High School Wanting To Improve My Team! Help!

[dropdeadcheer_cameron]

Ok, I have been an All Star Cheerleader for 3 years and am now captain of my Freshman team. Our team only has 9 girls. Usually, the teams at my school only do super easy stunts like basic halfs and dulls with cradles. This year, I really want to try some harder stuff and make our team better and I would love some help! Here is some more info on our team:

Four of us have done All Star cheer befor and understand stunting. Luckily, the four of us make up a full stunt group. The other five on the other hand have never stunted before. Our coach says both stunt groups have to do the same stunts so how do I teach them the stunts we can do? (Basically level 4 stunts)

Also, only two of us have our back handsprings and the rest have level 1 or below tumbling. We don't have a stunting coach so how can I teach them to tumble?

Ok now for more high school cheer stuff:

There are a few girls that are really bad at cheers and dances on our team. When I say bad, I mean really bad. How can I make them better?

Also, I am not very good at making up dances but I can make All Star like routines with a little dancing but mostly stunts and tumbling. Any tips on how I can make up a routine that incorporates both better?

Thank you so much! If you have any questions please feel free to ask them! This is my first time leading a team and I really need some help! I want to change our cheer program from being basic and bad to great and more like an in-between from All Star and High School cheer. Please help!


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[_HEAT_]

Like you said use level 4 stunts if I were you I would teach them basic rules for stunting and cheerleading basics like prep thigh stand forward roll and then teach the flyers the positions and balance but as far as a team tumbling you could have like a team gathering to pick a day to go to a allstar gym for tumbling and they could even help with stunt I did this with my school team but since you know everyone's weakness depending on their weakness is we're they should be put in the routine I hope this kinda helped in any way


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[Ems]

I think it might be a good idea to split up your stunt group. I know, it sucks when you have a stunt group that clicks and you feel like you can hit everything, but then you're going to be hitting everything and the other group isn't. Your group is going to be bored doing halfs and the other group is going to be frustrated. Put the experienced bases with the new flyer and new back, and put the new bases with experienced flyer and back. Also, since you're the captain, be a leader and give helpful advice to your new stunting counterpart (if you're a flyer, give the new flyer help) and encourage the experienced girls to do the same.
In terms of being bad at cheers and dances, it may all boil down to the basics: motions. Don't be afraid to do motion drills and encourage everyone to practice their motions in a mirror. It helped me soooo much when I first started cheer. Encourage sharp motions, loud voices, and spirit. I hate hate hate seeing cheerleaders that look miserable!
For tumbling, you could take team tumbling classes. Do the JV and Varsity teams take tumbling classes? It would be a good idea to have EVERYONE do tumbling. Typically the more people you have, the cheaper lessons can be, and you could be split up into groups based on ability. It sucks having to do cartwheels and handstands when you want to be perfecting your bhs or be spotted on a tuck, and in a group of 10 you may not have a lot of options.
And just some tips, you have great enthusiasm and I love it! Just be sure to keep it up, even when times get tough, always encourage everyone to do better. Try not to let cliques happen, I could see that the experienced girls may stick together, try to make sure everyone feels welcome!

 

[ilikebigbows]

Like she said, it'll be best to split the group up. Two intermediate groups is better than one beginner and one advanced group. After a while, the less experienced girls will pick up on the good technique of the allstar girls. You probably know this already, but remember it's important to progress. Work straight up extensions and get them solid before you try libs. Make sure cradles are perfect before you try to teach them to twist down. By the time football season starts, there's a good chance you will have solid level 3 skills, working on 4 skills remember also, several level 4 skills are not legal in high school like double downs. This is a good resource! Cheerleading Rules - brought to you by AACCA

For tumbling...open gyms! Whether it be a gymnastics gym or an allstar gym, you can probably talk to the owner about deals for taking your team to open gyms. This will give the two girls with back handsprings a chance to work on that while the other girls perfect their roundoffs and other skills with professional instruction.

Cheers: go through each motion one by one. Have the team hit a hi V, and then you or your coach walk around and correct wrists and arm placements. Do this with other motions too. Practice staying tight by doing the same thing, but walking around and pushing on their arms. If they move, then they aren't tight enough. Tell them that's what every motion in every cheer should feel like!

