public cheerleading programs.. (Dallas, Garland, Irving: house, high school, college)
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just wanted to know if there were any public cheer teams there? Like here in michigan we have a PAL league that has a football team with cheerleaders. You have to pay fees of course but its open to the public. They have it for all ages and i wanted to enroll my 3yr old here but we're moving there so it really would be a waste of my money when i could just wait til we get there if you guys have one. We will be staying somewhere close to Irving. Im heading towards Euless a lot more.
You have several options. I'll start w/ the most basic and go up to the most complex.
1. Upwards. The Upwards program has soccer, basketball, etc also has cheerleading. This program is Christian based and many local area churches participate. You do not have to be a member of any church to sign your child up for any of the Upwards programs. In my experience of cheerleading on all levels this is the least competitive and least expensive. When my youngest was about 3 and wanted to try cheer this is what we signed her up for at our church. She got to cheer at her sisters basketball games and it was super cute. If you are wanting the low stress, non cheer mom crowd, this is the way to go. Upward Sports - Fun Kids Sports Leagues and Camps
2. PeeWee Cheer. This is what you are describing. It's thru a local organization in whatever area of the metroplex you are in, for us it is the GCDTA. They literally have "try outs" in the spring for the next Fall so it might be too late but you can always call and ask your local organization. They are divided up onto teams based on what area you live in and the nearest school. They cheer at the peewee football and basketball games. From my personal experience this was the worst nightmare. Uber cheer moms in control and no one w/ any real experience nor any one to reign them in if the "coach" was too out of control. Most of the times the "coach" has no cheer experience at all except wanting to be a cheerleader herself and living vicariously thru her daughter.
Since you are in Irving you could probably contact the Irving PeeWee football association and ask them who to contact for the cheerleading. Irving.Net - Irving, TX
3. School cheer. Your daughter is too young for this but it usually starts around 7th grade when the cheerleaders for the school football and basketball games are thru the school and their coach is a teacher. This has been fun in our experience and the coaches are your kids teachers. There is a checks and balances in place and they know all of the school events your child is required to be at and it is excused unlike some of the peewee "coaches" that get their panties all in a bunch because your child has a mandatory school event. Expenses for school cheer are also less than peewee cheer, in our experience.
4. Competitive cheer. Your daughter is not too young to do this. My youngest ditched peewee cheer and went competitive and loves it. There are some uber cheer moms but they are not the coaches like in peewee. This is the most expensive of the bunch but you pay for what you get when it comes to cheerleading and in this arena you have coaches that do this for a living and are good at what they do (depending on which gym you go to). If you do not have any desire for her to actually be on a competitive team you can still enroll her in tumbling and jump classes at most cheer gyms. In your area if you don't want to drive to the #1 cheer gym in the state and the southwest region, Cheer Athletics in Garland............... I'd go w/ Champion Cheer out in Southlake. There are other gyms out there but most girls that might decide to leave CA and go to one closer to home usually end up back at CA after one season or less. Champion is pretty darn good and if I were on that side of town that is where I'd put my daughter. In many divisions at competitions they are CA's toughest competition.
UGH...
Enroll her in a gymnastic class instead.
I have 3 girls and NOTHING disgusts me more than the under 10 cheerleaders at the boys football games. Hair and make-up and literally "shaking and shimmying" for entertainment.
5 year olds... saying "rootie tootie fresh and frutie come on boys and shake your booty" with the shoulder shimmy and turn around to crowd lift skits and shake rear end.
I told my girls if they wanted to be a cheerleader, become a gymnast first, when you are in MS and it becomes a school activity then use your gymnastic skills and you can be a cheerleader.
They all took gymnastics at a young age, none of them became cheerleaders. 1 was a varsity tennis players lettered 2 years, 1 is a select soccer player (trying our for HS this fall) and my youngest is a swimmmer adn horseback rider.
3 years old is sooo young! Cheerleading at that age is like Toddlers and Beauty pagents...it's filled with Mom's who are trying to re-live HS through thier kids.
