All-star cheerleading requires intense dedication, time, and money, but how are these young athletes expected to balance it all? 

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All-star cheerleading began in the ‘80s but has been on its rise in popularity within the last decade. The average person may not know the difference between school cheerleading and competitive all-star cheerleading, but the contrast between the two is large. 

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"All-star cheer from rec cheer is a lot different, in so far as rec cheer doesn’t focus on any one particular thing. They sort of just do cheer. Where all-star cheer we really get involved in the tumbling and the stunting and teaching all that area. And with all-star cheer, where you’re with us you're traveling all around the country and we’re going against other teams, and we are striving to be number one in the country” explains owner of Element Cheer, Dennis Chesney. 

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Element is home to many different all-star teams in Arizona ranging in age and skill levels with their youngest athletes being three years old and oldest 26. Their athletes compete in national competitions putting in time and dedication throughout the year to prepare. One athlete, 14-year-old Ainsley Probot, explains what a typical day looks like for her in the gym. 

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“I usually go in for a private either stunting or tumbling and then I got to one of my practices for two hours and then another on for two hours after” She explains. She goes on to answer if she’s able to find a balance in her life, “Yeah, I try to, and I think I'm pretty good it at it but sometimes it gets hard, and I usually have to work everything around cheer.” 

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There is no denying these athletes are putting in dedicated amounts of time and energy, but these practices are not just a simple run through. They consist of throwing, flipping, jumping, yelling, and more. Treyvone Sutherland, the four-year element tumbling coach, points out what people may not realize about these practices. 

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“Usually conditioning... lots of stunts, a lot of reps these kids to me train harder than... shoot, high school kids! these little five-year-olds are training twice as hard as any adults I've ever seen, it's crazy” he praises. These extreme practices are very impressive, but it begs the question, is this healthy? And how are these athletes able to balance school on top of their sport? 

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Chesney believes that the stress from cheer may actually be a helpful skill, “Cheerleaders in general have a much higher GPA, their organizational skills are amazing only because they’re in the gym so much they have to prioritize. They really need to be able to hone in their schedule to coincide with their practices, so they wind up being very very academically strong because of it so cheerleading you know it does lead to bigger and better things per say, we have several cheerleaders that are going off to college on full scholarships.” For those who may struggle to balance it all, he explains the kind of encouragement his gym offers. 

“It's all philosophy, some gyms they don’t help. That’s why we did our own gym, family school all come first they have to” he goes on to explain, “So when we have a kid that’s struggling and they need to get their homework done well they’re going to be doing it during practice and the coach may be helping them, they may be sitting there on the floor with the coach and their going to be doing their math homework as the team is doing whatever they need to get done.” 

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His experience shows that although the time may require dedication, it can pay off in preparing real life skills for these athletes. Chesney is no stranger to watching cheer change athletes, his own daughter was once a cheerleader. Chesney credits his daughter's organizational skills to her time as a cheerleader. 

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“Well for my daughter she cheered for 12 years and she went from being an okay student to being almost a straight A student, just because she had no choice but to prioritize and get things done, she is now a nurse for Phoenix Children's Hospital and she coaches here, but it just brings that discipline and bring professionalism to their lives.”

 

The struggle for the perfect balance is definitely a real challenge for these athletes, and as they chase the dream of a ring at the end of their season, they are also developing real life skills along the way.