- Jan 16, 2014
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I'm talking less than 1000 kids. any tips?
High School Fielding A Team At A Small School
- Thread starter Official OWECheer
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- Sep 11, 2013
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Our school has about 500. Our former school had less than 200. I know there is a coach that has a really small school and team on here.
ETA: @MHSCheercoach
ETA: @MHSCheercoach
- Jul 3, 2012
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My school had roughly 400 kids. I graduated with 92. We never had any problems fielding a team! We never really looked like a complete hot mess either lol. Most girls come in w zero experience and leave a pretty good cheerleader. Since we're so small, every year starts from scratch pretty much.
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- Mar 11, 2014
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I coach a high school team that has less than 200 kids, this years senior class size is 38 I believe. I however have more students out for cheerleading than any other program this year :) Basically offering a competition squad really helped boost the numbers.
- Nov 13, 2014
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We have 493 kids at school and a 22 members cheer team. We have been between 22 and 36 in the last 4 years.
What brings kids here is to know how last year squad did. They want to know they don't go in a sucky program that leaves them embarassed at the end of the year of competition season. So much teen pride there!
What brings kids here is to know how last year squad did. They want to know they don't go in a sucky program that leaves them embarassed at the end of the year of competition season. So much teen pride there!
- Jan 9, 2010
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I coach at a Catholic middle school with probably 250 kids at the most. I have a talented team of 19. We take everyone so I have a very interesting mix of athletes. Two of my athletes have cheered competitively, 7 or 8 have gymnastics experience, and the rest are completely new or cheered for the school the year before. We start with the basics and use proper progressions, so they're pretty darn good now!
The biggest thing was to give them skills that they could execute well. Their classmates and teachers are SO impressed with them because everything they do looks clean. We performed at our local Catholic high school and the teachers and parents from the HS told me that my kids were better than their HS cheerleaders. Why? Because they executed their skills well. It's all about basic, clean skills with a twist.
If you're competing, you may consider competing at all star competitions instead of within the high school districts, because many of the all star competitions offer skill level divisions. My middle school competes in Junior High Intermediate.
The biggest thing was to give them skills that they could execute well. Their classmates and teachers are SO impressed with them because everything they do looks clean. We performed at our local Catholic high school and the teachers and parents from the HS told me that my kids were better than their HS cheerleaders. Why? Because they executed their skills well. It's all about basic, clean skills with a twist.
If you're competing, you may consider competing at all star competitions instead of within the high school districts, because many of the all star competitions offer skill level divisions. My middle school competes in Junior High Intermediate.
- Nov 22, 2011
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Definitely get involved and invest in your rec program. This is a great fielding opportunity for HSs. If your township does not have a rec program; look into getting one started.
- Jan 16, 2014
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From the videos I've seen, the rec program in my area does not teach clean tumbling. How can I begin to fix that?
- Oct 24, 2013
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I coach at a small catholic high school that has about 120 people. This year we have a team of 10 (7 seniors graduated last year!), and l am frequently amazed by their progress and dedication. Small teams have their difficulties, but it also allows for plenty of individualized attention.
- Nov 22, 2011
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That is why you get involved; this way you can fix things. Make recommendations and assist the coaches with everything for tumbling to choreography. Work with them on getting into a gym for training or have them hire someone for privates. It is not that expensive. Our girls have someone that comes in and works with them and it costs about $20 per lesson.
I must say that for the first time competing in the Jr. Rec devision, I was really concerned with the level of tumbling that I saw. Out of 27 girls; we have 11 with tumbling including RT (Round off Tucks) and that is what we put on the floor. However watching teams with 40+ girls all with RBHS we were really nervous, but what I learned is that even though they had full team RBHS, we still managed to out score them because we had more elite tumling: standing tucks and roundoff layouts and in addition to having full team forward rolls, we were one of the only teams with advanced standing tumbling so our tumbling score was higher.
I recommend getting involved because our HS Coaches are very much involved in our rec program and that is one of the reasons why both HS and our rec program is so successfull. They make a huge investment in their feeder program. Over the years we went from having only Varsity at Nationals, then we added JV and MS and then this year Jr. Rec and all 4 teams are very competitive.
- Jan 16, 2014
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- #11
Thanks for the tip!
- May 29, 2012
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I coach at a very small high school (enrollment is 89). So many people want to discredit having a small team from a small school, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I took over the program and it was as low as it could get. Prior year the coach knew nothing about cheerleading (no exaggeration here) and didn't make them follow rules. The cheerleaders didn't even attend half the games because they just didn't feel like it. being from the area, I knew this going in, but administration assured me that it wasn't all the girls fault, it was the coach's as well. I set rules, lots of rules, and let the team know from day 1 what I expected, what their responsibilities were, and what the consequences were. While it hasn't all been peaches and cream, for the most part it's been great.
Small teams mean you are closer to your athletes. And having a small squad (this year I only have 5) has been a blessing. While it presents its own challenges, it also allows us to be ourselves and not look like a cookie cutter squad. Biggest tip: don't think that a small school and a small team can't do amazing things. I've taken my squads to competitions and they did well and other squads have commended them on being so small and making the best of it. Enjoy it. It's a ride that you'll never forget.
Small teams mean you are closer to your athletes. And having a small squad (this year I only have 5) has been a blessing. While it presents its own challenges, it also allows us to be ourselves and not look like a cookie cutter squad. Biggest tip: don't think that a small school and a small team can't do amazing things. I've taken my squads to competitions and they did well and other squads have commended them on being so small and making the best of it. Enjoy it. It's a ride that you'll never forget.
- Jan 16, 2014
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- #13
This is one of the reasons why I love Pikeville High School. Crazy talented small team form a school of 385.
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