^^^ To be fair. My youngest that does competitive cheer is also a school cheerleader, in honors band, plays soccer (thought about going select but that would involve dropping every single activity), plays golf very well for her age and is pretty well rounded. The cheerleading is just something she likes to do and both of my girls will tell you that I'm far from even being considered a "cheer mom" (we have fun shopping picking out my make believe "cheer mom" outfit). I was not a cheerleader, had no desire to be one and actually hesitated 3 years putting her in the sport with all of her begging. She did the Upwards cheer one year and peewee one year (hated that). She is now a 2 time National Champion Competitive Cheerleader. Which I don't feel is going to get her into college but it's something she loves and it's a sport that helps keep her fit and active and she can do it for many many years. Competitve cheerleaders ages go on up into the 30's .
Those that DO get involved in cheer can also excel in other areas and often do.
As for the shimmying by young girls. Both of my girls started a little dance class at 2. It was the only activity for girls and I wanted them in something. As they got older it got to the point that a lot of dance studios were going into this "sexy" mode with the costumes and recital performances. The last one my kids were in was pretty embarssing for me to have my parents beside me and some of these girls dancing like they were. My girls were still in ballet or modern dance so no shimmy going on there, whew, or this mom would have said something. So the shimmy business is not immune to the cheerleaders. I'd say it is more in the dance studios now than it is in the cheer gyms.
You don't see that much of the shimmy with the little cheerleaders in competitive cheer. You do see it in the peewee cheer. Like I said in my earlier post, this is the area where you get the moms that are trying to keep doing it themselves and have no formal training in cheer, dance or such. There is zilch of it in the Upwards cheer. When my youngest finally talked me into her doing the peewee cheer several years ago they did not wear makeup and their hair was in a simple pony w/ a ribbon. Now even in competitive cheer she wears age appropriate makeup but with the assigned colors each gym has for eye shadow (none of that thick glitter stuff, YUCK) and some lipstick and a little blush. We don't do the full out makeup. That was even a problem in dance when they were little w/ the moms and putting the heavy makeup on their little girls.
UGH...
Enroll her in a gymnastic class instead.
I have 3 girls and NOTHING disgusts me more than the under 10 cheerleaders at the boys football games. Hair and make-up and literally "shaking and shimmying" for entertainment.
5 year olds... saying "rootie tootie fresh and frutie come on boys and shake your booty" with the shoulder shimmy and turn around to crowd lift skits and shake rear end.
I told my girls if they wanted to be a cheerleader, become a gymnast first, when you are in MS and it becomes a school activity then use your gymnastic skills and you can be a cheerleader.
They all took gymnastics at a young age, none of them became cheerleaders. 1 was a varsity tennis players lettered 2 years, 1 is a select soccer player (trying our for HS this fall) and my youngest is a swimmmer adn horseback rider.
3 years old is sooo young! Cheerleading at that age is like Toddlers and Beauty pagents...it's filled with Mom's who are trying to re-live HS through thier kids.
oh no thats not me I just know my daughter watches my sister whom teaches a cheer team and she walks around the house already asking me to help her with heel stretches and splits at her own will. I havent been a cheerleader since before high school, during HS i was a majorette which is way different from cheerleading. But gymnastics is really a good idea i never thought about it. Thanks.
oh no thats not me I just know my daughter watches my sister whom teaches a cheer team and she walks around the house already asking me to help her with heel stretches and splits at her own will. I havent been a cheerleader since before high school, during HS i was a majorette which is way different from cheerleading. But gymnastics is really a good idea i never thought about it. Thanks.
If she really wants to do cheer and wants the proper techniques for cheer then enroll her in a jump and tumbling class at a cheer gym. Most cheer gyms have them. There is a difference in the way some things are taught and a basic gymnastics class at a gymnastics gym is going to teach differently than a cheer gym.
No majorette's any longer Had to explain what they were to my HS daughter that is in band. They all thought that was kind of funny, lol. We thought it was great when we were kids.
