Parents Do Cheerleading scholarships exist in College?

[onebusymama]

I have previously posted that my youngest DD wants to try Cheer as a sport. Which we will be doing next month. I know Gymnastics scholarships exist, but what about Cheer scholarships? Don't get the wrong impression here, we are not doing sports or any extra curricular activities for scholarships. We have no hopes for Elite or College for my.youngest DD (gymnast). She does it bc she loves it PERIOD. I'm asking bc my oldest DD (who is infatuated w/ playing soccer) says non stop that she will be going to "this college" or "that college" on a soccer scholarship. So now my 7 y.o. is walking around saying "oh yeah, well I'm going to go to that college on a cheerleading scholarship". Do they even exist?

 

[LJL07]

They sure do!

 

[Shoebug]

Yes, they do exist. Most colleges give scholarships that pay partial tuition (usually very little honestly), but schools with well known competitive cheer teams do provide full tuition scholarships. The University of Kentucky offers in-state tuition scholarships for sixteen of the twenty-one members of its cheerleading squad, while the University of Hawaii at Manoa awards full-tuition scholarships to approximately 14 cheerleaders. If this is the route you would like to pursue, I would recommend looking into a competitive cheer team. Quite a lot of gymnastics centers are now offering competitive cheer programs, and this would give your dd a glimpse into cheer, and a leg up if she truly wishes to pursue this tract.

 

[onebusymama]

Thanks! Yes we have looked at a cheer gym that my DD will be trying starting next month. She loves gymnastics, but some of her gym teammates also do cheer. So she wants to do it too. She is so excited about it! But she still wants to do gymnastics & she will be competing L 3 in the fall. I hope we can do both

 

[sevenatenine2]

There is also a new sport that is called Acrobatics and Tumbling that is glorified competitive cheer but with a few positives (no facials, cheer skirts, or crazy make up).

I truly think a kid that is a Level 9 by senior year will be a better cheerleader by freshmen year than a kid that has done competition cheer all through high school, but that's just my opinion!

 

[COz]

Did any one else watch "Hellcats"?
Not exactly aimed at children, but I found it entertaining, mind you, I'm re-watching Dawson's Creek...
Gymnast turns to cheer for a college scholarship. Lots of pretty people dance about

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

However, with cheer I think you go through a tryout in order to make the team which is unlike other sports when it comes to scholarships.

 

[DbacksMom75]

There are three different avenues for college cheer. Acrobatics & Tumbling which is NCAA recognized and run by USAG, sideline cheer that competes at NCA or UCA College Nationals, and STUNT which is USASF's answer to A&T. A&T offers more in the way of scholarships due their NCAA eligibility, most schools that have an A&T team consider their sideline cheer a "club" and they do not compete.
One of the things that we've seen this season is that an amazing All Star cheerleader does not equal an amazing sideline. One of the girls we know from an area gym tried out for Texas Tech. She has 3 Worlds gold medals hanging in her room and got cut. She ended up making Oklahoma State. She was beat out by girls that were lower level in tumbling but had amazing sideline abilities (crowd leading, ect.)

 

[Deleted member D3987]

go figure ^^^

 

[LJL07]

Thanks! Yes we have looked at a cheer gym that my DD will be trying starting next month. She loves gymnastics, but some of her gym teammates also do cheer. So she wants to do it too. She is so excited about it! But she still wants to do gymnastics & she will be competing L 3 in the fall. I hope we can do both

Just to share my experience, I did look into the cheer for my daughter as well, and it really is impossible to do both competitive cheer and competitive gymnastics. Maybe it depends on which cheer team she would be placed on, but my DD would have had 6-9 hours/week gymnastics, plus 3 afternoons of cheer practice. There were about 8 cheer competitions, one of which overlapped with state gymnastics meet. Don't even get me started on the cost. There was no way. Sticking with gymnastics. Good luck!

 

[CameraShy]

Yes, I had a scholarship for Cheer in college. You do have to tryout, however.

 

[BlairBob]

Speaking from a male athlete and audience member, do people really think we care about their "sideline" abilities?

I do like this idea of USAG Acro and Tumbling. Because I find the clown makeup on young girls ridiculous and not exactly healthy. It's pageant-ish. Really unnerved me when I was doing privates from local cheer teams.

USAG Acro and Tumbling sounds good on paper because I would assume it would have to be run USAG clubs so maybe, just maybe it would be a bit safer. I've known and heard plenty of horror stories of injuries from the local Pop Warner cheer groups of ex gymnasts who went on to Cheer and had to deal with bad spotting and accidents.