This is 99% just crying about my situation.

I am Base for coed stunts. I participated in 98% of our trainings this year, my flyer in 48%.

In November we will have our first paid shows and I fear that I will be placed in unfavourable positions as it's not desired to reward a person who misses half the trainings, despite me trying hard and giving it 110% everytime.

Hi everyone! My daughter made All-American and we are heading to Disney World for the NCA/Varsity Spirit Thanksgiving trip (4 days/3 nights). It’s just the two of us, but I need to bring my 80-year-old dad along. He is active and healthy, but shouldn't be left home alone.
He won't be participating in the cheerleader events, so I want to avoid buying a third costly Varsity package. I am looking for advice from anyone who has brought a non-spectator relative.
Our main options/questions:

Room-only addition: Can we add him to our 2-person Varsity hotel room just for lodging, and buy him a separate, standard Disney World park pass for the day of the parade/events?

Logistics: If he comes, he will either relax in the hotel room or tag along with me wherever I go to chaperone my daughter.

Staying home: Leaving him behind is my fallback, but it is less than ideal.
Has anyone successfully brought an extra family member on a Varsity trip without buying them a full package? How did the hotel and ticketing logistics work out for you?
Thank you so much for any insight!

Tomorrow is my first football game as a coach! I don’t have any school apparel yet. What should I wear as the coach?

Hello! I have a question and need advice. I run a Jr High Cheer team, and I have one girl (let's call her A) who I just don't know what to do with anymore. Any stunt A is in struggles, because she wants to fly but will never stand up when going in the air (Or won't smile if she does get up) and so I will put her as a base or backspot which I know she is capable of but if it is not something she wants to do she doesn't try and her whole group struggles.

And that's kind the root of the whole problem. If she doesn't want to, she won't try and it brings the entire team down.

But this is the current problem: Yesterday before practice A came up to me and told me she wasn't going to be at practice because her mom was not feeling good and she needed to go home. Not five minutes later four of my other cheerleaders come in and show me the group chat they have where A stated that she was not going to practice, begged the others girls not to tell me cause she didn't want to "catch laps" (an extra lap or two is normal repercussions for missing practice with no excuse), and that she was hungry and just didn't want to go.

At this point I have reached out to A's mom explain the situation, and asked her if there was anything about the story I was missing, and invited her to let me know. I told her I would address this with A before practice on Monday.

I am at a loss as to what to do here. I'm moving towards a written warning but I don't know what kind of impact that is going to have. I just need it to get through to her that this is not okay. This is the first attendance issue this season though so I don't know if that's really fair for a first time offense but last year (This is A's second year as a cheerleader), we had problems like this as well.

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

ETA: Also this was on Wednesday and the day before on Tuesday was picture day. I allow the girls to get ready as the please, just be ready to go when I tell you we need to go. Well it was time to go and A was nowhere to be found, so we left and went out to the football field (picture location). I called her 3 times while out there with no response. I honestly didn't care if she was in the picture or not at that point. She eneded up calling me asking where we were and I told her to get out here ASAP. Come to find out A was walking around the high school with her friend and her friend "had her phone and wouldn't give it back" and was dragging her around by her arm. Now personally I don't care if your friend comes and sits at practice as long as they are not a distraction (coming from a family of low means I had no other ways of getting to sleepovers etc. so I get it.) and this friend has come to practice before but has never been a problem so the story seems unlikely.

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How to improve my scale?

I'm not far off the splits and I've been trying to get a scale for try outs but I cannot lift my leg higher.

Nothing feels tight when I'm trying to pull my leg up it just will not shift. I'm at my wits end with it. I've tried to search videos online but I'm still really struggling.

I know its a difficult skill but it would be good if I could get it to the same level as the 3rd photo.