Vicarious cheer mom is a problem with youth cheerleading. My daughter has always wanted to be a cheerleader. I have no idea why. Nobody in her family is or was a cheerleader. We never really talked much about it. She didn't have any friends doing it. She just decided it was something she wanted to do. She enjoys pee wee cheerleading but it's really frustrating when she's on a team of about 10-12 girls and only 2-4 of them really want to be there. There rest are there because their parent is forcing them to. Those other kids don't care and when they don't pay attention the other kids can get hurt. We've talked to my daughter about competition cheer just to get her away from the kids who don't care but so far she's happy with pee wee so that's where she'll be next year.
Vicarious cheer mom is a problem with youth cheerleading. My daughter has always wanted to be a cheerleader. I have no idea why. Nobody in her family is or was a cheerleader. We never really talked much about it. She didn't have any friends doing it. She just decided it was something she wanted to do. She enjoys pee wee cheerleading but it's really frustrating when she's on a team of about 10-12 girls and only 2-4 of them really want to be there. There rest are there because their parent is forcing them to. Those other kids don't care and when they don't pay attention the other kids can get hurt. We've talked to my daughter about competition cheer just to get her away from the kids who don't care but so far she's happy with pee wee so that's where she'll be next year.
LOL!!! I know. I was the parent that did not want to be there. LOL! I've sat thru years and years of my kids playing soccer. Watching flag football was miserable to me. And throw in the cheer moms, UGH! Really? Do I really have to go. Yep, I went to support my daughter. I was happy for her and smiled for her and wanted her to be happy in herself and what she was doing. Like you, none of us cheered so it was a "you want to do what" moment. I'd seen the cheer moms and wanted no part of that group. We had the cheer coach/mom from hades. Her daughter was the one that didn't want to be there but mom was living thru her and she was a B****! Even to the girls. That's why even my daughter was ready for competitive cheer and been happy ever since. It's funny now 4 years later the ones that were all eat up with the peewee cheer are no longer in cheer and not even school cheer. LOL!
OH! The year she did the peewee cheer my girls and I came up w/ our halloween costumes. I was going to be the ULTIMATE "Cheer Mom". I was going to make me a huge cheer logo for the back window of the Suburban. Get me the most god awful outfit like some tight spandex leopard print pants with bling on them, some kind of blinging to hades "spirit" top that said "CHEER MOM" on it and then on the back in bling the " .........'s MOM", big looooooong nails, tease my hair up, some big blinging earrings and jewelry. Of course some hooker 6' stilletos that were hideious with bling, everything MUST have bling on it. Then both would dress in a cheer outfit that was straight out of Bring It On.
If she really wants to do cheer and wants the proper techniques for cheer then enroll her in a jump and tumbling class at a cheer gym. Most cheer gyms have them. There is a difference in the way some things are taught and a basic gymnastics class at a gymnastics gym is going to teach differently than a cheer gym.
No majorette's any longer Had to explain what they were to my HS daughter that is in band. They all thought that was kind of funny, lol. We thought it was great when we were kids.
awww no majoretts thats a bummer lol. now that i would become a mad woman about lol. call me a majorette mom
awww no majoretts thats a bummer lol. now that i would become a mad woman about lol. call me a majorette mom
There are a few schools in the Dallas ISD that have them but it's not at all exactly like you are remembering. Not-at-all.......
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like in peewee. This is the most expensive of the bunch but you pay for what you get when it comes to cheerleading and in this arena you have coaches that do this for a living and are good at what they do (depending on which gym you go to). If you do not have any desire for her to actually be on a competitive team you can still enroll her in tumbling and jump classes at most cheer gyms. In your area if you don't want to drive to the #1 cheer gym in the state and the southwest region, Cheer Athletics in Garland............... I'd go w/ Champion Cheer out in Southlake. There are other gyms out there but most girls that might decide to leave CA and go to one closer to home usually end up back at CA after one season or less. Champion is pretty darn good and if I were on that side of town that is where I'd put my daughter. In many divisions at competitions they are CA's toughest competition. 
. 
Had to explain what they were to my HS daughter that is in band. They all thought that was kind of funny, lol. We thought it was great when we were kids.
