High School School Tryouts

[cheer coach k]

i bring in outside judges, but ultimately, i pick my team. i have the outside judges there more to cover my butt in case a parent comes to me asking why their suzy isnt on varsity, or didnt make a team. i have had parents in the past accuse me of not liking their cp, thus not putting them on the better team. this way, i can show score sheets, and that they were judged by a completely unbiased person. at the old school i was at, cheer was not that big of a sport, and i always judged my own try outs.

 

[TinyBlondie15]

The way my coach did it, which I really liked, was you were judged on two parts:
1. Clinic (coaches observe work ethic, attitude, ability to learn quickly, etc.)
2. Tryouts (outside judges come in and judge typically)

Our judges were usually UCA Staff or college cheerleaders. I think the clinic part counted like 60% and the actual tryouts 40%. I thought it was a good balance, so the coaches could also get an outside opinion.

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That's what our school does! The first three days are a clinic where the coaches judge us on how well we work with others, our stunting, how well we pick up the material, and how much we're dedicated to this. The tryouts for this past year all incoming Juniors had to sign a sheet saying whether or not they would quit if they made the JV squad. The last day the judges see your tumbling, jumps, the dance, a cheer we make up, and how well we execute them and of course, our spirit!

 

[gymcatmomx2]

My daughter's school cheer squad has a fantastic reputation. They have brought in outside judges the last 5 years. There are 3 judges on the panel (selected from NCA, UCA, ACA, etc) and they judge 6 categories with the point scale being 1-5 (except for tumbing which can be a zero if they don't tumble). At the clinics the girls learn 5 chants, one dance, and one cheer.
They are randomly divided into groups of 3 by grade and the tryout procedures are as follows:
1. Group Dance
2. Group Chant (they learned 5 chants during clinics and the varsity coach will randomly call out one of those chants)
3. The group exits the gym and then they individually spirit onto the mat (no other cheerleader is in the gym from this point forward).
4. They have to perform a toe touch (mandatory) and 2 other jumps of their choice.
5. Individual Cheer that they learned at the clinics
6. Tumbling (both standing and running) and then they exit the gym.

The judges score sheet categories are:
1. Memory and Ability to Perform with a Group
2. Dance
3. Voice and Enthusiasm
4. Jumps
5. Tumbling
6. Motion Technique
The judges scores are worth 80% and the remaining 20% is the Assistant Principals recommendation (there is a maximum score of 20 points. For each tardy, grades less than 75, unverified absence, suspension, etc there is one point taken away).
The top scores are used to determine squad selection using the natural break. The coaches do not see the scores until they are posted by one of the school administrators that is present at the tryouts. Freshman can only be on the freshman squad, sophomores can only be on JV, juniors can be on JV or Varsity (depending on their scores) and seniors can only be on Varsity. This year there were 17 freshman, 13 JV and 20 Varsity. It's the largest squad they've ever had.

I think that hiring outside judges eliminates the "political" complaints to the coaches, principal and school board. We all know how passionate cheerleaders and their parents can be.

Addendum:
I just found out that one of the girls that tried out for JV that didn't make it compared her scores with a girl that did make it and her score was actually higher!! It just so happens that she compared her scores with a girl that had lower scores. If she had chosen a cheerleader that had higher scores then she would have never known that a mistake was made because the school doesn't provide the natural break score. The school is putting new verification steps in place for next year so that this mistake doesn't happen again.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

At my school they bring in 3 or 4 outside judges. The coaches are also in the room watching the tryouts but do not judge the girls. Teams are choose by who has the highest scores. JV is freshman & sophmores only and varsity is freshman through seniors. There are three tryout clinics before the real thing and they learn the dance, fight song and three cheers. For the actual tryout you have to do:
-fight song
-cheer, coach randomly picks one of the three
-dance
-jumps, one must be a toe touch and then whatever other jump you want to do
-standing tumbling
-running tumbling
-stunting, but stunting is with a different group and judged before the tumbling and dance parts. Oh and you tryout for the tumbling stuff in groups of three or four.And you have to do some kind of tumbling, even if it's just a cartwheel and a round off. Having a spot is okay, one of the coaches spot you and then they yell out a number, 1-5, for how much they were spotting you.

 

[SmileCat]

I don't get the point of coaches having judges come in then basically throwing their scores away to pick their favorites... I've seen girls who can't tumble out score girls with standing fulls. And you can't say "maybe they weren't spirited or their grades were low" Because one particular case i'm talking about.. the girl with the most beautiful tumbling, stunting, and spirit and didn't make her Varsity cheer team her senior year ended up a cheerleader at UCF... Also, at the school they didn't count grades/recommendations towards scores. If your GPA is below a 2.0 you had before the pre-season game to bring it up. But she was a honer roll student so she had no problem. Still not sure why she didn't make the team when the 4 girls that have known the coach since their youth/rec days with no tumbling did... :/

 

[Corsicab]

When I bring in outside judges it is because I like a second opinion. I coach at pretty small private school so most of the girls I know or know of. I try to not let what I know or don't know about these girls get in the way of their scores. Most of the time we take the girls with the best scores. Sometimes, if we need a specific position filled or a girl had a bad attitude the season before the scores are disregarded for one or two girls.

The first year I "helped" out coaching the one coach read the girls name from their tryout application form and the other coach just said yes or no. I couldn't believe it!! We had just spent three hours judging tryouts and me (being new) had spent a lot of thought and energy trying to give each girl the right score for each section!! They never looked at the scores one time!! That definitely made me realize how NOT to run tryouts!!

