Cheerleading Tryouts

Cheerleading tryouts are probably one of the most stressful things that a cheerleader has to go through. You’re given little time to prepare, one tryout to get it right, and it’s hard to figure out what the judges are looking for. But by using some common-sense tips, you can be more prepared to nail your cheerleading tryouts. Getting in shape is one way you can be ready for cheerleading tryouts. This is something you can do months in advance, and it will help you to get through your tryout routine without struggling physically, which will also give you more confidence. You’ll also look more competent in the eyes of judges. If you've got a friend at the cheerleading tryout, he or she will be a great help. Not only will you both benefit from the one-on-one critique, but having someone there will help to calm your nerves. Remember that the judges are looking at you through the whole process, not just your individual tryout. How they see you interact with your team members during cheerleading tryouts could have an impact on your evaluation. If they see that you seem to fit in okay with the group, that will make you look like a good choice for the team. If they see that you have a good attitude, they will see you as someone who they can work with and teach. If they see that you ask questions when necessary, they will know that you care about the routine and are serious about cheerleading. So bear in mind that, although your individual tryout is the most important thing, the way you conduct yourself during the whole process of cheerleading tryouts could have an impact, too. During cheerleading tryouts, there will be lots of people the judges are looking at. But when you burst through that door for your individual tryout, it's all about you. Give them 100 percent enthusiasm the second you go through that door. Sound off like you were in a stadium full of people. Make, and keep, eye contact with the judges. Give them a great smile...not a fake one. You will have very little time to show them what you're all about -- make the most of it.

i choose this picture because its one of our first pictures as a team.

High School VS. AllStars

High school cheerleading is run out of your school while all-star cheerleading is an organization at gyms that individuals run. In high school cheerleading there are around 20 to 24 girls, but on an all-star team there are much more. You have to try out for both teams but there is a lot more to all-star tryouts. In high school you learn a short dance, cheer, and chant and then you have to do your jumps. But in all-stars you learn a harder dance and you have to tumble and do your jumps. All-stars is also a lot more money, it can be a couple thousand dollars where high school coast about eight hundred dollars. But you get more for the money you pay with all-stars. In all-stars you go to about 6 competitions and you have a hardcore cheerleading camp to learn your entire routine in a couple of days. Then you keep practicing it for about 6 months until you go to your first competition. In high school you still go to camp but it’s with a bunch of other teams. We learn new cheer and dances and even new stunts. High school cheerleading can go to competitions but they usually just cheer at the football games on Friday night, and once football season is over we have to cheer for basketball.  In high school we try out in April and practice a little throughout the summer until camp in about June. Then once we get back we have practice every Wednesday and Thursday and then game on Fridays. In all-stars its pretty much the same but they have tryouts then they have their camp then they practice two days a week every week. The main goal for high school cheerleading it to pump up the crowd and get the schools spirit up. In high school the ages are from 9^th grade to 12^th grade and in all-stars they are about 4 to the age of 18 unless they have an adult team. In high school they are varsity, junior varsity, and sometimes freshman. But in all-stars there are many different divisions depending on the age group and skill levels. All in all there are a lot of similarities and differences between high school cheerleading and all-star cheerleading.

http://cheerleading.lovetoknow.com/High_School_Cheerleading_Teams

http://cheercincy.com/2010/01/didnt-know-about-all-stars/

i choose this picture because it is at one of our highschool football games

cheerleading Interview

This is an interview i did with Melissa Keefe on cheerleading. I choose her because she was a cheerleading and i cheered a couple of years with her.


1. What is your favorite thing about cheerleading?
    - My favorite thing about cheerleading is the stunting because its amazing feeling like your on top.
2. What got you into cheerleading?
    - I wanted to do something new and it seemed like a fun thing to do.
3. How old were you when you started cheering?
    - I was about 12 years old.
4. What was the first team you cheered for?
    - The PSJ Rockets
5. How many years have you been cheering?
    - I have cheered for about 3 years.
6. Do you like school cheerleading or competition cheerleading?
    - Competition because it has more stunting and dancing and less of cheering people on.
7. Whats the best part of being a cheerleader?
    - Being able to have spirt and pump up a team.
8. Are you going to continue cheering through college, why or why not?
    - I might or might not because its hard to make th team.
9. Are you still cheering now, why or why not?
    - No because i want to cheer on a competition team.
10. Do you like coaching cheerleading?
    - Yes, i love being able to teach the little girls new things.

