Expert: James - 12/23/2009

Question
Hello,
Im currently a senior in high school. For my junior year I was on JV, and now, my senior year, I'm on varsity. I will be going to college at U of AZ, and I am EXTREMELY interested in their cheer program. I know I have to have tumbling and flying skills, but I've never flown in my life. I'm currently at a gym and hoping to progress towards being a flyer. I'm 5'4 and 122 pounds. What do you think my odd are of making it? PS - tryouts are in 4 months! :)

Answer
Well unfortunately I can't give a specific guess on odds because I admittedly am not familiar with Arizona's cheerleading program so I'm not sure what your competition level would be. As far as your size if you could SAFELY (cannot stress that enough) get down to about 115 that wouldn't hurt. I'm a big believer though that 4 months is a long time. I've seen some people make some major strides in that short of time. However, flat out you need to stunt. Even if you have to hire a guy from the gym to give you lessons. You have to go up in the air in partner stunts.