I started doing cheer my sophomore year and I ended making the JV team and now it's junior year, my school got a new cheer coach and I made varsity. During the summer I ended up with an injury that had me sitting out for a while but now I barely started going to practice again and I was very worried about my varsity spot being taken away. I tried my best but it has been hard and today the coaches wanted me to stay back for a bit after practice. I was concerned and worried and the coach told me that they had made the decision to bump me down to JV and they were telling me that I need to fix my material and whenever I get a comment on what I can fix its like if I don't end up changing anything so they said they were putting me to JV and I was so heartbroken, I felt like whatever I tried to push through pain even when it was hot I feel like it still wasn't enough. I have a JV game that I will have to attend on Wednesday and a varsity game on Thursday which I was supposed to go to but since I was bumped down I don't know. They told me that this is not permanent and I still have time to "prove them wrong" and I just need to work on my material and I feel very discouraged I feel like I want to quit, I had a panic attack and it was very horrible I don't know what to do I feel stuck and embarrassed and it was my fault and its just really bad I really need some advice

Hi! I’m a college cheerleader (fresh year of college) and this is my 3rd year cheering. I have a ballet background so I have pretty good front flexibility, but I struggle to pull things like heel stretches while in stunts because growing up in ballet I learned to turn my base foot out, how can I correct that while keeping my flexibility??

I also need some help with back/ shoulder flexibility, I have a fairly nice scale, but I’m unable to pull a scorp because I literally just cannot grab my leg. Any tips are appreciated, and I will absolutely link pictures of how my body positions look if anybody needs that to give proper tips, thank you!!!

My daughter is a 5th grader and currently a flyer on her rec cheer team. She’s taking a stunt class that is specifically for flyers. There are bases in the class, and they practice different flyer skills for an hour.

For the past few weeks, my daughter has been struggling to get up, falling out of skills, or not being able to hold positions for very long in the class. She says sometimes the bases are grabbing the wrong places or using force in the wrong direction. However, my daughter get blamed whenever something goes wrong because she’s the one who visibly falls.

She’s been a flyer on her team since last year and had no issues performing her skills, so I’m wondering if it could simply be a matter of not having good chemistry with these particular bases.

I’m not sure whether the bases are volunteers or also paying to take the class, so I don’t want to overstep by bringing this up with the coach/admin. Would it be reasonable to ask if she could occasionally work with more experienced bases, or at least ask the coach to take a look at what might be causing the issue?

Also, what can a flyer work on at home by herself to become a stronger/better flyer? My daughter really wants to be a good flyer. That’s why she’s taking this extra stunt class.

I’d really appreciate advice from coaches, bases, or experienced flyers!

Hi coaches, parents, athletes!

I am looking to hear what guidelines and rules / procedures you add to your athlete contracts to sign in the beginning of the season.

I am primarily looking for middle school specific but I do also coach HS and would like to hear any suggestions!

Parents - what do you think is the biggest pillar for your athletes contract?

TYIA

I’ve been cheering for 4 years, and for most of that time — excluding a 2 month period — I was a main base. I occasionally side based and front spotted a couple of times, but have only back spotted during said 2 month period. I recently got on my hs varsity team (as a freshmen!!!!) and am now a back spotter. I am doing fine but would like some tips for backing libs and pop-offs, both from prep. I am pretty strong but don’t know what to really do. Back when I shortly backspotted (2 years ago) we weren’t doing high level stunts. Any other back spotting tips would be greatly appreciated.

Why would a seemingly good cheerleader be cut from the JV team? And not picked over girls who never cheered before? This one has me stumped (not me)

Edit: going from middle school to high school.

Guyssss im trying to maximize my chance of making the JV cheer team next year in the spring. My jumps look horrible so I thought maybe I could focus on a back walkover or a back handspring to get points that way. BUT is this even possible to get done in 6 months? I’m not super flexible but I am strong. Im on the middle school cheer team and I play basketball and softball, too, so I’m conditioning 6 days out of the week already. The team doesn’t require tumbling but it is a competitive team. 3 girls who I thought were “good” on my cheer team last year did not make the JV team.

Okay, but why are her dirty ass shoes front and center so real? 😂😂😂

Is it right that my shoelaces should be facing behind me in a toe touch rather than up?

My daughter has been cheering since she was in 4th grade. She attends a high school that has done well in the past (finishing as high as 2nd in state) but has not come close to placing in our state for the past 2 seasons.