We try to incorporate stunts and tumbling into our dances too, because that shows the crowd we are athletic and not just, well, eye candy. We make mini-routines out of it. Don't try to make an allstar routine jam-packed with baskets, pyramid, stunts, tumbling, jumps...etc. It takes so much more time and effort than necessary. For one game, start with jumps, dance, and then end in a pyramid picture. For another, show off your tumbling and jumps with a dance at the end. Perhaps for a big game that you know a lot of people will be at, you can try to incorporate all of it at once. Try to make them about 1:30 long, no longer than 2:00 or people will stop watching (coming from experience!)

Good luck with being captain! It is an honor and it's awesome that you're willing to put the effort in to help your team progress.

 

[MaddiKate]

This might come off as rude, but I think you need to be patient with them. You've been in all-stars for a few years now. Some of these girls don't have prior cheer experience. I know you want to do more, but you need to make sure you guys have the basics nailed first. Help the girls out and encourage them (alot) to nail dances, stunts, etc. But don't expect them to get up to your level with the snap of a finger. Also, it's a freshman team. Isn't the point of Freshman and JV teams to nail the basics before going into the cooler/more advanced skills of the Varsity team?

 

[cheerforeverever]

I cannot stress enough to learn in progression and concentrate on correct technique. A pretty and solid shoulder sit can look just as great to the crowd as a scorpion full down (or even better if that scorp looks like a crumbling dorito). The crowd doesn't understand difficulty, only the visual effect, so clean stunts without errors and the use of crowd involvement goes far! The difficulty comes with perfecting the basics over time (it won't happen in a day or even a few months, so just keep working on things to progress). Start with the basics, drilling things over and over until it becomes correct and effortless with these girls, always being encouraging. Take that opportunity to be positive and creative, while not being frustrated by the difference in ability levels.

For Stunt Progression:
-First thing = stunt safety (how to spot, catch, not step away from stunts)
-Thigh Stand
-Assisted Shoulder Sit
-Assisted Shoulder Stand
-Hang Drill
-Half/Prep (bump down first, then once comfortable, work on clean and high cradles)
-Half/Prep press up to Extension (make sure bases are in close...new stunters like to step back which causes these to fall)
-Straight up Extension
-Half/ Prep variations (1/2 up, half to teddy bear/straddle sit)
After these are 100 percent solid and hit easily every single time without bases using their backs to lift (should be using their legs), you can start working on single leg stunts at the prep level, then if possible press up to the extended level. DON'T rush the progressions....I know it is hard not to when you have one stunt group with more difficulty and the other one struggling, but having them do things before they are ready will only set you back in the long run as you end up with bad habits to break making higher level difficulty stunts much more problematic. Also, mix up your stunt groups periodically so the veteran cheerleaders can help the new girls.

For Motions/Dance & Jumps: Practice makes perfect. Drill Drill Drill those motions until they are sharp and correct placement (5,6,7,8 *hit motion* clean and repeat). If possible practice in front of a mirror.

For Tumbling: You really need to go to a proper gym to do anything more than drills and conditioning. The better conditioned you are, the easier it is to pick up tumbling however so start there. Google for the love of tumbling for some good conditioning drills. Additionally, shoulder and back flexibility are crucial for much of tumbling (especially skills such as walkovers) so that is something that can be worked on in addition to conditioning. This provides a great foundation for trained tumbling coaches to instruct the girls on your team if they choose to do tumbling classes. Not much more you can do from that without a certified tumbling coach.

For Routines: Crowd Interaction! Signs, Poms, Banners, etc......Use that high energy to draw the crowd in. You can even incorporate the mascot in your routine and make the crowd have fun with it. If you try to do a straight up competition routine, skills or not it is going to bore the crowd. Youtube can be a great inspiration when creating dance routines with stunts/some tumbling & jumps mixed in (just google cheer pep rally or cheer homecoming and you will find loads to sort through). Additionally, think of the gametime or crowdleader divisions for high schools at USA and NCA nationals rather than allstar routines. Side note: Anyone on the team able to do dance leaps/turns, or maybe did martial arts? Find what is unique about your teammates and use those skills to your advantage. Inspiration is everywhere!