Cheerleading Magazine

There aren’t many cheerleading magazines out there, but one of the most popular one is American Cheerleader. There are many things inside to read about and help you with. One of the things they have in there is cheerleader of the month, it tells you about their life outside of cheerleading. I’m not sure how they pick who gets it, but it’s pretty interesting to read. Along with having a cheerleader of the mother there is also a cheerleading team of the month. Another section in this magazine is eating smart. On theses couple of pages it gives you tips on what you should and should eat to be in good shape for cheerleading. If you make the right food choices before a big game or a big competition it will give you a lot more energy. There’s also a section that gives you ideas for fundraising, cheerleading doesn’t come cheap and you have to raise money to help you get to different competitions and differing team things. Another section of this magazine is safety tips while practicing. When you’re out there practicing you might think you know what you’re doing but theses a lot of safety precautions you have to take. You have to make sure you have the proper shoes on and the proper cloths. You also make sure you know what everyone is doing because inexperience girls stunting could cause an injury. In this magazine they also show you new stunts your team could try and how to do some of the basic stunts. All in all this magazine helps teams learn a lot of new things and improve in other areas. I think this is a very good magazine for a cheerleader to get if they are interested in getting a subscription. You will learn many interesting new things when you read this.

http://www.discountmags.com/product/4279/american-cheerleader?xCmd=gallery&xImg=

friday night lights

If football is so great, why does it take cheerleaders to excite the crowd?


You never know what it's like until your out on that field on a Friday night under those big stadium lights. Theres a lot of feeling going on while your out there on that field. Almost everyone in the stadium is watching you. They are expecting you to pump them up and have a big smile on your face. If you aren't happy out there on that field your not going to be able to pump up the crowd. Right before a cheer is called or 2,3 is yelled to do a stunt there's so many feeling rushing through your body. You get really nervous because everyone is expecting you to hit everything perfectly. But right as something is called there is a big adrenaline rush through you body. It makes you hit your stunts just right & be tight as can be. It helps you hit every move in your cheers to not forgetting anything. Cheerleaders are the ones out there cheering the football players on while they give it their all to win the game. With out us they would have a difficult time getting in to the game & giving it everything you've got. Right when they are ready to give up they hear everyone cheering for them and giving it their last ounce of energy to push through and win the game. Being under those light on a Friday night cheering on our football players is one of the best feelings in the world. 

I choose this picture because its at one of our football games

How to stunt in cheerleading

http://www.ehow.com/how_4452258_do-cheerleading-stunts.html

The first thing you to do is make sure you have the proper clothing, shoes, and either in the grass or on a mat. Then you have to break it down in to groups the bases, fliers and spotters. The bases are usually the stronger girls on the team. There should be two side bases a back spot and sometimes a front spot if there are enough people or if the stunt is very difficult. The fliers are the girls getting thrown in the air. They must be very coordinated, flexible, have lots of balance, and not be scared of heights. The fliers are typically the smaller girls on the team because they are easier to lift and toss around. Then there are the spotters, the spotters are girls who stand around the stunt just in case the flier comes down a way where the other girls could not catch her. Next comes the stunting part, you should start off at a very simple elevator. The two bases should face each other with their feet about shoulder width apart. The flier should then stand between the bases with her hands on her shoulders and the back spot behind her with her hands on her hips. The flier will then jump into the bases hands while the back spot helps her into theirs hands. The bases lift her up to chest level and the back spot will have her ankles lifting her up to take some of the weight off of the bases. Once they are ready to come down the back spot will call 2,3 and either they will cradle or do a pencil drop. After they feel the have mastered the elevator they can move on the extension, one foot stunts and much much more.  

i choose this picture because it shows all different levels of stunting.