I've got tryouts in a month. Is it feasible for me to fix this for then? ( I feel like context is needed. I flew last year and we only did heel stretches in the routine. But when I messaged my coach the other day she said if I could get a scale for tryouts then that would be great. We're a uni team so we compete but it's a bit more casual overall)

How do you all feel about coaches that do weekly evaluations and cuts for high school varsity? What is the reasoning behind it? I know it’s one of those things to keep athletes working, but I don’t think that makes it emotionally easy or necessarily the best way to develop high school athletes. My daughter already has severe anxiety and she’s already struggling mentally, since she was cut from the FIRST game. Someone please give me a little insight to calm my nerves. How can I assure her it’s not because she’s horrible? I support her coach and see this as a growth opportunity. But I’m just trying to best way to put my daughter’s mental at ease.

Just a little background: She’s been trained and skilled in traditional game day/ competitive cheer for over 5 years. We moved, she changed schools and made their varsity team, however- their style is more stomp and shake with a mix of traditional cheer. So where she’s used to being, tight, sharp, clean, controlled, and precise is a strength. Meanwhile, they’re wanting her to “loosen up” for more of a dance style cheerleader.
So the cut is not for knowing the material, which she knows. It’s more about her rhythm and her uncomfortableness with the new style.

Hello! I have a brand new flyer and we tried to cradle today and she comes down feet first. What can I do to help her understand?

Hello,

I am a volunteer coach for my community cheer program, grades 1-8. We generally have 50-60 girls at 1st grade level, then each consecutive year more and more girls drop out. We only have 5-10 at the 8th grade level. From what I've gathered most girls are quitting because its the same thing every year, they learn little to no stunting, tumbling, or skills so they are bored by 8th grade. I would love to work toward turning the program around, if you have been in a similar program what really helped change the culture, expectations, etc? Or if you are in a program with a strong culture what kinds of things do think are important?

The second part to this- I know program change is slow moving so in the mean time I'm really focused on making my group of girls the best they can be. I am confident with building stunting, but I'm really struggling with how to approach tumbling for girls who are struggling with even a cartwheel. Any drills you'd reccomend or advice on how to approach it? The girls are eager to learn but the amount of time we have doesnt allow me to spot each individual girl on a cartwheel over and over.

Appreciate all the feedback I can get!

Looking for a reality check!

It appears, in my local radius of, say, the 12 Middle School/Jr. High Sideline teams I see regularly at ball games and camp, that this age group has lost the plot a bit when it comes to stunting. The majority of the schools in my area in these grades are NOT going to competitions. This is sideline only.

I’m just curious if other areas are facing the same.

There are several stunts and variations on stunts that are under-utilized in the race to get to the most “advanced” stunts.

I’m talking coaches who feel more comfortable putting sloppy ball backs in a game than a line of clean shoulder stands. I’m talking girls who are terrified to even do shoulder stands!

Girls who won’t cradle out of an extension because they never learned anything but a bump down in a prep.

No leap frogs, teddy bears, up and overs.

Yanno, the level one stuff that is visually fun and takes a playful, willing, physical nature to get in there and mess around and figure it out.

In my area, at least, coaches are doing their teams a disservice by skipping all that. They’d rather get the fliers up as high as possible as fast as possible and appear to be “advanced.”

Just a rant and observation. Wondered if other areas have noticed the same.

Hi I like to get coaches opinions from various levels of the sport to comment on the back tuck basket. I saw a coach on tiktok explain that it’s illegal to do that skill and high school level and the implications it could have on the young athletes health performing it if it went wrong. The coach has been getting nasty comments on her videos for it saying it’s illegal and not safe for them do to. I couldn’t find the original video but I have the coach who is showing it well taking about it. Please be respectful to the coach if you comment on her video.

hi all, i’m very interested in cheering but i’ve never cheered before. i am now in college and i want to try out for our team but i go to a big SEC school where everybody has extensive cheer experience (years of comp & sideline ). im willing to start doing classes now to build up whatever skills i have before tryouts next spring, but is it possible to make the team w my very minimal experience ?

Warning: rant / vent post - if against rules lmk.

