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What is All-Star Cheerleading?
The sport of All-Star Cheerleading has grown immensely from its roots 20 years ago. In the 80s and early 90s, teams were typically formed of athletes who were interested in improving their skills so they would stand a better chance of making their high school or college cheerleading teams. As the sport developed and grew, more and more athletes and their parents viewed All-Star Cheerleading as a viable activity in and of itself. As stronger and stronger athletes began to recognize that All-Star provided them a way to focus more on teamwork and athleticism and less on pom pons and decorating lockers, the sport began to separate itself from the traditional stereotypes. This is no longer our mother’s Cheerleading.
Teams and athletes in All-Star now focus on gymnastic and acrobatic moves. The hybrid sport of today is a combination of gymnastics, acrobatics, athletic dance, and many elements unique to All-Star. More X-Games than Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, more extreme athlete than fashion model, today’s All-Star athlete can learn exciting skills in a fun, safe environment.
All-Star teams are typically comprised of 15-35 athletes with a variety of skills and abilities (much like a football or basketball team.) There can be solid, well-rounded athletes and those who have particularly strong abilities in certain areas (ex.-strong dancers or jumpers.) The coaches create a competition routine performed by the group that has elements of tumbling, stunting, jumping, dance, and other skills set to music. The routines are typically 2 ½ minutes in length. At competitions, the teams are divided by age and ability level. The routines are judged by their level of difficulty, precision, creativity, and entertainment value.
All Star teams, which are made up of members from various schools with the primary focus on performance and competition, compete in different divisions and are judged similar to the way gymnastics, diving and figure skating are with scores ranging from 0-10, including 10th of points. Competition cheerleading has become one of America's fastest growing sports and has received national TV coverage (on ESPN, CBS, FOX Sports and USA Network)in recent years at the high school, All Star, and college levels.
All-Star Cheerleading, unlike many other seasonal sports, is a highly athletic discipline that requires year round training. All Star Ceerleaders typically practice 4 to 9 hours per week. Practices tend to be more frequent and longer in preparation for major competitions.
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What are some of the costs involved with All-star cheerleading?
All Destiny team members are responsible for a monthly training cost of $125 per month which includes an additional tumbling class per week that you attend outside of your normal team practice. Mini's tuition is $75 and does not include a tumbling class. With tumbling being a major part of all-star cheerleading, our All-Star team members are encouraged to take additional tumbling or other classes at a reduced "team rate" of $25 per month per additional class. All team members will need to purchase a uniform (including warm-ups, travel bag, make-up, practice wear, shoes, etc...). Team members are responsible for travel costs and competition entry fees.
We do offer fundraising opportunities throughout the year to all of our cheerleaders (who choose to participate) to help defray or even eliminate the above costs. When you join our program, you will receive a detailed packet which will cover all costs for the team.
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Does Destiny Cheer offer fundraising?
YES! Destiny Cheer has a separate Booster Club (Destiny Cheer Parent Group) which allows all of the team members to have many fundraising opportunity's throughout each cheer season. The more you fundraise, the less you have to pay out of pocket for competition fee's, uniforms, etc. More information about fundraising oppourtunities can be found under the "Fundraising" section of this site.
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What is the time commitment to be on a team?
Teams practice up to 6 hours per week, not including additional tumbling or other "skill" classes. This is more instruction time for the money than any other gym in the area. In addition, there will be 6-10 competition "weekends" from November to April. Most of the competitions are 1 day, local competitions with some of the local competitions being 2-day National events. For the 2008-2009 season we will have both non-travel and a travel team options. The non-travel teams will only go to competitions that are local/regional (ones we can get there and back in the same day). The travel teams will be attending 2 out-of-town competitions in which a hotel stay is required. Both of the out-of-town competitions are 2-day Nationals.
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Do the Destiny teams get professional choreography?
YES! The owners of Destiny Cheer are professional choreographers that choreograph routines for all-star programs across the country. Their routines have won many National Championships for those programs. We are the only gym in the area that has in-house, professional choreographers. This allows us the ability to make immediate changes to routines based on judges scores and comments without having to wait for a choreographer to come back and "tweak" the routine.
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Can I do All-Star cheerleading and school cheerleading?
If you have the energy and parent support go for it. We had several athletes who have done it in the past, but we ask that Destiny Cheer practice times and performances are first priority. To perform at the level that Destiny Cheer is committed to, we need everyone at every practice. Many of our cheerleaders have chosen an All-Star team because there are no games, after school practices, assemblies, posters making, etc.
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