Ella Scarlet

I’m a former gymnast turned cheerleader. The competitive gymnastics training and experience I received between the ages of 5 and 9 made the transition to cheer seem almost natural. At age 10, in 2018, being new to the cheer world, I chose to do a year of prep cheer at a local gym to see if I would enjoy it. Needless to say, I fell in love with it and was excited to try out for an all star team at the end of the season. Unfortunately, in May 2019, right after all star tryouts, the gym announced it was closing. Although I was disappointed, it led me to the awesome opportunity to be part of the very first cheer team for my newly opened middle school. Despite the extra tumbling classes I opted to do on my own outside of school cheer, my body and mind were both craving the more rigorous training and conditioning I was missing from gymnastics. So, in February 2020, I started “Flight School” classes at a local Allstar gym which allowed me to work on higher level stunting and flying skills. I also enrolled in a Saturday tumbling class at the Allstar gym. I was hooked.

In March 2020, everything began shutting down due to COVID. Virtual school began March through May 2020 so with my extra time at home I enrolled in Zoom classes for conditioning, stretch, and tumbling being offered by an Allstar gym my school team used a couple of times. With COVID hijacking summer and knowing this newbie Allstar cheerleader had some catching up to do, I hit the ground running once the gym opened back up in June and I took over 55 different tumbling, conditioning, jumps, stretching and stunting classes between June and early August.

My first year of Allstars has been exciting and challenging and I’ve grown so much from the experience. I have a lot more to learn but I’m already seeing the benefits of my hard work, determination, and grit with the new skills I’ve mastered. I was even asked to be moved to a senior team in October and to be honest, I didn’t even understand at the time what that meant exactly since I’m completely unfamiliar with team levels – but I’ve since learned more about that too. Having turned 12 a few months ago, I’m excited to finish the season out strong as the youngest and least experienced Allstar cheerleader on the team! I hope to make my team, coaches, and gym proud! The Press Sports app has been a game changer. I am excited to finally have a place to go to on social media designed specifically for athletes.