Is a gymnastics background required for cheerleading? (in High School)?
95529
Unless the school is REALLY competitive, I would say no. My sister is a cheerleader, and she doesn't have any gymnastic background at all.
586405
That's becoming a problem now, finding a gym that does more gymnastics than cheerleading.  My best advice to you is to search the yellow pages, and then go check each gym out in person.  Checking each one out is the absolute best way to determine a gym's focus.  Make sure to meet the coach that your child will have, and make sure her priorities are the same as the gym.  Also, as a side bit of information, if your daughter does do cheerleading at any time, do not allow her to tumble on the hard wood floor.  I've been a gymnast for 10 years and a coach for 2, and I've seen way too many of our girls come in injured from cheerleading. I myself did cheerleading for 1 year, and I sucessfully blew out my knee and did serious damage to my ankle doing Round-offs, or round-off back handsprings.  Easy tricks, compared to what I do in the gym, but they still put me out of competition, and I may never be able to return.  So, I urge you to share that with your daughter if she ever decides to cheer.  Hope I helped!
938521
I am just including everything...\n\nLevel one and two focus on proper run and technique for vault; pullovers, casts, hip circles on bars; leaps, turns and jumps on beam and floor.\n\nLevel three gymnasts will learn body positioning for vault; handstands and cartwheels on beam; and round offs and back bends on floor. Program includes exercises in conditioning and flexibility.\n\nLevels 7 and up need things like hip circles, fly aways, giants on bars; handsprings, fulls, and tsukaharas on vault; and floor things like fulls layouts and many more...\n\nLevel 4 5 and 6 have things like handsprings, yamis, half springs on vault; hip circles, sole circles, long swing pull overs, tucked fly away on bars; tucked salto, cartwheels, handstands, backwalklovers on beam.
953404
I just graduated high school last year and am now in college. I did cheerleading every year in high school and it greatly affected my high school experience. I made new friends, it kept me busy, and was great to put on resumes. It was extremely hard working and very demanding on my time and energy, but it was so fun and completely worth it. Now when I look back on my high school years, I remember so many memories from cheerleading, not memories of sitting on the couch eating potato chips after school. It gave me a purpose and I strived to do my best and to improve. During my senior year, I had a falling out with my group of friends and I had no one to turn to, but I had cheerleading and just got closer to my cheerleading friends. I don't know what I would have done without them.
1109168
Definitely....gymnastics is much more of a sport than a lot of the other sports they have listed!
439620
yes i do think there should be a gymnastics category because there are a lot of questions about gymnastics from cheerleaders and gymnasts
641899
Here is a small bio about Tammy Biggs (see site below). If nothing else, I'd expect her to know a LOT about gymnastics and USA gymnastics.\n\nHave fun!
808051
hell no. for highschool theres the a-g requirements(to get into college) and the graduation requirements(to grduate). all requiring dedication. fails are not accepted, and therefore you have to take it over. do not take it lightly.
340289
No! Your not to old to start. I don't think you would be to old until your body tells you so. Gymnastics is tough...I say GO FOR IT!! Good Luck!
1090739
Yes i do think they should have a gymnastics catagory because it is a really challgenging. You have to have to much muscle and be as small as you can be.
683970
at my school cheerleading is under athletics so it is counted as a sport, but most people dont believe that cheerleading is a sport. IT IS!! NEVER LET ANYONE TELL YOU THAT CHEERLEADING ISN'T A SPORT!!!
498725
Hey Darkroog! I am assuming you re referring to the University of California at Irvine. Um the short and sweet answer is Yes, you do need both experience and lessons to walk on most any college athletic team. College coaches expect to refine your skills, not start you from scratch. But depending on your age, you may still have time to go get ready! If you are a senior in HS now Id have to say its looking doubtful tho.\n\n Springboard diving is a difficult and dangerous sport to master. Most divers, myself included, started out as gymnasts and got into diving that way, but its not required. College level competition is on the 1 and the 3 meter springboards. High school dive teams compete on 1 meter. search http://www.wikipedia.org/ for "diving" and read that article and the one on "Springboard". \n\nMost divers who want to compete in college pay to join a diving club for advanced instruction and to be able to compete year round. If your rents wont pay for lessons, maybe your high school has a dive team and you can make the team and get free ones. Search the library or Amazon.com for "Ron O'brien" and get his book "Diving for Gold" on learning to dive. \n\n To find a club and to find out more go to  http://www.usadiving.org  click on "Club" and select "find a club" to find the nearest diving club to you to join and get diving lessons. \n\nGood luck and I hope you enjoy the sport of springboard diving, its awesome!!
