High School Tryout Season

Welcome to our Cheerleading Community

Members see FEWER ads... join today!

Rumor has it that we are getting a new coach. Again. Cp will be a senior. We have had:
Freshman year: coach a, replaced mid-season with coaches b & c
Sophomore year: coach c stayed and added coach d
Junior year: coach d

This will be the fifth coach in her four years. Yikes.

The coach hasn't said anything about it. We have a pre-tryout information meeting soon. Hope to find out either way.

Wish for stability and strong leadership for the team for the future


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Rumor has it that we are getting a new coach. Again. Cp will be a senior. We have had:
Freshman year: coach a, replaced mid-season with coaches b & c
Sophomore year: coach c stayed and added coach d
Junior year: coach d

This will be the fifth coach in her four years. Yikes.

The coach hasn't said anything about it. We have a pre-tryout information meeting soon. Hope to find out either way.

Wish for stability and strong leadership for the team for the future


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ugh. I'm sorry!

Lack of continuity in leadership kills HS cheer programs!
 
Rumor has it that we are getting a new coach. Again. Cp will be a senior. We have had:
Freshman year: coach a, replaced mid-season with coaches b & c
Sophomore year: coach c stayed and added coach d
Junior year: coach d

This will be the fifth coach in her four years. Yikes.

The coach hasn't said anything about it. We have a pre-tryout information meeting soon. Hope to find out either way.

Wish for stability and strong leadership for the team for the future


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I feel like I know what school y'all are at. Tennessee right?

That or sadly there are two schools like this.
 
I feel like I know what school y'all are at. Tennessee right?

That or sadly there are two schools like this.

Yes, but I think we are at opposite ends. Sad that this happens at all much less that it could be one of a few schools.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Next year will be a year of change for us too. We are getting 3 NEW coaches as the program is just outgrowing itself so I'm a little worried about how the dynamic might change. Before, it was just me and an assistant-
We are doing open gyms right now... and the air is thick... I've never seen so many kids so cutthroat about making it. As it sits we have all these baby 8th graders coming in as freshman giving the next year senior flyers a run for their money...
We will likely also add another comp team.
 
Next year will be a year of change for us too. We are getting 3 NEW coaches as the program is just outgrowing itself so I'm a little worried about how the dynamic might change. Before, it was just me and an assistant-
We are doing open gyms right now... and the air is thick... I've never seen so many kids so cutthroat about making it. As it sits we have all these baby 8th graders coming in as freshman giving the next year senior flyers a run for their money...
We will likely also add another comp team.

Would it be a JV or something like have one tumbling/one NT?
 
I'm in a season of transition as well, but I'm in a good place. The majority of my incoming freshies were part of a team that got 2nd place in gameday this season, so they're hungry for more. There are two more who are PHENOMENAL all star cheerleaders, one with no game experience, and one with game experience. Biggest problem is that so many of them are small. They've been basing 6th graders on their middle school team so they don't have a lot of flyer experience either.

I'm putting in minimum requirements for the first time in my coaching career. We are "grandfathering" established athletes, and only putting in the minimums for newbies and incoming freshies. Have to have at least a standing bhs or roundoff bhs to get in the door. We will select comp team later in the summer and have to have a minimum of standing tuck or roundoff tuck to get "on mat."

Some of you may remember my post about having starters and reserves for every game. I'm leaning heavily in that direction. We are doing a leadership course as part of our preseason program (call it character conditioning in addition to physical conditioning). We are adapting some ideas for teaching character through athletics. Would appreciate any character lessons/activities that you all have used in the past. I'm making up most of this on my own.
 
If Im being honest I think that you can teach basically anyone to stunt with proper technique, drills, and skill progressions. I tend to look more for athletic ability, tumbling/jumps, body awareness, grades, and dedication - but I think it's probably different for every school.
My school has a history of eligibility problems and kids not taking it seriously, so my main focus is using tryouts to find girls/boys who are hard workers and have drive. I do a lot of conditioning and drills and other things that are repetitive, tiring, and not the most fun in the world to do.

If the kid sticks with it through/takes seriously all of the exercises, motion tech, drills, and frustratingly basic stunts (sponge, prep, back down. Over and over), then I can trust that when we get to working drills for harder stunts, or when competition season gets rough, that they won't bail on me or give up. I write down any time I see and eye roll, a side eye to a friend, or someone half a$$ing what they're working.

I also spot some each day (no swing back handsprings only) and work with tumbling basics. I'm not expecting people to get a handspring, but ideally everyone would have a decent roundoff or cartwheel step together. When I spot I give them 1 small thing to try to fix on the first handspring, and then spot them 2-3 more times. I'm looking to see if they can take direction and attempt to apply it to their tumbling more than I'm looking for natural tumbling talent. There are some kids that get upside down and lose all awareness of their body, and long term they are a lot more work to get to tumble. If the kid can focus enough/be aware enough of what their body is doing to change something small in the first practice, then they will be much easier to train to tumble.
If they can do a good cartwheel step together and/or roundoff, and if they can take direction starting on day one with no swing back handsprings, there's a good chance they can get a back handspring in a season with enough work and drills.

Then I look at their grades ;)
After all of that I have a pretty good feel for the talent pool and I start making stunt groups that I think would work well together, then pull in lower scoring kids who were in the "maybe" pile skill wise but who were focused/disciplined/happened to be the right size and not stand out in any negative way to fill in the holes in groups.
 
"If we did this again, my sideline team would NOT be a sport. They are telling districts and athletic directors this is now an after school activity or even better, a CLUB. Why does this matter? Well, clubs don't have coaches. Members can join at any point during the year. You can't make cuts, or check grades. Clubs are usually advised by a teacher."

Cali mom here:

I thought that cheer teams had always technically been clubs: that if they weren't a CIF sport, then they weren't a sport and didn't have to abide by "sport" rules... even if an individual school chose to consider them as a part of their sports program. No?

Is the "They" CIF? Does CIF have the power to force schools to treat sideline cheer like a club?

I figured once sideline cheer was deemed to be not in conflict with competition cheer, that sideline could proceed as usual (spring tryouts, summer camps etc). No?
 
"If we did this again, my sideline team would NOT be a sport. They are telling districts and athletic directors this is now an after school activity or even better, a CLUB. Why does this matter? Well, clubs don't have coaches. Members can join at any point during the year. You can't make cuts, or check grades. Clubs are usually advised by a teacher."

Cali mom here:

I thought that cheer teams had always technically been clubs: that if they weren't a CIF sport, then they weren't a sport and didn't have to abide by "sport" rules... even if an individual school chose to consider them as a part of their sports program. No?

Is the "They" CIF? Does CIF have the power to force schools to treat sideline cheer like a club?

I figured once sideline cheer was deemed to be not in conflict with competition cheer, that sideline could proceed as usual (spring tryouts, summer camps etc). No?

Since it was never defined before, many schools just had it fall under athletics. The CIF has clearly said sideline is NOT a sport, causing many districts to drop it since then they can save the money they used to pay a coach.
 
Tis the season for:

Suzy: "I only want to fly this year so I'm not basing at my tryout."

Also Suzy: Has based since 5th grade rec. Regularly bases equivalent of Level 2 and 3 on JV. Also bases on her 4.2 team. Flew as a fill in twice on JV.

What. How.
 
Back