To become a cheerleader it takes a lot of work, commitment, and a good attitude. If becoming a cheerleader is your dream, make it come true! Hopefully this article will help you become a better cheerleader. You also have to be a happy and enthusiastic person. You have to have SPIRIT! If your dream is to be a cheerleader... go ahead! Tryout!
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1- Decide what kind of cheerleading you want to do. If you want to go to competitions, learn tumbling and stunts, and do other things like that, join all-star/competitive cheerleading. If you want something a little less challenging, cheer for your school or a football team. If you never did any kind of tumbling, cheerleading, and don't know much about it, do a recreational class for about a month and after you've got the basics down you can join an actual team.
2-Get fit if you aren't already. Cheerleading is a very intense work out.
Be flexible. Look up cheer stretches. You need a good toe-touch and herkie. Stretch every morning and every night. This will lengthen your muscles. You need good back, leg, and arm flexibility for stunts, jumps, and tumbling. The more flexible you are the less you'll hurt yourself, because your body will be used to bending and twisting.
Get strong. It doesn't matter if you're a flyer or if you're a base, back spotter or front spotter, you need to weight lift at least three times a week. You will be stunting and lifting about 60 pounds in every stunt you can throw up, so you need strong ab leg and arm muscles. Good exercises for your arms are curls and arm raises, good exercises for your legs are squats, calf raises, mountain climbers, and frog jumps.
Run about three miles three times per week or do aerobics at least 4 times a week. During your rounds, you will get exhausted if you are not trained for endurance. Distance running will strengthen your endurance, and make you that much better for competing.
Strengthen your core. You need to keep your abs in shape for cheerleading. Doing 50 situps a day and/or 25 V-ups will increase your jumps dramatically, make stunting easier.
Develop an exercise plan to get into shape.
Eat a healthy diet. Don't try to starve yourself! it will only make you lose all your energy, resulting as not being able to complete any tasks with full energy,e.g. cheer try outs.
3-Learn essential cheerleading skills.
Jump correctly. Remember to keep your back straight, arms and legs tight, and legs high in your jump.
Find a good cheerleading team in your area and learn skills such as back handsprings, aerials, front tucks, back tucks, and more. Remember to go to the team's website and study it a little to decide if it's a good team or not. Watch the team practice and see what you think of them. All-star (competitive) cheerleading teams are best.
Remember that you can't just become a cheerleader with nothing: you have to learn the basics.
Take a tumbling or private lesson for at least half an hour, and learn basics like round-offs and back handsprings.
4-Look the part. Make sure your hair is neat and brushed, and you may want to put it up in a ponytail. You should also get the proper clothing -- shorts, tees, crop tops, tank tops, sports bras, etc. At tryouts and practice, make sure that your shorts are not too little or too big. Don't wear anything crazy, too colorful, too fancy, or too hot for practice. Your uniform should be clean, pressed and sharp at all times.
5-Speak loudly and clearly without yelling. Screaming will hurt your voice and it will make it harder to chant. Use your chest voice; this will give you power to be loud in front of a crowd. Even if you are an all-star cheerleader, it is important to shout your cheer loudly during a competition.
6-Try out. Be on time and enthusiastic. Know the routine in advance and be prepared to follow instructions. Ask existing cheerleaders for more information. During your tryout, make eye contact with the judges. And smile. It helps them to see that you will really "interact" with the crowd.
7-Listen to the coach and/or captain and respect their management of the team. When you are walking to practice, have a smile on your face and greet the coach(es). Ask them how they are doing. be nice to every one in your team, and don't make fun of someone just because they can't do a skill most of the people in your team can do!
8-Practice at least 2-5 times a week. Go over your cheers and routines again and again and again...And then do it once more. Practice with your teammates as much as possible, so that you can get synchronized.In your free time, don't just sit there doing nothing: Practice your routine. Remember, practice makes perfect.
9-Keep a positive attitude. Always have a smile on your face! When you are at a competition, look like you're having fun, even if your team messes up. Keep in mind that judges will give you points for facials, and if no one in the team smiles, you'll loose points. If you have a friend on the team or squad, have them help you before tryouts or clinics...if you already know some of the material, you will impress the judges.
10-Don't be afraid. If you are scared, you won't be able to learn new skills and become better in your tumbling, dancing, and more. You should be tight at all times and try your hardest! But most importantly, bring all your energy to the mat. Give your best at competitions, so your team can get first place!
11-Trust your cheer squad.If you believe they will catch you they WILL catch you.
12-Be confident of yourself and don't care what other people think. Always out on your best cheer smile and remember that there is no spirit without your cheer bow!!
Warnings:
Cheerleading is not like other sports and requires a lot of strength, flexibility, energy, and positive attitude.
Keep in mind that cheerleaders for professional NFL teams make very little money, in the range of $75.00 per game for about 10 games during the season, so also plan on having a real career. You can even be more successful if you're an all-star cheerleader, because that can get you a college scholarship.
Ultimately, the plain truth is that sometimes, no matter how talented you are, you won't make the team due to perceived social status, or you lose all the spots to people who meet the popularity standard. In that case, the squad is corrupt, and more than likely talentless. Don't sell yourself short and don't take it personally.
Be sure to stretch before and after practice or you might pull a muscle or worse. Before you stretch, jog or do anything that will warm up your muscles, because stretching cold muscles is not a very good idea.
You must wear cheer shoes while stunting! There are some cases of girls getting their toenails ripped off because they didn't wear shoes while stunting and the flyers fell on their feet.
Don't set your heart on one particular position and expect to get it. Ultimately, the coaches or head cheerleader decide that, because they know what's best for you. Just remember: There's no I in TEAM, and you should be content just being part of the team.
Know the difference between competitive cheerleading and cheerleading for your school. If you try out for an all-star squad, you'll be doing competition routine and going to competitions around the country, and if you try out for school cheerleading, you'll be competing against other schools locally and cheering at football/basketball games.
Only use pom-poms if you are cheering at a game, but never for tumbling or stunting. They can be slippery sometimes. Never, ever back spot or base someone in a stunt while holding pom-poms.
Wear no jewelry, loose clothes, baggy clothes, etc. Wear something that won't fly around while you're tumbling. And remember not to wear something too hot, otherwise you can sweat a lot and even get dehydrated.
Don't expect to get a standing back tuck by the next tryouts if you are only working on your back-bends. Tumbling is very tricky and not exactly easy to learn, especially for beginners. Lying to others about how you are "so close!" to learning a hard skill will also not help you in any way.
Prepare for try-outs. You don't necessarily have to have a back handspring or any hard skill, but you do have to know the basics.
Remember that cheerleading won't make you the most popular girl in school and won't make all the boys like you. Cheerleading is a sport, not something that will automatically make you cool.
There were 22,900 cheerleading related injuries treated in emergency rooms in 2002.
Don't be sloppy or careless with your moves, because somebody could get hurt. Don't attempt moves without training first. If you don't know how to do stunts, tumbles etc., wait until you're taught or you could injure yourself. It will also annoy other team members if they have to pick up after you.
NEVER be afraid to ask for a spotter in any skill you do. It is always better to be safe and if you are not 100% confident in the skill you're doing, you could seriously injure yourself and others.
I'm a cheerleader!!! :D
xoxo- @neme2028
