Cheer or gymnastics classes?!

[Bearyinlove]

Don't know which to choose for my keen 7 year old. Grateful for any insight anyone has please!

Tempted by both but obvs double the cost and she does a lot of other activities so its already a packed schedule. Plus a sibling!

Hadn't realised cheer night be costly with uniform and comps either.

I feel like girls need to start gymnastics quite young. Is cheer the same or can you start at a later age (still as a child)? I can't remember at what age doing things like learning to flip around etc would become too hard.

Cheer can definitely be started later if there’s a gymnastics background. A gymnast will have the tumbling element down and the cheer unique stunt aspect is easy enough to pick up. I also know dancers who came late to cheer and did fine as routines allowed them to do less of the difficult tumbling versus teammates, but it’s more popular these days than it used to be so the dancers might find it tricker, when I was at uni we didn’t turn anyone away and still managed to win competitions!

My DD started at nearly 9 and couldn't even do a cartwheel!

If she does a recreational class or even just a tumble class she could get a feel for it first. Depends what your local club offers.

My daughter did gymnastics for around 3 years and then started cheerleading and loved it so just does that now. It is quite a commitment as have to attend every session and 4 competitions a year. She does 1 team training and one tumbling session a week.
I agree with trying it recreationally and if she likes it can try out for a team.

You don't need to be quite young to start gymnastics, you can start at any age. Some even have classes for adult beginners!
However the gymnasts that are at elite level - often those started in the pre-school 3-4 year old class.. but that's not what most people are aiming for.

Why don't you trial both or just ask your daughter to decide? Whatever she prefers is going to be best for her anyway!