Each year, as one Full-Year All Star Cheerleading season begins to lead into the next, Placements are held to determine which team athletes will originally be assigned to for the upcoming season.

If you have been involved with All Stars for any length of time, the grueling nature of the sport is quite familiar to you.

I often say it is like a circle, there is seemingly no beginning and no end.

As an example, our Full-Year season runs from a time in June through the beginning of the following May.

Although the exact timing may vary from one season to the next, this is how the schedule typically plays out, year after year.

Albeit for a small break from the end of the Placement period to the beginning of the new season in June, practices and competitions are constant.

As one learns more and more about the sport, in order to stay truly competitive with the top teams in the industry, this demanding schedule is absolutely necessary in order to maintain the condition of the athletes’ bodies as well as the progressive skill development which is required for the athletes to grow within All Star Cheer.

It all starts with Placements.

Whether you are a first time All Star athlete or a seasoned veteran, the newness and fresh start that Placement time brings is both exciting and nerve-racking.

Though it may be termed differently amongst the various All Star gyms, the concept is the same

Some gyms refer to them as ‘Placements’, others as ‘Tryouts’, others as ‘Evaluations’, etc.

Whatever the case may be, the concept of what occurs is similar.

At the time of Placements, athletes are divided into various groups, usually in-line with some type of gathering of age and skill level, and then taken through a series of exercises.

Athletes are tested on tumbling ability, where they stand in terms of stunting, jumps, and a variety of other areas which all help to determine where an athlete would be best placed from a team standpoint to begin the season.

Placements most often occur over a minimum of a 2-day period and for even the very best, most seasoned athletes, can be a bit of a nervous time as everyone aims to showcase their very best during the evaluation period.

Though Placements are certainly critical for every All Star gym, as they help in setting as firm a foundation as possible for a program as the new season begins, it is equally important for every athlete to realize that Placements should not be looked at as the “end all, be all” for any season.

As described, the All Star season is a looooong season!! Anything can happen.

The unfortunate nature of the beast is that injuries occur, families move, and a whole host of other occurrences develop over the course of a season that necessitate moves are made in order to best suit the program where these things are happening.

Regardless of how “permanent” a team may sound to be from a staff member of any gym, the reality of the sport dictates that a degree of flexibility be involved, and hence underscores the importance of athletes to continue to work hard and build their skills to help accommodate and fill needed gaps which are created with these types of shifts over the course of the season.

Therefore, it is imperative that an athlete not get too comfortable in their role originally designated for any given team, nor too discouraged if they happen to initially land on a team that to them is far from ideal.

No matter where one is assigned during the Placement period, it is crucial to continue to work hard with a positive attitude because anything can happen, and often does!

Placements are an exhilarating time of every All Star season.

With the promise and potential that every new season brings annually, Placements are the launching pad where everything begins from, though where the season plays out from there is often a winding road down an emotionally high and low roller coaster which is sure to bring memories that last a lifetime, participating in a sport meaning so much to so many people, and is one of those things that is beyond challenging to describe to an outsider, unless they have the opportunity to experience it for themselves.