Cheerleading
High school cheerleaders are defined as a group of people, mostly women, that yell and shout special cheers and chants to get the crowd excited and to support the team they are cheering for. Whether it could be football, basketball, or multiple other sports. The cheerleaders of the high school not only support the players they are cheering for, but they are also the role models of the school.
Q and A:
Q: What do cheerleaders do during the school year? Do they practice every day?
A: It all depends on what the school and the cheer coach wants to do. Cheerleaders at some schools could only practice during the school year and a little in the summer before school begins. And others practice all year round.
Q: Do all cheerleaders have to tumble or do certain stunts?
A: Again, all depending on the school and what the coach wants. I have noticed that schools with more students attending, the more requirements the cheerleaders have.
Q: How much does cheerleading cost? What do they have to pay for?
A: Cheerleading could cost anywhere for $0 to thousands of dollars. Cheerleading usually costs the most because of cheer camp. The next most expensive item on the list is the cheer uniform that is worn for game days. Pom poms, shoes, and any other neccessities that are needed to be on the team are a must.
High School Cheerleading
Tryouts:
To first become a cheerleader, you must tryout. Tryouts could depend on what the coach wants to see in potential cheerleaders. From personal experiences, tryouts were to demonstrate your skills for the team. You would yell a chant or cheer, dance to a song and have to make up a couple of 8 counts for the rest of the song, and showcase your best jumps. Tryouts could range from a couple days to a week depending on how long the coach has to view the candidates. Some schools only have one cheer tryout a year, while others could have them twice a year!
Tryout Attire:
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Hair pulled back completely, should have no flyaways causing you to fix it during tryouts.
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Athletic shorts that should cover your bum.
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Athletic shirt, not tank tops that are low
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Athletic shoes
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No jewlery
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Nails should be groomed and short
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Camp
Camp is a big thing for high school cheerleaders. This is probably the most important part of becoming a high school cheerleader because you learn all about stunts and how to do them properly. This also helps you become game ready. Camp is a lot of fun and exciting because you get to be involved in a lot of different activities and you get to meet a lot of your teammates. You also get to bond with new teammates and prepare them for the cheer experiences.
Depennding on how advanced your squad is, you will either attend a Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) camp, which is the most common. Or you will attend the National Cheerleading Association (NCA) camp, which is a more difficult level of cheerleading. Here are two examples of these camps.
Practices and School
Going to practices and school is easily manageable because high school cheer is like any other high school sport. Practices are almost always after school and usually doesn't go past five, or even earlier. For sports, schols must hold a grad point average in order for the athletes to participate. At my high school, to be in a sport, you must have a 2.5 grade point average, which was easily do-able if you did your homework. At practice, high school cheerleaders will go over their cheers and chants to make sure they know it for the game on Friday. My coach always wanted to make sure we were the best at angles and sharpness at games because that is what people's eyes go to. Sometimes you will practice stunts for the game to throw to cheers and excite the crowd. On rare occasions, the cheerleaders will spend their practice by learning a dance to preform at the game.
Stunts:
Stunts in high school cheer are a little less dramatic compared to college stunts. But, they can still look really cool! Here are some vocabulary with pictures to show you what the stunt is and what it is called. These stunts are legal to do in high school cheer.
Prep (Prep-extension)- the basic first stunt you do before any other stunts
Extension (middle stunt)- similar to Prep, but bases arms are completely extended
Pyramid(whole stunt)- where one point is higher than the other and flyers link arms
Basket Toss (middle) - a stunt in which the bases throw the flyer into the air and she hits a toe touch or something else.
Heel Stretch- a stunt in which you pull your left leg into the air and balance on right leg
Liberty (Lib)- this stunts must be accomplished before the heel stretch or bow and arrow- you stand on right leg and lift left leg up.
Bow and Arrow- One of the more difficult stunts- you stand on your right leg and pull your left leg, like heel stretch, but hold your leg next to your body with opposite hand, and push left arm infront of left leg.
