Cheer competition Number One is DONE for the season, and I have a lot of thoughts. Here’s what I learned from our first cheerleading competition.
I’ve been a dance mom, softball mom, gymnastics mom, Girl Scout mom (and leader), and now I am a cheer mom. Specifically, my 9 year old has joined a half year All-Star cheer team, with local-ish competitions. This is meant to be a sampling of competition cheer, before committing to full year with travel.
After a season of sideline cheer, CA was excited to try something new. She liked cheer, but sideline wasn’t keeping her attention. She had a background in both dance and gymnastics, but neither really filled her cup. She liked them, but didn’t love them. Something was missing. When we found a local all-star gym, we thought we’d give it a go. She absolutely loved it, and her talent really showed. After try-outs, she was placed on the Youth Novice L1 team, called Debut. Cute, right?
Last weekend was out first cheer competition, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Check out THIS VIDEO for the competition vlog, with routine clips! Overall, it was a wonderful experience. There was no stress, other than finding parking, timing was spot on, their routine was perfect, and I have no complaints. I do, however, have many observations.
Cheer Competition Takeaways – What I Noticed, What I Liked (and Disliked), and What I would do Differently
Keep in mind, these are my takeaways from a single competition. So much could impact these observations- the venue, the schedule, the team.
Cheer Moms are vicarious. Most of these moms had full hair and makeup, and almost all of them were wearing cheer relation apparel.
Cheer dads are less present, but the ones that show up SHOW UP. The few dads that I did see were wearing team colors, personalized apparel, and had poms and cowbells.
Pack essentials only, and pack for convenience. In regards to hair and makeup, don’t bring your full home vanity with extensive pallets and sprays. Actually, I wouldn’t bring a pallet at all and would only use eyeshadow pencils. If the pallet drops and breaks, now there is a mess everywhere that could get on your uniform. Pencils are smaller and easier to carry, and less messy.
On this note, only bring one bag. I had two carry both my diaper backpack and her gym bag around (plus the baby), which got heavy. Next competition, everything goes together.
Sports “jerseys” to cover up. For Christmas, CA had gotten a pair of sweatpants and a cute black athletic zip up sweatshirt to wear over her uniform. Unfortunately, she got really hot. I was afraid to let her take the sweatshirt off, since her uniform top was primarily white. I noticed many girls were wearing a baseball style button up with short sleeves, most branded to their gym. These shirts protected their uniforms, but we’re loose and cool.
Headphones for baby. This is very niche specific, but I wish I had brought AJs headphones. The hall was loud. If I had brought her headphones, I might have stayed and watched more routines, but instead I hung out in the hallway instead. This was a bummer, since admission was a whopping $30 and I only watched a handful of teams a perform.
Candy. I hate to be that mom, but some of the other moms brought candy and it really helped to give the kids some energy. I had brought pepperoni, and a few other snacks, even though technically outside food wasn’t permitted inside. Next time I will bring a roll of sSmarties a well.
Make a Meet up Sign. This was a super cute idea I saw some of the other teams with. Essentially, the convention center had teams scattered throughout the entire venue, when they weren’t on stage. Some teams had a sign, basically a poster board that was decorated with their team name, to allocate their spot. This probably helped parents find them, but also it serves as a nice team building aspect because they’re able to take stake on the spot on the floor.
Bring Clothespin decorating kits. Thankfully I knew beforehand to encourage CA to decorate clothespins to pass out to the other cheerleaders. I did not know that they would have a lot of downtime in their meetup spot, and get antsy. Some of the other teams brought clothespins and embellishments to decorate while they patiently waited for their next performance. This is genius. Alternatively, I also like the thought of bringing friendship bracelet kits, even if they can’t wear the bracelets on stage.
Overall, it was a lovely experience. I’m looking forward to the next competition in a months time, and can’t wait to see how the team puts it all out on the mat.
Xo, Renn