One of the most common questions we hear from families in Wellington, Westlake, and Royal Palm Beach is some version of: "My daughter wants to do cheer… but what are we actually signing up for?" Here is the short answer: the right program depends on four things — your athlete's experience, how much they want to compete, your family's calendar, and your budget. At Wellington Allstars those four factors map onto four programs: Novice (non-competitive), Prep, Limited Travel All Star, and Full Travel All Star. Each one is a real, complete cheer experience; they simply ask different amounts of your week and your wallet. This guide walks through all four in plain English, gives you a decision framework, and shows you what the choice looks like for real families.
The four programs at a glance
Before we go deep on each program, here is the whole landscape in one view. Notice that the columns move together: as competitiveness rises, so do practice time, travel, and cost.
| Program | Competes? | Travel | Best for | Commitment |
| Novice | No — developmental only | None | Brand-new athletes testing the sport | Lowest |
| Prep | Yes — scored competitions | Minimal, mostly local | Athletes ready to compete without travel weekends | Moderate |
| Limited Travel All Star | Yes — full All Star training, levels 1–6 | Reduced away events | Serious athletes whose families need most weekends home | High |
| Full Travel All Star | Yes — top competitions | Full season schedule, including overnights | Athletes all-in on the sport | Highest |
Novice: the on-ramp
Novice is non-competitive and built for athletes brand new to cheerleading. Practices focus on the four building blocks of the sport — stunting, tumbling, jumping, and dance — in a low-pressure, developmental environment. There are no scored competitions, which changes everything about how the season feels: coaches can spend a whole practice on fundamentals without a routine deadline hanging over the room, and athletes can fall in love with the sport before anyone asks them to perform it under lights.
Novice is the lowest cost and time commitment of the four programs, and it is the honest answer to "let's just see if she likes it." It is also not a lesser experience — the body positions, motion technique, and team habits a Novice athlete builds are exactly what evaluations look for when that athlete is ready to move into a competitive program. Spoiler: they usually love it.
Prep: real competition, lighter footprint
Prep teams compete, but with less time, cost, and travel than full All Star. Your athlete learns a real routine, performs it on a real competition floor, and experiences everything that makes competitive cheer addictive — the music, the matching bows, the team huddle before taking the mat — while the family schedule stays manageable and most weekends stay yours.
Prep is the sweet spot for two kinds of athletes: the Novice graduate who has caught the competitive bug, and the newer athlete who is clearly athletic and motivated but whose family is not ready to commit to travel weekends in year one. Across the industry, prep-style divisions were designed for exactly this purpose — a true competitive experience at a fraction of the traditional all-star footprint — and they have become one of the most popular entry points into the sport nationally.
Limited Travel All Star: the full experience, fewer road trips
Limited Travel athletes train the same high-intensity skills as Full Travel — tumbling, stunts, flying, and performance across levels 1–6 — with reduced away commitments. This is full All Star: the same coaching staff, the same skill progressions, the same scored competition format. What is trimmed is the part of the season that strains families most — hotels, meals on the road, and lost weekends.
If your athlete is serious about the sport but your family's reality includes siblings' schedules, demanding jobs, or a budget that would rather not absorb several hotel weekends, Limited Travel keeps the athletic experience whole while shrinking the logistics. We wrote a full comparison in Limited Travel vs. Full Travel: what families should consider.
Full Travel All Star: all in
Our highest-level program: extra practices, travel, and top competitions, centered on high-level teamwork and competitive excellence. Full Travel is for the athlete who asks for more mat time, thrives under pressure, and wants to measure themselves against the deepest fields the sport offers — and for the family that is genuinely excited, not just resigned, about building parts of the season calendar around cheer. That commitment has a ceiling worth chasing: our program reached the 2025 Summit Youth Championship as a finalist, the kind of stage Full Travel exists to prepare athletes for.
A four-question decision framework
When families sit down with us, the conversation usually comes down to four questions. Answer them honestly and the right program tends to reveal itself.
- 1. What is your athlete's experience level? This matters because programs assume a floor of skills. A brand-new athlete placed too high spends the season catching up instead of building confidence; a skilled athlete placed too low gets bored. Experience sets the starting point — not the ceiling.
- 2. How badly do they want to compete? Some athletes light up at the idea of a judged performance; others just love learning skills. Both are great — but competition fees, routines, and event days only pay off for the athlete who actually wants the floor.
- 3. What can your calendar absorb? Practices, plus events, plus travel for the higher programs. This question matters because an over-committed family quietly resents the season by February — and athletes feel that.
- 4. What does the budget say? Costs scale with the program, and travel is the biggest variable. A season your family can afford comfortably beats a bigger one that causes stress — we break the categories down in our parent's budget guide and across the Cheer Programs & Costs hub.
Two worked examples
The 7-year-old beginner. She has never cheered, loves gymnastics videos, and cartwheels through the living room. The right move is almost always a Beginner Tumble class or Novice — not because she could not handle more, but because fundamentals learned without pressure become the fastest route upward. A season of Novice plus a weekly class typically leaves her genuinely ready for a Prep evaluation, with correct technique instead of rushed habits.