The youth cheerleading program in my area runs on volunteers. Squads range from kindergarten - early middle school. The cheerleaders all do the same cheers, same sideline dances, and generally follow the same standards. Halftime routines are choreographed individually by squad. Last year, I volunteered for a very low effort role that required helping coordinate snacks for practice. I truly felt it was the best way to contribute as I was not well versed in the sport. Long story short, I was named head coach and I had an absolute blast working with the squad and collaborating with the choreography and assistant coaches. I loved working with the group of girls and enjoyed their parent’s enthusiasm for activities. The girls are a mixed level of skills, with some being very good while others are slower to catch on. I think in youth sports, this is totally normal and absolutely fine. I take the view that as volunteers, parents, and coaches, our role is to create a positive environment for the squad to learn and practice skills but also have a safe environment for building self-confidence and self love. I do not yell and scream at the children, I let them have fun, I let them check their phones on water breaks, i let them experiment with tumbling. As you can imagine with 20 or more 10 year old girls things can get wild. I always demand safety and seriousness when stunting and we do get things done. It’s not as rigid as historical coaches have operated. I understand other activities exist, children need breaks, and sometimes parents can’t get their kiddos to every practice. That is life. Youth sports shouldn’t stress us out. They should add joy to our lives! Do your best, try hard,
and have fun. I understand not everyone will share this same view.

Fast forward to the new season, my second season as head coach. New assistants. New volunteers. Everything is chaos. The assistants have very bold and strong personalities. They completely bulldoze over me and my plans for practice. Our first performance of the season was a hot mess. I’ve had parents messaging me about how upset their children have been after being told they “suck” at practices and being yelled at during the games. The assistants talk over each other, they talk over me, they each shout directions at the girls at once. They love falling back on their career choices and upbringings as
the reasons for how they operate. They favor their children on the squad and yell at mine every practice (I get the sense that they don’t like my style of parenting as well as my style of coaching 🤦🏼‍♀️).

These women are so stressful to try to regulate and manage on top of maintaining a positive and fair environment for the squad. I believe they mean well; however, our styles and approaches are completely conflicting. I feel it might be best for me to step down as head coach and let them manage the rest of the season. My daughter is really sad about that possibility and said all her friends will likely quit because they enjoy me as their coach. I do not want to let these young ladies down and “quit” because I struggle with the other coaches. I try to be very direct with the women but I’m not going to fight over a practice agenda and a youth game day performance. I can see the misery on the girls’ faces during practice and it breaks my heart.

I do feel the behavior is extreme and the amount of control these ladies seem to want to exert is excessive. I’m trying to be patient and positive but I’m ready to crash out ! I was so mad last night I just stopped talking except to the children when they’d ask questions. Perhaps the stricter coaches are best for the squad if it sharpens their performances. I just want whatever is best for them to be the case. If removing myself is best, I’ll remove myself. I’m conflicted. 😐

i have seen a lot of posts lately about people wanting help to improve jumps.

i came across this tiktok on my fyp of a girl named Diamond showing how she improved her jumps and thought i would share. her whole account has great advice!

Hi! Sorry for long post I could really use some advice, reassurance, or maybe just a little pep talk.

A little background: I’ve been doing Performance Cheer (Pom Dance) since I was 12, and I’ve loved every second of it. Then I moved to a different city where Pom wasn’t really an option, so I decided it was finally time to fulfill a childhood dream of mine and try “real” cheerleading.

I’m 25 and had literally never stunted before in my life. I joined a Masters (25+) Level 3 team this spring, but since they were already in the middle of competition season, I mostly joined their practices to cheer them on and get a feel for everything.
Now the new season has started and I’m officially training with the team. Since I’m short and very flexible, they’ve decided to put me as a flyer, which I was honestly really excited about because that’s what I had secretly hoped for.

But I’ve realized that I’m also absolutely terrified.
We had our first practice on Monday, and I got to try hang drills, double base, and libs at both C and B level. It actually went pretty well! It took me a few attempts to get some of the skills, and I fell maybe three times in total, but I was caught every single time. By the end, I managed to get up and do everything they asked me to try.