307646
Yes definitely!\n\nImagine a football player having to run a play, while reciting a cheer, staying in step with the player next to him (or her), then at the correct moment have three to four players lift him up.  Cheerleaders do it.\n\nA high school cheerleader will, in most cases, memorize the names of all of the football and basketball players in order to do personalized cheers...on top of the pages of generic cheers they must learn.  A football player does have plays to remember, but he doesn't have to worry about the basketball team.\n\nIf you take five football players, five basketball players and five cheerleaders and required them to score a touchdown, score a basket and put someone in a half, (a half is where the flyer is lifted to sholder height of the bases) the cheerleaders will win.  There is a specific way the flyer has to jump into the hands of the bases or it's not going to go up.  Throwing a football can be done most anyway you hold it.  It may not go far, and it may not spiral, but it will go.  A basketball does not have to roll off the fingertips to score, but it will go into the basket.\n\nI broke my finger playing football as a child.  I ripped the tendon in my shoulder while playing centerfield as a teen.  I didn't injure myself playing basketball, but I did play on a league as a teen.  I have never been able to do anything above a thigh stand in cheerleading.  So, I am familiar with all sports as a participant.\n\nCheerleading is definitely a sport.  Like football, there are "plays" to remember and execute.  Like basketball, there is timing.  Like running, there is endurance.  The only difference is the participants have perfect hair the entire time.
526208
It's all about Cheerleading. If you don't believe it's a sport try out for it. it'll cahnge your mind. It's hard work see for yourslef.
741825
Probably that you have a cheer voice, are enthusiastic, committed to the routines and learning.  They aren't going to expect you to know everything, since it's your first tryout, but by high school you will have to be experienced, so start now if you really want to do it.
696889
same here. i want to cheer in high school! and i started doing stuff to get ready for that so do all of this.....\n\nget a book on stretching your body. you need to beable to do the splits and toes touches and the very impotent hurkey! and also get a book on just cheerleading! i LOVE LOVE LOVE! the book: the ultimate guide to cheerleading! by leslie wilson. look for it at the library! and it has EVERYTHING YOU WILL EVER NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT! cool huh?\n\nso you have to know how to do all of these to be ready to go to tryouts. summersalt, kartwheel,hand stand (if not it's ok but it's very good to know how to do a hand stand to learn a back hand spring!) roundoff,head stand,splits, toe touch (and it helps to know the splits to do a toe touch) hurkey, and ect. as much as you can learn. \n\nmake up cheers and a routine. and go over them.get a book on cheers. \n\nask some cheerleaders at your schools what it takes to be a cheerleader. they can help you. are better yet ask the cheerleading coach. she can really get you going!\n\nremember that cheering is serious and you can get hurt while stunting. so always use your head when cheering and donn't do anything at home like trying to lift your little sis into a lift with you down on the base with your brother!\n\nso jsut do all of that and you will be great! good luck!
1056874
Im on the cheer team, and it's not as hard as it sounds. Don't let other people scare you.\n\nIf they have open gym type things, or open practices go to them! (They will teach you the basics so you get an idea of what you will be doing/how to do it) They will benefit you greatly! If the team your trying out for dosn't have them, look up a local gymnastics cheer gym/club, call them up and ask if they have anything where beginners can come and learn the ropes before tryouts.\n\nIf you don't check out something like that, then work on your flexibility now. Practice jumps (if you know the techniques..if you don't & you know someone on the team ask them to show you what to do...this is where those open practices come in handy!)\n\nWork on getting fit. You don't have to be in amazing shape to make cheer because they will get you in shape once your on the team, but it dosn't hurt to start getting your stamina/strength up now.\n\nIn tryouts, learn the dance & cheer and perfect it as much as possible. Even if you screw up in tryouts, just keep going. Don't stand there doing nothing, this will show the judges/coaches that you won't freeze on the mat during a competition or something & that you are resourceful. Do facials, or at the very least just smile! Make it look like you want to be there.\n\nKeep a positive attitude no matter what, and try your best. \n\nIf you can tumble or have cheer/dance experience this will help you in tryouts, but it's not neccisarry. I had no experience what so ever, and so did many people who made the team with me so no worries if you don't.\n\nIf you are interested in learning to tumble, once again call up those local gymnastics gyms and ask about open gyms/practices where you can go and learn. Being able to tumble will give you an advantage, but once again it is not neccisarry, so if your not comfortable flipping then don't sweat it!\n\nHonestly, if your really ambitious and show the judges/coaches that you truely want to be there and want to make cheer a part of your life then you should have no problem! No one is amazing their first time, so if you mess up don't worry. They will take into consideration you have no experience. Do your best & everything will work out!\n\nGood Luck :)