Youth sports

Through the years, we've tried lots of things with the girls. Beth tried soccer when she was 4 years old and wasn't a fan...not at all...and she has no desire whatsoever to try it again. She tried Gymnastics later that year. The year started great with only 3 people in her class so she got plenty of time with the teacher and plenty of times on the beam, bars, mats, etc...but by March, there were 15 kids in the class and her impatience grew into major frustration and a fight just to go to class each week. We were done by that point. She is doing ballet this year and just hasn't enjoyed it and begs me to let her try Gymnastics again. Problem is....well...the only two remainign gyms in town both have some majorly competitive cheer squads. The cheer squads are basically the next step up from tumble classes and the tumble classes are where they basically "groom" their next cheerleaders. First let me say- I don't have a problem with Beth being on a cheer squard if she is good enough to make the team. HOWEVER, I DO have a problem with all the traveling they do to go to competitions and the $500 that families probably pay out each weekend they have to go to Chicago, Memphis, St.Louis, Nashville or wherever for a competition. OUCH!!!! So, I'm stuck between a rock and a hardplace. Do I let Beth take a tumble class at one of these places next year, knowing full well what the outcome "could" be?? I can tell you - I'm not a "cheer mom." :-) And I can tell you, if Beth is anything like me (I never "got" gymnastics- I just couldn't do all that tumbling and flipping and stuff)...she may not do well at gymnastics either. I'd really like to see her stick with dance, but she is driving me bananas wanting to do gymnastics again. And in all honesty, she really did LOVE it when her class was small and she got to do all the activities and not sit on the mat and wait her turn like it was at the end of the year.

Okay - all that brings me to my original reason for posting - Beth is a YMCA cheerleader this spring. Her squad is made up of girls 7-10 years old that cheer for the YMCA U-11 Flag Football teams. This is the first time we've done YMCA cheer...and probably our last. While I think its awesome and it gives everyone who wants to be a cheerleader the chance to try it, I think it teaches absolutely ZERO fundamentals. NONE. They even had to go to a 2 hour "cheer clinic" where they learned cheers and a dance, problem is no one bothered to correct any of the girls if they were doing something wrong and show them HOW TO DO IT. I completely understand that YMCA sports are all about fun and being a team, but I'd like for her to learn SOMETHING!!! Its frustrating to watch......

Sarah Katherine, on the other hand, is my athlete and wants to do it all! She is currently in ballet and loves it. She played YMCA U-5 soccer last fall and is playing this spring, too. While she LOVES soccer, she isn't learning a thing this spring. We have a rather disappointing coach who knows nothing about soccer and doesn't really care. Again...frustrating to watch. However, Sarah could care less and just loves to be out there running around kicking the ball. She is getting faster as she grows and can totally get in there and play with the boys! I have no new pics from this spring soccer season yet, but she is on the same team as last fall....