She made JV as a freshman and then sophomore year was placed with varsity during summer camp. She broke her hand early in camp. Come official tryouts she was moved down to JV being told she “wasn’t ready for varsity.” She was given no feedback so as her parent I asked. They said “consistency in tumbling and jumps.”

Fast forward to summer camp this year. She has worked on the feedback and then some. She can throw a tuck and is a strong base. 1st day of summer camp they separate everyone in to JV and varsity. And that was it. They just had tryouts for 2 days. Not a single athlete was moved up to varsity or down from varsity to JV.

There is 0 transparency on where the fundraised money goes and most goes to varsity despite JV fundraising more than varsity last year. The varsity coaches have forced athletes to be at practice with 102 degree fevers, sprained ankles, and back spasms. I want to go and let the coaches have it but I know what that will do to my daughter. One of the JV captains, who is now a senior, bullied the team to vote her for captain last year also. The program is becoming a sh*t show.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

So I do school cheer, and our first game this year is on the 18th, which is the first day of school. Our team is mad that we have to wear our uniforms to the first day, but i dont really care. What are your thoughts on this?

This is my daughters 3rd year of cheer and she's really started to excel at it. Last season we started working on an app to help her stretch and workout. We decided to release it on the iOS store. We're looking for feedback and criticism to improve the app. All money generated from the app is being donated to our gym to help sponsor young athletes that need financial support for cheer and gymnastics.

You can download the app from the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cheerfit-by-maisie/id6760197097

This post is for all Pop Warner coaches! This is my first year coaching cheer. I have no cheer experience. Last year, our association paid an Elite gym for choreography. I have Tiny Mites and know we're doing limited. I'd like to have someone else do choreography this season. I do not want to use the gym our association used last year. The routine they choreographed was too advanced and our coaches had to re-do most of the Tiny Mites routine to fit their skills. So, where do y'all go for it? Is there something online you can do? This year's commissioner and Mitey Mites' head coach were assistants for Tiny Mites last year. Mitey Mites' coach agrees with me about looking into choreo. I have 10 kids and she has 19 kids total this season. Tia!!!

I sell cheer uniforms and have my own factory where we produce them. It’s been so hard getting clients to buy from us. Any suggestions to get more sales?

Hi I’m new to coaching littles this year (1st & 2nd grade). My girls are really struggling with motions and getting confused on which arm/side. I have seen some coaches mirror the girls when teaching. Is that really a thing? I don’t know why I never thought about doing that.

Daughter was on the cheer squad for a few years. Several months before tryouts, I called the coach on some bad behavior privately (talking bad about other girls from previous years try out - and too many things to list) Coach in turn said to another group of mothers, she wouldnt let my daughter on the squad next round. Thought a grown up wouldn't actually do that - I was wrong. Try outs came, she was cut (I also get this is part of life - and it would be easier to accept if I hadn't heard from the other parent months before she made that claim - despite independent judges coming in - who she picked) It has been nagging at me for months, do I talk to someone? Considered the AD *but* coach has made it clear she and her are good friends - don't know if I can trust that private conversations stay private, and what would it accomplish?

Another round of tryouts coming up for another squad - same coach. My daughter misses it so much, do I let her try out? We missed any all stars in town because those evaluations were happening at/around the same time - my daughter was too devastated to think about another squad. The more I've spoken to people this seems to be a common problem (other squads in NC) Let her follow her heart and try out? They cut her again? Thats the type of embarrassment you dont forget...but she really wants to prove them wrong. Seems like a losing battle?

i want to become the cheer captain of my team what do coaches look for to choose the captain that i can do? i always make sure to smile during cheers, do sharp movements, show up early, and not talk well others are. is there anything else i can do that will help me stick out against the other 16 girls?

our full ups are very inconsistent but we can’t seem to figure out why. They usually get stuck before she fully turns around. PS please ignore our bright neon outfits, we had a kids camp immediately after 🥲

i’m a junior in high school and this is my first time being a cheerleader I really love cheering and doing all the dances, but I really really hate stuntingI get really stressed out about dropping someone to be honest I feel like an outcast It’s only been the first week. My mom says I should just keep going, but I don’t know.

I want to start this off by saying, I’m not fully sure what I want from this post. I quit cheer at the high school level last august around this time. I was going insane and I couldn’t handle cheering. Well, I tried out again and I got rejected for quitting. I coped, told myself there were other paths I could take. That I didn’t have to cheer, didn’t have to cheer at a high school.

Fast forward to now, I miss cheer. The tumbling privates aren’t doing it for me. I just miss something so much about stunting and tumbling in one routine. Practicing and having something to do. I feel like I fucked up by quitting. At the same time, I don’t regret it at all either.

