idea! Everything is so competitive now, you can no longer just do it for fun. Unfortunately, it goes to some of the girls heads and they really turn into something you don't want your daughter to be. They actually had shirts (some of the moms thought they were so cute) made that said "I can do anything...because I'm a cheerleader" and a girl doing a flip on the front. I found it a bit obnoxious.

 

[finz2left]

At a high school here (that had a reality show for a short time), attractiveness was a huge part of the cheer squad selection process. I've heard parents talking (it could be untrue gossip - but the folklore is THAT strong) that children would get noses done by 8th or 9th grade in order to stay on the squad. . That's where I would draw the line...if I hadn't years before!

 

[ceecee]

At a high school here (that had a reality show for a short time), attractiveness was a huge part of the cheer squad selection process. I've heard parents talking (it could be untrue gossip - but the folklore is THAT strong) that children would get noses done by 8th or 9th grade in order to stay on the squad. . That's where I would draw the line...if I hadn't years before!

My sister worked for a plastic surgeon in LA that had "back to school" specials on rhinoplastys!!!

 

[wdwmom0f3]

For tryouts here they have to be able to so a standing backhandspring, a roundoff backhandspring and of course the jumps & dance & cheer. Lindsey has all of it but is now working to profect it. They are working on "expression" now and all of that. All of the girls have worked so hard. It's going to be tough.

I think some of the best advice that I have read is to get her out asap if she doen't make it and not to take her siblings to the tryouts. She gets so mad at her little brother, even at gym. Thanks for this advice.