I have no idea what would have happened in the case above though.

 

[SparkleSpankies]

Seriously at the end of the day it's who is the best fit. I bring in my outside judges because they truly are the right people to help me determine the amount of kids I am taking. ALSO it helps w/ the point break of varsity vs JV, with that being said, if freshmen scores higher then a senior BUT the senior is in range to make the team, the senior will be placed on Varsity as I don't allow seniors on JV. ALSO if I take a varisty of 12 and 10 are flyers in the top 10 and they are zero on the bottom for JV well, I will also be sure.

I want Varsity and JV to have a GREAT experience and be placed on the right team. Providing your teacher recs are good, you bring in all of the required paperwork and are elligible, if the judges put you in the range of making the team, you will make a team!

 

[AScheer]

When I bring in outside judges it is because I like a second opinion. I coach at pretty small private school so most of the girls I know or know of. I try to not let what I know or don't know about these girls get in the way of their scores. Most of the time we take the girls with the best scores. Sometimes, if we need a specific position filled or a girl had a bad attitude the season before the scores are disregarded for one or two girls.

The first year I "helped" out coaching the one coach read the girls name from their tryout application form and the other coach just said yes or no. I couldn't believe it!! We had just spent three hours judging tryouts and me (being new) had spent a lot of thought and energy trying to give each girl the right score for each section!! They never looked at the scores one time!! That definitely made me realize how NOT to run tryouts!!

I have no idea what would have happened in the case above though.

A very similar thing happened my first year! I put all that time and consideration into my scores and the coach didn't even look at them! I have heard so many people compliment the way I do tryouts and it came from me learning many times what not to do from other coaches! Its shocking how many tryouts I've worked that are just downright sketchy.

 

[mariahnicole1216]

I've never been in a tryout where it was anyone but the coaches. This will be the first year that we have a scoresheet for our tryouts though. We have a completely new set of coaches who dont really know any of us so it's kind of like having judges come in since they cant have favorites if they dont know us.

 

[Deleted member 15407]

I think its only fair to have outside judges. At the highschool i'll be going to, its teachers/cheer coach that judge, and the past years captains. COMPLETELY unfair. In my city, you're only a cheerleader if:
You can smile
You can yell
You're popular.
It sucks!!! The coach is stupid and only picks people she knows......

 

[cupieqt]

I think its only fair to have outside judges. At the highschool i'll be going to, its teachers/cheer coach that judge, and the past years captains. COMPLETELY unfair. In my city, you're only a cheerleader if:
You can smile
You can yell
You're popular.
It sucks!!! The coach is stupid and only picks people she knows......

spoken like someone that's never tried to get to know the coach. I bet if you cheered for her she wouldn't seem so stupid.
Outside judges are great if they're qualified to judge cheerleading but in house judgement (teachers that teach these participants, the coach that works with these athletes, the captains that know what type of kid that best fits the team) is good for school squads. It keeps out the kids with bad attitudes.

 

[0riginal]

spoken like someone that's never tried to get to know the coach. I bet if you cheered for her she wouldn't seem so stupid.
Outside judges are great if they're qualified to judge cheerleading but in house judgement (teachers that teach these participants, the coach that works with these athletes, the captains that know what type of kid that best fits the team) is good for school squads. It keeps out the kids with bad attitudes.

I've never heard of teachers judging...I'm guessing/hoping they know a few things about cheerleading! But that is a very good point, I think it's more important to look at good attitudes and dedication for a school team, not just skill. You can teach a cheerleader how to do motions, stunt, cheer, and tumble (for the most part), and they can become perfect. But you can't teach dedication.
I do think it's important to have unbiased outside judges though. They shouldn't make the final decision since they wouldn't be coaching the team, but I think it puts everyone on an even playing field (and can keep the moms/girls that didn't make it from complaining that it was biased).

 

[cupieqt]

I've never heard of teachers judging...I'm guessing/hoping they know a few things about cheerleading! But that is a very good point, I think it's more important to look at good attitudes and dedication for a school team, not just skill. You can teach a cheerleader how to do motions, stunt, cheer, and tumble (for the most part), and they can become perfect. But you can't teach dedication.
I do think it's important to have unbiased outside judges though. They shouldn't make the final decision since they wouldn't be coaching the team, but I think it puts everyone on an even playing field (and can keep the moms/girls that didn't make it from complaining that it was biased).

I think whatever works best for each school is how it should be. Around here our kids get teacher scores before they tryout. It's factored in to their overall score but it gives the "student athlete" part of it all some credit and I think that is a good thing. I've never seen a teacher actually judge the tryout though.

 

[Deleted member 15407]

spoken like someone that's never tried to get to know the coach. I bet if you cheered for her she wouldn't seem so stupid.
Outside judges are great if they're qualified to judge cheerleading but in house judgement (teachers that teach these participants, the coach that works with these athletes, the captains that know what type of kid that best fits the team) is good for school squads. It keeps out the kids with bad attitudes.

It sucks, and i'm not sure if you're being nice or sarcastic. She is quite lost in cheerleading. They don't do extentions, libs or anything. Its just elevators (preps/halfs). We need an outside coach/ judge... lol

 

[brelove4ever]

In Texas, well, Plano to be more exact, they bring in outside judges. But, cheer and drill team are the only organizations they do this for. For all other sports, the coaches judge tryouts. Although, our coaches do sit in on tryouts and write their own notes while we perform.