The 12-year-old with a back handspring. He has real skills, competitive fire, and two years of experience elsewhere. For him, Novice would be a step backward. The real question is Limited versus Full Travel — and that is a family-calendar and budget conversation more than a talent conversation. If weekends are already tight with a sibling's soccer schedule, Limited Travel gives him the same level 1–6 training track without a family logistics crisis; if the whole household is ready to lean in, Full Travel gives him the biggest stages.
The returning Prep athlete. She just finished a Prep season, hit her routine every time out, and now wants "more." Before jumping straight to Full Travel, look at what "more" means: if it is harder skills, an All Star placement plus Tech Work classes delivers that with or without extra travel; if it is bigger stages and deeper competition, that is the Full Travel signal. Returning families have the advantage of a real season of evidence — use it.
What a typical week feels like
Program brochures list features; families live in weeks. A Novice week is light: team practice plus, for many families, one 30- or 55-minute class, all inside our Monday–Friday 3:00–9:30pm and Saturday 9am–6pm operating windows. A Prep week adds routine work — practices carry more structure once a competition routine exists, and event weeks bring a local performance day. Limited Travel weeks look like full All Star training weeks — conditioning, tumbling progressions, stunt sequences, routine sections — with most competition days ending in your own beds. Full Travel weeks run the heaviest load, and as major competitions approach, extra practices appear on the calendar. The honest test for any program: picture your family in the busiest week of that season, not the average one, and ask whether it still sounds fun.
How weekly classes support any program choice
Programs and classes are not either/or. Our weekly classes — Beginner Tumble, Jump, Stretch/Flexibility, Flyer Focus, Level 1–3 Intro and Tech Work, Kids CrossFit, Adult Workout, and Open Gym — run Monday through Thursday evenings plus Saturday mornings, and they are how athletes accelerate between programs. Two of them deserve special attention because they map directly onto advancement: Intro classes are for athletes who have mastered the level below and are ready to start working the next level's skills, while Tech Work classes are for athletes who already have the skill but need connection and technique refinement — and Tech Work is required for level promotion. Session 2 runs July 20 through August 29, 2026, with 6-week pricing at $75 for 30-minute classes, $95 for 55-minute classes, and $45 for an additional class; drop-ins are $15 or $20 with 24 hours' notice. The gym is open Monday–Friday 3:00–9:30pm and Saturday 9am–6pm (closed Sunday), and registration runs through the Studio Pro Parent Portal.
What placement actually looks like
Team placement happens through evaluations — and at Wellington Allstars, evaluations are placements, not cuts. Every athlete gets a team. Coaches watch tumbling, jumps, motions, and coachability, then place each athlete where they can both contribute and grow. That removes the scariest part of "tryouts" from the equation: you are not deciding whether your child makes it, only where they will thrive. If you are nervous anyway (most families are), read our walkthrough of how cheer tryouts really work.
First-year families vs. returning families
First-year families are choosing mostly on projection — a class, an evaluation, a coach's read. That is why we steer newer athletes toward the lighter end of the range: it is far better to move up mid-journey than to over-commit and burn out. Returning families choose with data: a season of practices, a coach who knows the athlete, and a realistic sense of what travel and fees felt like. Nothing is locked forever — athletes move up as skills grow, program fit is revisited at each season's evaluations, and the yearly registration for class-only families not affiliated with a WA team is $50 for the first athlete and $25 for siblings.
Frequently asked questions
Can my child start with zero experience? Yes — Novice and Beginner Tumble classes exist precisely for first-time athletes. No skills are required to walk in the door, and evaluations place athletes at whatever starting point fits.
Can an athlete switch programs mid-season? Program placement is set for the season so teams can build routines, but coaches flag athletes who are outgrowing their placement, and the next evaluation cycle is the natural move-up point.
Is Prep "real" cheer? Completely. Prep teams learn full routines and compete on scored competition floors — the footprint is smaller, not the sport.
What ages do these programs serve? All-star cheer nationally is organized into age divisions from early elementary through age 18, and placements consider age alongside skill — see what age your child can start.
Do boys join these programs? Yes — all-star cheer is co-ed at every level, and male athletes are valued on competitive teams nationwide.
What if my athlete is between two programs? Tell the evaluators. That is exactly the judgment call evaluations exist to make, and coaches would rather place a borderline athlete thoughtfully than guess.
How do we watch practices? Our Westlake gym at 17035 Persimmon Blvd West has two parent viewing windows, so you can see exactly how your athlete's program runs before and after you choose it.
Keep reading
- What is all-star cheerleading? A parent's complete guide
- How much does competitive cheer cost?
- Limited Travel vs. Full Travel: what families should consider
The full comparison table — competitiveness, travel, skill levels, cost, and time — is on our What We Offer page, and quick answers live in the FAQ. Still weighing options? Reach out — we help families find the right program fit every week →