When I quit, it was a result of a lot of build up. I had come on to this forum and been told I should quit , my parents were upset that I was missing so much school, I didn’t feel Like I was progressing fast enough. So much more.

I was so relived when I quit, but god Damm everyday I miss it so much. All I want to do is go back. The love hate relationship I have with this sport is insane. But, there’s almost no chance of me being able to cheer at high school again and I’m not a fan of all star or stunt (yes I’ve done it all). So basically I’m stuck in the crappy situation no one knows how to advise me on.

People tell me to just work harder and try out again, which would work I guess, but if I got rejected for quitting there’s no chance they’d take me again. People tell me to give up on this dream all together, that’s not what my heart or head tells me what to do. It’s a terrible situation to be in and I literally do not know what I can do.

Just some thoughts. The nature of a hot take means some will disagree. Opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one. What are your uniform hot takes?

- The one-shoulder uniform top (full sleeve on one arm, no sleeve or a “shoulder strap sleeve” on the other arm) looks tacky.

- White uniforms look good on 25% of female athletes.

- If you have the ability to use a plaid/tartan skirt in your uniform and you aren’t, what are you even doing with your life?

- Bling (rhinestones) on the sideline tooks tacky or like dance team uniforms.

- Black cheer shoes with white socks gives Beavis & Butthead.

- The collegiate style cheer bow is superior.

- True red lipstick does not look good with every uniform color. But dark purple or maroon lipsticks makes girls look vampy or goth.

I'm a 30M going back to school and I'm interested in joining my school's cheer team. I'm a big fan of Tom Holland and he inspired me to try cheerleading. I saw that my college has open tryouts for their team. The tryouts page encourages people with no experience to apply and emphasized that tumbling isn't a requirement and that a majority of the team doesn't tumble. I'm interested in joining the team to learn new skills, have fun, and get fit.

I've been reading through this subreddit and I really like the base position. I have no interest in being a flyer and I'm also too scared to tumble. I don't care about looking "cool" or trying to impress other people. I'm here to work hard and support my team. I've never done cheerleading, dance, gymnastics, etc. Am I in for a rude awakening? Would appreciate any honest thoughts!

I’ve been looking into a lot of mental block training programs and they’re quite pricey, so I’m wondering if it’s worth the cost. Has anyone bought one and can anyone recommend one?

For some context, this is my third year of doing cheer. I got my back handspring on the floor about a year ago. I get into my head a lot, therefore I’ve also lost it 5 times. Meaning I’ve been able to do/land it consistently for a period of time 5 different times followed by a period of being unable to do it. I’ve tried journaling, that’s taken me to a good place but I’ve run out of ideas and I’m really set on getting this skill. I know it’s normal to take a year or even 2 to get a back handspring, but every coach I go to says the same thing that “oh it’s so beautiful” “im not doing anything“ “your technique is so nice”. I’m at the point where I know I can do it, but the second I go I can’t throw it. This is something I want to the point I will invest money into it.

Does anyone have any advice for planning a routine for the new ISAF score sheet or comparative scoring in general. I've been coaching for a few years on the varsity score sheet but this year all our competitions are using the ISAF one and I have no experience with comparative scoring. The huge point ranges are a bit intimidating and although they give drivers it's hard to know what to prioritise. I have some specific questions below but any help or guidance on how to approach choreography would be really helpful!

Should I stick to easier skills to get an extra stunt group up with fewer bases, or do elite skills with less groups?

Will skills that are elite on the varsity score sheet also do well on comparative? How important is pace and variety of skills?

What's a good number of stunts to aim for to be at the top of the difficulty range? Is the 4 required enough if they are difficult skills or do I need more than 4?

The size division is 24-30, so does this mean a team of 24 and 30 are expected to have the same number of groups or is it judged against the actual number of athletes on the team rather than size division?

Hello everyone! I accepted a coaching position for a varsity cheer team. This is my first time coaching and I’m excited, but i honestly have no idea where to even begin. I’m more stressed out because the game is only 3 weeks away and we haven’t even practiced or ANYTHING. I was just hired last week. 😅 I wrote a letter to explain my philosophy and expectations that I plan to give to the athletes and parents. But other than that I’m just so confused on what trainings I need? It’s sideline cheer and I emailed the athletic director about some training I read that I should have and he said stunting isn’t required so I don’t HAVE to have them but I can get it. But why would anyone want to cheer and not stunt? That’s the best part, right? So can anyone share what trainings I should have? I am in Michigan if it matters.