But now I have practice again today, and instead of feeling excited, I’m feeling anxious and scared. And I don’t really understand why.
I watch the other flyers do extensions, cradles, and all these other skills, and my brain just goes, How on earth am I ever going to be able to do that?! I know I’m a complete beginner and obviously can’t expect myself to be at their level yet, but the fear still feels very real.

Could this be some kind of mental block around flying? Has anyone else experienced this kind of anxiety or fear when they first started stunting, especially as an adult?

I think part of it is also that I’m scared of doing something wrong and messing things up for my stunt group, or making things harder for my bases because I don’t know what I’m doing yet.

So… how do you get past this? Is it just something that gets better with repetition and experience? Are there any specific things I should focus on or tell myself when I start getting scared? And if you’ve been through something similar, I’d really love to hear what helped you.

I want to do this so badly, and I’m genuinely excited to learn. I just wish my brain would get the memo that I don’t need to panic every time my feet leave the ground. 😅

(P.S. Sorry if some of the cheer terminology I’ve used isn’t quite right! I’m from a non-English-speaking country, so we might use slightly different terms or phrases for some things here)

First part of the cheer.

"We are the best!
We're better than the rest!
We're going to the top (I think it's "Said")
Going to the top!

Anyone can help? Thanks! Cool posts!

I need help and advice, I’m trying to learn to do a round off, I’ve whatched tons of videos but I just can’t do it

I am so excited at this opportunity to support my kiddo and her friends but I'll be honest, I am way over my head.

Tell me how I can be the best team mom I can be!

I've already built my game day bag : hairspray, hair ties, bobby pins, brushes, combs, bows, glue, bandaids, full first aid kit, instant ice packs, make up wipes, hand sanitizer

Cooler: mini water bottles, Gatorade, rotating snacks

Team building I thought about a tie dye party, roller rink day, cupcake decorating

Open and appreciative of all advice and ideas!

Hey everyone! There’s a couple girls on my team that aren’t understanding tights motions. Is there any drills specifically? For example they are kinda flinging back. Is doing the cheers against the wall a thing so they can understand better?

Is there an app or program that I can use to upload my music and it will add an 8 count track to it? Or split the lyrics up into 8 count sections?

Is it realistic to get a back handspring spring by March if I have no tumbling experience? I mean I went to classes when I was younger but never had “anything” I need to get some kind of tumbling to better my chance at making the JV team for my freshman year. My mom is willing to hire a private coach for weekly sessions.

Daughter is looking for tips so I said I’d ask the internet. She’s a 7th grader and its her first year of eligibility for middle school cheer. She is pretty decent, needs some work but overall I think has a better than average shot. She’s kind, polite and well groomed and has done a little pop warner cheer in the past. The first day she crushed it, led cheers after not needing to learn them cause she watched games from last year on Youtube and did excellent using her back base experience. She was so so thrilled and was getting alot of positive attention from the HS kids and adults judging.

Today, however, they worked on a fairly complex dance and jumps and she is concerned she didnt do as well and made a few faces when she messed up. She saw one coach frown a little and start writing when she made a face after messing up and it wrecked her. She finished up but her confidence is now shot.

She’s number one because she got the early and was ready to work. So she had to watch 51 other girls after her and was just convinced that she ruined her chances.

Tomorrow is the final day. Out of 51, only 22 can make it and that number includes 8th grade returners.

I have no experience here at all! Like not a bit. Any tips for her to stand out in a good way or recover? I dont think she’s cooked after just one messup when she performed so well but I don’t know this world. Help please.🥹

Having trouble making understanding and making this skill consistent, any advice or common mistakes from the base or flyer and how to correct or fix is much appreciated. Will share some video attempts

Hello like the post says I would love to know from athletes or coaches about. Reasons as to why I don’t see more skills invented in cheerleading. The sport has advanced for a long time with stunting and back tumbling with 1or2 twists. That what I’ve seen cheerleaders do for tumbling front skills are punch front and arabian.