Welcome readers to the Evolve All Stars Cheer blog!
Evolve All Stars are a new cheerleading gym based in Melbourne, Australia. Evolve is the product of three cheer-obsessed sisters with a lifelong love of cheer. We are extremely excited to have opened our doors this year and couldn’t be happier to be a part of this amazing sport. We look forward to welcoming athletes in and around the City of Casey to our Cranbourne West gym.
Speaking of sport, in late 2016 All Star Cheer was announced as a future Olympic sport. Get ready to see a lot more about cheerleading in the future as it continues to gain exposure on a global scale.
At Evolve, our aim is to ensure our students are engaged and are able to develop their skills in the gym. We believe in the amazing benefits (both physical, emotional and social) cheerleading can bring to the athlete.
10 amazing benefits of being a cheerleader
1. Be a crucial part of a team.
Cheerleading is a team sport that incorporates a co-ed relationship emphasizing people’s strengths to achieve the best outcome for the team. Cheer squads need a genuinely inclusive environment to succeed.
2. Learn gymnastics, fast!
Cheer is a fast-paced way to learn gymnastics floor skills in a safe environment. Or if you’re already a gymnast, cheerleading is a great way to use your skills in a fun and supportive team environment.
3. Develop confidence.
Cheerleading builds confidence as you make new friends, learn to perform in front of an audience and face new challenges.
4. And self-awareness.
Critical to childhood development, in cheerleading we learn self-awareness in two ways. Physical self-awareness and being aware of what our bodies are doing through the air and on the floor. Emotional self-awareness means thinking about how we are conducting ourselves in a new unfamiliar environment (e.g. at a national competition). Both forms of self-awareness are priceless skills to take beyond cheerleading into everyday life.
5. A ‘no-judgement’ space.
Clubs often refer to their gym as a family. Our place in a family is often like the role a person takes in a team and as people develop as athletes the gym becomes a place where they can be themselves and they don’t feel judged by anyone.
6. Step outside your comfort zone.
A lot of individuals I have worked with have never done gymnastics or dance and think that they will not be able to compete as an All Star Cheerleader. However once they walk through the doors at the gym and see that all it takes is them giving it 100% they realize that they have what it takes. While developing tumbling and stunting skills take some people longer than others, we are all capable and becoming a cheerleader is possible at a level that suits us. Cheerleading has no limits not for people with a disability and it suits all ages. We have athletes from 4yrs—40+yrs and they all have one thing in common: they are willing to give it 100%!
7. A sport with variety.
The sport of cheerleading is unique as it incorporates different aspects of other activities to create a routine. When joining a cheer team, you are signing up to not only learn a tumbling or gymnastics element, you are learning to do partner stunts, dance and jump as well. Not only that, you’re cramming those skills into one, intensive 2 and a half minute routine in preparation for competition! It may sound a bit intimidating but these skills and the routine are developed for several months before competition season. Once you start to wrap your mind around all the different aspects of cheerleading you will be surprised how fast you pick it all up!
8. Get fit and strong.
An All Star Cheerleading routine is 2 and a half minutes of intense stunting, tumbling and jumping…basically you never stop! Cheerleading is a fun and interactive way to get fit. It can be hard to get motivated to go to the gym but when your teammate is relying on you to show up to training to lift them up in the air it creates a commitment that’s much harder to break than ‘going it alone’. Often a coach will incorporate a conditioning aspect to training. This may be exercises not directly linked to cheerleading, but which will benefit the team’s overall fitness and improve their chances of success.
9. Become a great goal setter.
Cheerleading helps team members set goals. Achieving goals large or small is what generates our sense of achievement. Setting goals is one way to sort through what we want out of life versus what we think we should do. Through cheerleading we start to automatically set goals as it becomes part of our nature.
10. Add a bit of Sparkle!
Finally, the glitz and the glam of cheerleading is one factor that attracts a crowd! It’s a fun excuse to wear sparkly uniforms, dressed like your friends in safe environment with no judgement! Your makeup can be that little bit OTT and nobody will care! An oversized bow in your hair gives you a bit of extra sass! These things are the cherry on top of our sport that make it more fun for girls of all ages.
Except for reason number 10, these benefits apply equally to boys and girls of all ages. One noticeable trend in Australian cheerleading is that is primarily attracts girls, with boys potentially deterred by what they think cheerleading is all about. They think of the Sparkle factor and believe cheer to be a girl’s sport. As cheerleading is a new sport in Australia, boys are often unaware of benefits 1-9 and that they are in extremely high demand! It is our job as gym owners and cheer parents to help advocate for the other positive aspects of cheer that makes it an amazing sport for boys and girls of all ages and abilities.
As we said, here at Evolve we encourage athletes of all ages to come down and give cheerleading a go. You might just surprise yourself! To help break the ice, we offer a free trial class with absolutely no obligation. We want as many people as possible to try cheerleading, as we know there are a lot of potential amazing cheerleaders out there if they just gave it a go!
If you’re interested in getting started with All Star Cheerleading, get in touch with Evolve today!
