Differing from popular belief, making a cheerleading squad involves a lot more then just a cute smile and having a split. New cheerleaders, hoping to try out for a team, need to prepare themselves for the tryout ahead of them. Before trying out, cheerleaders need to work on their tumbling skills, their stunting skills, and their dancing skills.

Tumbling is a key part of being on a cheerleading team. On most high school teams, cheerleaders are required to have at least a back handspring. In order to improve one’s tumbling, they must practice. Besides getting the technique down, a tumbler needs to put fears in the back of their mind and have confidence. I suggest going to tumbling classes at a local gym at least twice a week for three months before tryouts. In this amount of time, one should be able to get a back handspring, or at least progress towards getting it. At tryouts, many coaches will spot tumblers if they need to and the coach will be able to tell if the tumbler is close to getting their back handspring. If a coach feels that a tumbler is very close to getting their back handspring, he or she will often let the girl on the team. If one has never tried tumbling before going to tryouts, I suggest that one tell the coach this and he or she will offer to heavily spot the girl. Despite the cheerleader’s fears, she should still try to throw it with the coach spotting her to show the coach that she is willing to try new things. In order to make most cheerleading teams, a cheerleader must be able to do tumbling.

Stunting makes up a major part of a cheerleading. If a coach asks a cheerleader what position she is in a stunt, she should reply, “I usually ______ (base, backspot, or fly), but I am willing to try any position.” This shows the coach that one is open to trying anything that he or she asks her to do. If one is a base or a back, they are going to want to work on muscle strength in their arms and legs before tryouts. Flyers should be working on core and leg strength before tryouts. Stunting is hard work, but it is a necessary element for making a cheerleading squad.

Cheerleaders looking to tryout for a squad need to improve upon their dance skills. It is very noticeable when one is not a very good dancer. I suggest that cheerleaders sign themselves up for dance classes before tryouts. If this is too expensive, a friend, family member, or TV show can also help. Most tryouts are three days long, giving cheerleaders enough time to learn and perfect the dance that they learn. For those people who are just down-right bad at dancing should practice the dance that they learned at the first day of tryouts over and over again. All cheerleaders should practice performing the dance in front of friends and family, to receive constructive criticism and gain confidence. At tryouts, one should dance with confidence, even if they mess up. Although dancing seems easy, it can be very complicated and cheerleaders need to perfect their dance skills.

There are a few key components necessary for making a cheerleading team. They include tumbling, stunting, and dancing. If one is looking to tryout for their high school team in the fall, they should start preparing themselves now.

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