forum I know a lot about cheerleading incase anyone needs that

Started March 09, 2019 by @Sugar-Lover

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I figured I'd add this because cheerleaders typically in high school setting books have this cliche and is nothing like the actual sport. So if you have any questions ask away.

ok so like I know like nothing about cheerleading and there are some characters in my book that are cheerleaders and it kinda focuses on that so like How do you join? Are there auditions? If so how do they work? What's rehearsal like? To your knowledge, how big is an average cheerleading team? Do cheerleaders have some sort of say into what they're doing or is it just all planed out? How are the roles of like male or female cheerleaders different? What formation is like the easiest thing to learn how to do or just do? sorry this is a lot I would just love to know. Thank you so much in advance! :)

ok ok ok so this is really interesting
what do you need to know?
I did cheer for 3 years, but i don't know if it's different from where i live (aussie) to american cheerleading
for starters, it's not as big of a deal
cheer is less 'cheer' and more dancing: it involves a lot of that

i do know for certain stunts
there is a flyer, a right base, a left base and a back base
the flyer is the person doing the stunt, typically light
the left and right bases do most of the heavy lifting
the back base is the stabiliser, and they are typically tall
there is also sometimes a front spotter, who's there as an extra precaution

we never really did any big stunts (throwing) but we did lots of little stunts
a big thing about stunts is that the flyers foot has to be right into the thigh, like near the hip. if it hurts, good. it should
Thigh-stand has the flyer standing with their hands on their hips and their feet on the side bases' thighs
Prep is basically the same thing, except the flyer is lifted into the air
Lib(erty) is essentially a t-pose in the air (the side bases grip the armpit and the mid-forearm while the back base takes the waist). there's also many variations of this

I’ve done cheerleading from a private high school, so I’m not sure how similar this is to public school, but we did complete against them.
There is two types of cheerleading- competitive and cheering at games. Most cheerleaders do both because they are usually intertwined, but not ever one does.

How do you join? You join cheerleading like how you would join any other fall sports team. Since it’s a fall sport we started practicing a little before school started, so there was no fliers around my school to join for the fall season. Instead the whole school was sent an email with a list of sports, with the coach’s name and email address, and the date of tryouts. So I emailed the cheerleading coach and told her I’d like to tryout and she asked a few things about me (if I’ve done cheer before, if so how long etc). She also told me what to bring to it and where it was.

Are there auditions? yes there are auditions. There will likely be two sets of auditions (fall and winter cheer) but depending on your school there may only be one. (They could only do one season or they could use the same girls)

If so how do they work? When I went I first introduced myself to the coaches and figured out how the tryout would work. When you go to a tryout we have to bring a water, clothes you can easily move around in (usually shorts and a T-shirt) and sneakers. We started by doing stretches and running around the school. The girls from last year started doing basic stunts (prep, lib, etc) and they started switching out the different spots with the girls who hadn’t been on the team before. After that we were put into spots (two lines facing forward so that the person next to you was at your shoulder but an arms length away). We went over / learned a few sideline cheers, a small dance and did some jumps (herkie, toe touch, etc). After that we sat in a circle in the mat while the coaches talked to us (about how they were glad we tried out etc) and if we’d made the team we were handed a blue folder. The blue folder had a list of cheers, what we would need, and the dates of practices and games.

What's rehearsal like? We had practice every Monday, Tuesday and Friday with tumbling on Wednesday (but tumbling wasn’t required). We wore shorts (usually Nike spandex-like shorts) and a T-shirt and our cheer shoes and always bring a water. Cheer shoes are almost like a tennis shoes but they’re specific to cheer. You can probably look it up and find a picture really easily. We started each practice by rolling out mats. The mats are basically a cushion in case you fall. After the mats were rolled out we’d do some laps around the school and stretch. During the fall season we’d focus on learning sideline cheers. Those are the cheers we chant at the side of a football game. We’d also work on our jumps and stunts. Once we knew all the sidelines we started focusing more on our cheer for competition. The cheer for competition isn’t like sideline cheers, it’s more of a dance with stunts. This is what the main focus of cheerleading is about. We didn’t follow a specific patter as to what order we did things during practice (ie. Stretch, then we always did jumps then stunts then sidelines). We did always stretch but then we focused on what we need the most work with and go from there. During the winter season it was mostly the same except we learned only 2-3 new sideline cheers that were specific to basketball. And on Thursdays we’d end practice about half an hour early and go the the weights room. There we would lift weights and do different exercises. A practice was usually 1 1/2 or 2 hours long.

How big is an average cheerleading team? my team was 9 girls in the fall and 6 girls in the winter. But we were the smallest team in our division. Most teams were probably around 12 girls, maybe a few more.

Do cheerleaders have some sort of say into what they're doing or is it just all planed out? yes we do have some say but we don’t run everything ourselves. Our routine for competition was choreographed by one of our coaches. If we didn’t like something we could ask for it to be changed and it usually was. Our sideline cheers were the same ones we’d used for years so we don’t change those. During the football and basketball games when we’re cheering the head cheerleading decides what cheers were going to do and when. So overall if we want something we just have to ask, but the coaches run everything. This also depends on who your coaches are and how nice the are.

How are the roles of like male or female cheerleaders different? I personally didn’t have any males on my team, so I don’t know much about that. But from other teams I’ve seen they are usually a base when it comes to stunts and that’s really the only difference I’ve seen. But I will put in here that the difference between a head cheerleader and a regular one is that the head cheerleader is in charge of what cheers we do at games and making sure all the girls know what the plan is if the coaches change their mind or we’re doing a fundraiser or something. The head coach is usually the person with the most experience and is usually a senior.

What formation is like the easiest thing to learn how to do or just do? each thing in cheerleading is different in difficulty for each person. For example I may find it very easy to do a herkie but Spider Gwen might find it extremely difficult. As for Spider Gwen could think it’s very easy to a toe touch but I for some reason find it very hard. Most things will probably be hard at first because they are unnatural movements and such but will become easier the more you do it, so practice is key.

If you have anymore questions or want more explanation feel free to ask.

This will also depend on what kind of cheerleaders your characters are, whether they're doing this at school or with a semi-professional team. While I have never done cheer (and don't plan on it), I was given a very large explanation of how semi-professional cheer works from someone's school project and I remember most of it. For those of you who know more about this, just take the reins instead.