highschool cheerleading tryouts?

Question

i know nothing about cheer,
i was just sitting down one day and i just thought about trying out for cheerleading.
i know most of the stuff for cheer, like being flexable and cartwheels and such,
i wanna know what you have to do for cheerleading tryouts, and what do they expect from me to make the squad.
my questions are...
(im trying out for JV Cheer) how can i have more balance and what can i do to make my balance better.
do we go to cheer camp?
if you dont get the good grades, what happends after? (they kick you out then what? can we still go back?)
and one of my friends said that for tryouts, they want you to cheer, and then dance, how long does it have to be?
and lastly, i dont really know how to make up cheer and routine or dance moves, do you have any advice for the cheer or dance moves? (or tell me??)


and so forth, i need to know almost EVERYTHING about cheer.

Oh, and my highschool is in california

Answer 1

As a current cheer coach, I can tell you what we expect from our girls.

First and foremost we stress academics. Being a good cheerleader requires a great deal of practice, and this can sometimes hurt your grade point average. We always stress that you can't go on in life to make a living at cheerleading....you have to have an education to do that. If our girls fall below a 2.5 they are off of the squad.

As for the actual requirements:

Knowledge of routines, cheers and chants: You will probably be given a cheer, chant and dance to learn. Know them backwards and forwards....well enough to begin them anywhere in the middle of the cheer. I have seen many good candidates dropped due to the inability to start a cheer at any point in the routine. Cheers usually range 30 seconds, chants are much shorter and dance can be as long as 2 minutes (but not usually).

Tumbling/Gymnastics to include cartwheel, roundoff, and back hand spring. Girls who can do a tuck usually get extra points. If you don't have your back hand spring or tuck down, nail the cartwheel and roundoff...lots of spring!

Flexibility and Posture: Be able to do splits and heal stretch. In a Liberty or heal stretch position, hold your balance for 20 seconds. Extra points are given for girls who can do arabesques and or scorpions.

Judges always look for personality and smiles. Be sure to let yours shine through on try out day! It never hurts to add a little wink or nod when the judges look your way!

Keep your movements sharp and in proper form! No sloppy arms, wrists etc. You can lose lots of points in this area. If you have never cheered, you might want to check out cheerleading.about.com for proper movement techniques. I would also suggest that you attend a couple of games to see how the cheerleaders move.

I have also advised many girls to take a video recorder to the game and video tape the cheerleader. You can then take that home and practice at your own pace...stopping and starting when you need to.

If you are able, demonstrate as many tumbling techniques as you have. Ditto for jumps. Try to learn the herkie and toe touch at a minimum. This is where you can out-shine the competition. If you do not have this ability, be super enthusiastic in high kicking and movements!

dance is great, it gives you poise and rythm, but don't rely on your dancing abilities alone. Your job will be to to make the judges want to cheer with you!

As far as balance goes. This just takes practice. Try standing with one foot resting on the other legs knee(like a stork). This is called a liberty....see how long you can hold your balance. This should improve as you practice. Once you feel comfortable with the liberty, you can move on to the heal stretch, arabesque etc. Pilates exercises will help strenghthen your core and is a significantly helps with posture and balance.

If a cheer camp is offered in your area, you should try to attend. You will definitely learn more at a camp than you can read in a book or on yahoo questions. I highly recommend it, and our girls are required to attend a camp each summer.

On try out day, wear your hair in a pony tail and or off of your face. Not too much make-up and no jewelry. Let them know that you are a serious contender, not there for a beauty contest. Do some deep breathing exercises just before you try out...and remember, every one else is just as nervous as you! Just do your best and it will show!

Best of wishes to you!

Answer 2

Well, it changes with diffrent schools. Some schools will have you make up your own routine and others will give them to you. My school taught everbody everyting a few days before tryouts. Like they taught us all the jumps/kicks for all the girls who did not know how, then we learned a few cheers we would have to do at tryouts and lastly we learned a 1:30 cheer routine we also had to preform. So they will probably expect you to do jumps & kicks, a few cheers, ralley, a routine, possibly stunt and tumble. Some schools have good teams with tumbling, like tucks, back hand springs, ect. and will only want you if you can do it. It is some what embaressing trying out because you have to perform in front of peers during the few days before tryouts and especially if you know nothing. Before tryouts find out if they want you to do facials or just smile because some schools will tell judges if they will mark facials bad or good....idk why some people just dont like them but I LOVE THEM!! So, just remeber if you remeber nothing else, point your toes on all jumps and kicks and keep a smile/ good attitude the whole time. Also, they do expect you to keep up on your acedemics some schools mroe than others and YES they will kick you off if your not meeting the standards. My school does attend a cheer camp together as a team. I personally think high school cheerleading is not the BEST way to become your best at cheer, but if you dont make it on you school, look into the local gymnastics/cheerleading gyms and join tumbling to help increase your chance next time or join an ALL-STAR team, much more proffesional and safe !

Answer 3

Ok. Well, at our school, they taught you everything you needed to know for tryouts. ( cheer..dance..chant..) That is usually called cheer clinic. We have it a week before tryouts. We never had to make up our own stuff for tryouts unless you were going to do a runout chant or something when you come in. Those are pretty simple and easy. You should think of one in no time. After tryouts, you start camp during the summer. That is pretty fun. BE STIFF. SMILE. BE TIGHT. NEVER STOP SMILING. If they teach you stuff just learn it and memorize it and you will do great. Good Luck!!

Answer 4

As much as I hate snotty girls(not all cheerleaders, but most). If you are in shape and can handle the physical requirements of being the devil. Then you should be fine. The dancing and cheering, you and your squad will rehearse before hand. Just show them you can do what is needed to be done at the tryouts.

Factoid: Hitler was afraid of nothing but 13-16 year old girls

ITS A FACT!.