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So, your athlete is ready to join a cheerleading program. Or maybe it’s just time for a change. Either way, you’re thinking about enrolling your child in a new gym, and you’re not sure where to start.
The most important thing to do is to sit down with your athlete and immediate family and decide together what’s most important to you. It’s so critical for everyone in the family to be on the same page and know what’s required in competitive cheerleading and dance. My most important advice here?
Make sure your athlete absolutely loves this sport.
Then, when it’s time to choose a gym, ask for a meeting with the program director and, if you can, the owner. In my opinion, the best gym leaders are readily available for these types of introductory meetings to answer questions and talk about their program’s style and strategies.
These are the things you can be asking and looking for to determine if a relationship – and trust me, it’s a relationship – with this gym is right for your family:
HOW CONVENIENT IS THE LOCATION?
This really depends on what level your athlete is competing at and how serious you are about the sport. If you are just starting out and only want to gauge your child’s interest in the sport, I strongly suggest choosing the gym or studio that’s most convenient and cost-effective for you. If you’re ready to dive in headfirst or your athlete is ready to go to the next level, the best program isn’t always the geographically closest program. I know families who travel 1 – 3 hours to their gym because it’s the best program for their needs. This should be a very thought out and personal decision for you and your family, and I suggest having a nice, reliable car with LOTS of Audible books or podcasts.
WHAT’S THE TIME COMMITMENT?
Depending on the level of competition your athlete is at, and the type of program you’re looking for (competitive all-star, novice, recreational, or sideline cheer), the time commitment may vary. Most programs practice at least twice per week and increase practice time the closer to competitions.
WHAT’S THE FINANCIAL COMMITMENT?
A great program will have a breakdown of all of their costs and will be very upfront about how it all breaks down. When it comes to competitive cheer and dance, there are a lot of unexpected fees in addition to tuition that can pop up (extra uniform pieces, team bonding events, travel fees, etc.) Your gym should be able to give you an estimate of all of this and how it is spent as it relates to your athlete.
WHAT KIND OF RELATIONSHIP DOES THE PROGRAM HAVE WITH PARENTS?
While cheer and dance are all about the focus on the athlete and their skills, the working relationship with the parents as a whole is super important. When a coach says things like, “The parents are my best friends,” that’s a red flag for me. I am relatively close to my daughter’s coaches, but our relationship is very professional. I don’t see our coaches or owners taking parents out for drinks or socializing with them outside of cheer functions, and I have to say that I really appreciate that. I think it takes an element of drama out of the equation. Imagine if there was drama at the gym (and inevitably there will be, no matter where you go), would you want the feeling that the coaches favor one group of parents over another?
WHAT’S THE COMMUNICATION POLICY?
Even though a professional relationship with the parents is important, open communication (and lots of it!) from the gym is key. Do they send out weekly emails? How do they communicate the team’s progress, or when there’s a problem that needs to be addressed? Do they use an app like Team Snap or Slack? Find out their policy on both how they communicate with parents, and how parents can communicate with coaches. This creates a clear expectation for when things come up and you want to talk to the coaches.
IS THERE A NO DRAMA POLICY?
We’ve all seen or heard about cheer and dance parents at their worst. I need to say that not all parents are like the ones you see on Dance Moms. In fact, the parents you see on Dance Moms are not like the parents on Dance Moms, make sense? Much of it is instigated by TV producers to get ratings. That being said, just like with any group of people who spend as much time together as the cheer and dance community does, there will be drama. There will be hurt feelings. There will be times when you feel like you need to defend or protect your athlete. There will be times when someone has other things going on in their life, and they take it out on you at the gym.
That’s why it’s important to know what the program’s handbook says about their drama policy.
Cheer and dance parents are human. Even I have been known to gossip or question or get emotional in the cheer arena. But it’s crucial to know what the gym’s consequences are when things go too far. Hint: it should explicitly state that no drama will be tolerated. The end. This protects the athlete, the parent, AND the program. Everyone wins, and you’ll know that it’s a safe and healthy environment for your child to develop and do what she loves.
TAKE A PRIVATE LESSON OR REC CLASS BEFORE COMMITTING
This is a great way to get to know more people in the program you’re considering and see their teaching and coaching style. By doing a few classes or private lessons, you’ll be able to experience in real-time how your athlete adapts to or learns from the coaches.
CAN YOU TRUST THE COACHES?
Honestly, this should be higher on the list. The coach is going to be a big part of your child’s life. There will be times when your athlete will spend more time with his coaches than with you, and many times you won’t be there to watch. The coaches have one of the biggest influences on your child. It’s so important to know that you can trust them with your baby’s skills, her emotions, and her skills development. If you’re in this sport for an extended period of time, the coaches in your program will watch your child grow up. It’s a role that should not be taken lightly. Take a little bit of time to get to know the coaches in the program. Follow them on social media and ask if you can watch them coach a practice or two. A background check is standard in our country now, but always ask about how the owners and directors hire and what their vetting process is.
WHAT IS THE PROGRAM’S COMPETITION STRATEGY?
For those who have been in competitive cheer and dance before, this can be a big question. My smaller gym just joined forces with a nationally known program, and my first question was about their competition plan. Most large programs have a strategy around “bids.” If you don’t understand what bids are, here’s a crash course. The Summit has become the end-all, be-all of the cheer world, and many programs have fallen into chasing bids. I have my own thoughts on The Summit and Worlds bids, but more and more gyms these days are taking a stance on bids, and it’s important to know their philosophy when it comes to all things post-season like The Summit and Worlds.
WHAT IS THE PROGRAM’S PLAN TO HELP YOUR CHILD DEVELOP HIS OR HER SKILLS?
The investment you put into this sport is too great for your athlete not to a) absolutely love it, and b) not continually grow and progress. That’s why it’s important to know the opportunities any program has to help him grow. It’s very easy to get caught up in making the team the best they can be for the season and for the athlete to get stagnant in the process. Make sure there are additional tumbling classes, flyer classes, and private lessons available for your athlete to get to the next level.
Of course, this isn’t a complete list for everything involved in this sport, but it gives you a clear idea of what to expect and starts the conversation with the program’s leadership!