Cheerleading Accidents

In cheerleading there can be many accidents and injuries some more serious then others. There has been cheerleaders who have died from cheerleading. You can get hit in the chest the wrong way of fall out of the air and land on our head and break you re neck. But not all injuries in cheerleading result in death. There has been many knee, ankle, wrist, and back injuries. I myself tore my ACL from cheerleading, it happened just from cheering for so many years. It was the worse pain i have ever been in in my entire life. Some injuries can put you out of cheerleading forever but others you just have to take it easy for a could of weeks. You would have never thought of cheerleading being a reason someone could die but it is possible and a horrible thing. I know if i ever lost one of my team mates it would be devastating, it would be like loosing a sister. When your out on that mat you dont think about anything like that, when your up in the air getting thrown round the thought of you might die doesnt even cross your mind. It just happeneds all to fast and no one thinks twice about it. Even if its just a sprained ankle it hurts the team because thats one girl were out untill they get better and can come back.

Heres an article about a cheerleading injuries:
     
During the last 25 years cheerleading has accounted for 63 percent of all high school direct catastrophic injuries to female athletes and 56 percent at the college level, according to a study conducted by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury (NCCSI).  Cheerleading injuries continue to increase each year, in part because cheerleading has evolved into a high-risk activity.

i chose this aricle because it shows just how much cheerleading can impact someone and how often it happends.

I choose these pictures because it shows that we are like a family and we just like to have fun. Loosing one of us would be the hardest thing ever.      

Did you know ...

That cheerleading isn’t all fun and games. It may look easy but it’s nowhere close to that. There are so many things you have to remember from all the different kind of jumps to what move goes on what count. Getting up after getting knocked out and acting like nothing ever happened. Cheerleading in my opinion is probably one of the closest teams out there. Every girl on that team is there for each other no matter if we aren’t best friends outside of cheerleading. We fight through the tears, injuries, and drama together no girl gets left out. We all love each other like sister and treat one another just like that. If you mess with one of us you’re going to have the entire team right behind her taking her side no matter what or who is on the other side. But through all the drama we make it through the day. If there’s a problem that happened at school or during the day it better be dropped before you step foot onto that field. There’s no room for negativity or put downs needed at practice that happened hours before.  We work our butts off to make everything perfect and when that stunt falls or we mess up we keep that big smile on our face and keep going no matter how we are really feeling inside. On Friday night we give it our all no matter how our boys are playing or what the score is. We are out there to support our football players every step of the way and get the crowd pumped up to help them lead to victory. We push each other to our limits and sometimes even over, we don’t do this to be mean or hurt each other but because we know what we are capable of and we better be reaching that. We encourage each other to try new things and give it our all because at the end of practice we are a family and that’s all that matters.

These pictures show how hard we work to get where we want, but then we can have a little fun after we hit it.

Cheer as hard as you can, be the best you can at what you do because remember if you don't think you're good there's always a little girl looking up to you thinking she wants to be like you." Author Michelle, Bulls Gap, TN, USA

Tell me how cheerleading isnt a sport ?!

These pictures show us having fun a working hard. Where there to lend a hand when a teammate needs help, even if it is just to tie a shoe.  

Some say it’s a sport but others don’t agree, but what I don’t get is how isn’t it a sport? Not only are we the ones out there on Friday nights getting the crowd pumped up, were much more. We lift girls above our heads while they twist their bodies into pretzel form and keep a smile on our face while we do it. But the girls In the air stand on someone’s hand extended up into the air, we keep up smiling and our confidence while we are being thrown in the air and trusting them to catch you before you reach the ground. We build up our strength until were about to pass out but we always have to do it just once more. We run, yell, stunt, tumble, dance make everything perfect, and smile all at the same time even if we mess up. Staying up late to finish homework and practice the motions just so they can be pretty much perfect. We practice our jumps, motions, back handsprings, tucks, layouts, stunts, and everything else until everyone is sweating to death but the doesn’t stop us we keep going. Being there for your team when they are in need, working through all the injuries, the tough times and taking feet, elbows, fist, and feet to your face, head, stomach and back. But we just get back up and keep going. We work our butts off for ten months to make our routine perfect and when that first competition comes around we bring it just like every other team that’s out there. And no matter what we always leave with a smile on our face. But the best thing about cheerleading is through all the sweat, tears, and injuries we become a family and stay a family. Now tell me how cheerleading isn’t a sport.