Who Calls The Cheers?

[Julie Napper]

I just started coaching middle school cheer.

When I was a cheerleader we did not have captains. Most of the decisions were made by our coach, and if we needed additional leadership or ideas we looked to the seniors.

Here they have captains at every grade level. This has been fine all season until now. We had our first game this week and I was disappointed. Here only the captains are allowed to call out cheers.

1. Do most schools do it that way? Here it is just tradition.
2. Does that work for you?

I would like to change this tradition. Not only does it put all the pressure on my captains and let the other girls off the hook... but when the other girls want to do something and the captains won't listen I see tension rise. I was disappointed in my captains as far as showing good sportsmanship and leadership. I am just not a fan of that style and would like to see any girl be able to call a cheer.

My captains are going to feel like I am taking privileges away if I break tradition. So I need to show that this is to promote a team environment. But I would like to hear from other coaches on how you operate during games.

 

[retiredl5cheer]

I think you have some really awesome points here and valid reasons for removing captains. In college we did one year with captains calling cheers and another with anyone calling them. I liked the latter because more cheers were called and the variety was usually better because everyone has their own favorites.

 

[cheernerd5678]

At my school anyone can call a cheer, but really it's mostly seniors. And in reality it's just me and the girl who is next to me in the formation. Once or twice a game someone else will call something but that's it. When people try to tell me to do a cheer that I don't like (there are just a few I despise) I just tell them I will never ever call that so if they want to do it they have to call it themselves. That sometimes works! I don't want to call them all... But it's the only way they get called so I do what I have to do.

 

[cowboycheersarah]

Captains call 1,2,and 4th quarter, co captains call 3rd. Keeps things orderly!

 

[SmileyRyleigh]

We did it down the line. So while we were in our sidelines, the first girl would start it off and it would eventually end up at the first girl again. We did it to where you had to make it through the entire team at least once each quarter (could change with team size though.) and if we didn't make it through than you have to run a lap for each quarter you didn't make it all the way through before you left the field that night or you had to do extra conditioning at practice. It works really well because then each girl gets to call the cheer they want and there's really no arguments about it. There's a variety of cheers and you don't really ever come into the problem of not calling enough cheers during a game because you have to make it through the line, and nobody likes to run so it always got done (and then some.) my junior year only captains could call cheers and we always did the same exact ones because those were the ones they liked. I hated it.


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[Melissachriswell611]

You could still allow them to be Captains but just enlightened them on the more cheers and more variety of cheers that they will be bale to do

 

[NatalieB97]

my school had captains call the cheer
girls who arent calling the cheers i noticed tended to just goof off until a coach or the captain had to tell them to pay attention. or they want to call a cheer yet the captains have been told not to call a certain cheer/a cheer at that time
as a captain, it puts a lot of pressure on us but it is easier to keep everyone on the same page
we had one game where anyone could call a cheer, but it was chaos. sometimes two girls would accidently call two different cheers at the same time, and well, it can be awkward and then neither cheer will end up being performed

just my thoughts

 

[quitthedrama]

I have found with middle school it works best if you go down the line and give everyone an opportunity to call the cheer. I will skip over anyone who isn't paying attention or fooling around at any point during the game. It seems with kids that age it is important for them to take a lead in something and after 1 or 2 games they are all pretty good about being ready and paying attention so they don't miss their turn!
For high school I think it works better if only captains or seniors call.

 

[AScheer]

We do it two ways. I don't do captains. That's a whole other topic and I'm sure I've mentioned it in a few threads!

JV goes down the line. Everyone calls a chant when it's their turn.

Only captains can call them on varsity. But wait... we don't do captains? Every game we pick 2 game captains for the night. It's based on how they do / act that week throughout practice. Their formation that night is also based on their performance during practice that week. 3rd row? You and your parents know you've been slacking. 1st row, keep up the good work. It's a visual reminder for the girls and a reward system. I've noticed a big change since we started this system years ago. They all have to know every ripple in dances and chants so they're ready for wherever they're placed that night.

I wouldn't recommend a system where anyone can call without some type of order to it. The situation where 2 girls call at the same time and you have half the line yelling one, half the other, looks bad and is embarrassing for the girls that called them. If you open it up to anyone, definitely implement some sort of order!!