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Youth Cheerleading: What is the Best Age to Start Cheerleading?

Cheerleading as a sport has moved beyond the traditional high school and college cheer squads. Many middle school children now compete with their local cheer squads, and cheerleading for kids has become very popular.

At what age is it best to introduce your child to cheerleading? Many gyms have programs for preschool-aged children. At Hi-NRG, special programs are designed for toddlers and preschool children.

These programs focus on nourishing children’s love for sports, instilling them with confidence, and building all the skills that can help them progress not only as athletes but overall at all activities in life.

In these programs, students are taught basic cheerleading skills in a fun, entertaining, and safe way. Students also learn teamwork, dedication, and focus–all useful life skills. Beginning cheer training at a young age instills these skills and sets the groundwork for success.

Children do not need to be very young to begin learning cheerleading skills. Students can learn at any age! One reason that cheerleading for kids is so popular is that there are classes and competitive teams for all age-groups.

Given this, many parents enroll their kids in a local gymnastics school, where they learn these life skills along with basic tumbling and stretching skills.

However, one thing worth noting is that HINRG focuses on strong basics, and has high level instructors teaching advanced athletes and strong gymnastics skills to children.

In addition to that, Hi-NRG has comprehensively designed training programs that teach general, essential, and specific skills, too.

The programs at Hi-NRG spend a lot of time focusing on fundamentals before moving on to more advanced skills. As a result, children learn advanced skills faster and effectively. 

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All of these skills are built on with each class that will help students prepare for competition if they choose a competitive route or stay on a recreational route. These classes also teach splits, jumps, dance, gymnastics, and other exercises. HI-NRG Coaches utilize trampolines at a young age to teach bouncing skills and build muscles that are helpful for the cheerleader during a performance. 

Hi-NRG gymnastics has well-trained coaches to teach your children about confidence, focus, and fun. Giving kids the confidence they need is one of the most focused goals at Hi-NRG. We believe that a major percentage of children fail to build essential skills only because they lack confidence, which is why we work diligently on this aspect. 

The coaches consistently deliver a productive “high-energy” experience in each class packed full of new skills to improve athleticism, which is transferable to every other sport. Hi-NRG is one of the best youth cheerleading gyms and has programs for all ages and skill levels. Call now. 

Table Of Content

1. What are the Elements of Cheerleading?
2. Benefits of Starting Cheerleading for Kids at an Early Age
3. How to Be a Cheerleader

Every year cheerleading competition routines get more creative and exciting. However, a few steps never change in cheerleading. A competition routine always includes elements of tumbling, jumps, dance, pyramid sequence, and stunt sequence.  

Here we will cover the essential elements of cheerleading. These elements are required to be a good cheerleader, and, when executed correctly, will improve your team’s competition score. 

Aside from the team benefit, each element works in the favor of each child as well. When a child accomplishes a specific skill after weeks or months of practice, it boosts their confidence and gives them a sense of achievement.

Jumps

Good cheerleading requires a strong command of jumps.  The more jumps, the better! In a competition setting, judges are now looking for three or more jumps linked together. In many competition routines, cheerleaders now have at least four jumps. Different types of jumps include the tuck, double hook, toe touch, and herkie. 

Dance

Dance is a popular part of cheerleading competitions and most gymnasiums conduct dance classes for kids to improve their skills (HI-NRG currently does not offer dance classes). It is often a judge’s favorite part of the routine. Children enjoy this part because dance is always fun. 

As a result, the children feel engaged, joyful, and enthusiastic to learn more. In dance, there are different transitions such as level changes, sharp and clean motions, and overall dance, which is a lot of fun during cheerleading. The dance moves should be exciting and flashy. 

The dance motions should be exaggerated and quick to catch the audience and judge’s eye. The cheerleader’s choreography should be fast-paced and full of energy and enthusiasm. This will have the audience on their feet clapping along with the beat. 

In competitions, the judges mostly focus on the transitions, energy level changes, and that everyone is having fun. The judges want to see your team enjoy every moment of the dance. 

Stunt Sequence

In the stunt sequence, each team is divided into smaller groups to perform a series of stunts. Each group performs the same stunt or series of stunts with little variable moves. You should ensure that each member of the team performs the skills efficiently. Synchronicity and timing are the key factors to strong stunt sequences. 

Cheerleading stunts don’t have to be advanced in nature to impress the judges or audience. Even basic cheer stunts can capture the attention of the audience when performed well. Any additional skills that are performed with good techniques help to get a good score.

Once a cheerleader has mastered the beginner stunts, then he or she can begin learning more challenging ones. Basic cheerleading stunts equally excite young kids and teenagers. Children always love showing their skills to their friends and family. 

Resultantly, they feel satisfaction, confidence, and a sense of achievement.

Benefits of Starting Cheerleading for Kids at an Early Age

Cheerleading for kids teaches important life skills. It helps children develop physically and socially while increasing their activities. When started at an early age(any age) cheer programs help children incorporate coordination, discipline, flexibility, strength, and speed into their skill set. 

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Cheerleading is Good for Your Child’s Health

One out of every three kids struggles with obesity. The best way to reduce obesity and other diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, is to exercise regularly. Participating in physical activities such as cheerleading helps kids become healthy, active, and energetic. Children can develop habits from cheerleading that help shape their personality and good health. Youth cheerleading is a sport for kids to learn lifelong skills that are helpful to live a healthy lifestyle. 

Coordination and Balance

Coordination and balance are two skills that cheerleading develops in kids. During practice, they learn how to use and control different parts of their bodies and muscles. Cheerleading programs also help young athletes develop skills that can be applied to other sports and activities.

Many gyms do not have a practical method for improving coordination and balance in younger students. What makes Hi-NRG unique is that instructors and coaches have designed exercises that specifically focus on perfecting the required techniques for helping children improve coordination and balance. Having specific exercises and unique training routines, allows Hi-NRG to train children not just for cheerleading, but for all their future athletic endeavors.  

How to Be a Cheerleader

Cheerleading is for everyone. It doesn’t matter if your child is a toddler, preschooler, or a young teen, they can begin cheerleading at any age. 

Cheerleading helps children express themselves and is a great way to promote their athletic abilities. A good cheerleader is a role model, a friend, and an energetic athlete. The skills learned during cheerleading will help shape your child for years in the future. 

One of the first steps to becoming a cheerleader is learning to share cheer and happiness with others. Try to laugh throughout the day, raising your heart rate, blood pressure, and mood. Watch funny video clips and hang out with friends who make you laugh. 

Watch online cheerleading videos with your parents or adult supervisor and ask questions about them. Watch step-by-step videos of cheerleading and follow the instructions. Practice these steps after watching the online videos. Stretch throughout the day because it can help increase your mood and energy. 

Another way to be a cheerleader is to join the local gymnasium that offers youth cheerleading or cheerleading for kids. Hi-NRG Gymnastics is a confidence-building gym that offers programs for athletes of all ages and skills levels! 

Hi-NRG offers competitive cheerleading and classes that teach athletes the basics of cheerleading as well as new skills. Here you have an opportunity to excel not only as a cheerleader, but in life. We teach you cheerleading and all the skills to become a good cheerleader, such as self-esteem, self-discipline, determination, motivation, and time management. 

Being involved in cheerleading also boosts your confidence and energy levels. We offer cheerleading for kids and youth cheerleading programs in Lake St. Louis, Chesterfield, Eureka.

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Coach Paul
Owner
HI-NRG Gymnastics