High School Sharp Motions

Can you get in front of a mirror and watch the motions? Recording it would work, too. Sometimes seeing the spaghetti arms is the best way to start fixing them.

Count and have people freeze on a motion, then have to hold it as the coach goes around and fixes people. Then you do it again and again and again until everyone hits the correct motion on the correct count. Example:
Tell the team to "Hit a High V on 1"
5-6-7-8 (HIT).........hold and fix......clean.......again 5-6-7-8 (HIT)

Go through all the different motions and once the basics are cleaned up, you can even get more complex such as "hit a high V on one, low V on three". If girls aren't robot sharp, don't hit at the same time, or do incorrect motions then they do it again. It can get really frustrating, but it works. You'll end up doing a motion like 20 times before moving on the first time you try with a team.

I agree with cheerforever, that's a great method. They'll hate doing it so they'll eventually start stepping it up. We used to do this sometimes when we started getting sloppy. Also go around and try to push their arm down. If it just falls then they need to be tighter!
The more you do it the better, it will create muscle memory and that will help them be tighter and sharper.

When I coached the youth team we would make them hit the motion and then hold it so we could go around and fix it. We'd tap their arms to see if they were right or not. If their arm moved & wobbled then it's time to tighten up! And we played motion Simon Says, if you do the thing whe Simon doesn't say it you're out and if your motion isn't tight and you don't hit it sharp then you are also out.

i didnt do motions first i conditioned them with pushups and arm workouts and then taught them motions they need to get some muscle on those fragile little arms hahahaha.

You have some great suggestions mentioned above. Incorporate those drills as part of your practices. Also as the captain and not the coach, you could make up a game and give out rewards or penalities.....Drills work for motions, but girls get sloppy in their transations....a good game is....once you step on the blue mat, you must stay tight, arms down at your side, no space. give out little trinkets like candy or little certificates you can make on your computer for the person that stayed the tightest, or most improved and penalities for the sloppiest or most forgetful...like putting away the mats....do not make this a captains choice, but get the whole team involved and make it fun. Your team mates will look up to you and there will be less drama...not saying that there is, but you never know....

Another drill I have my grils do is to start off
5, 6, 7, 8 High V -the whole team counts and says the words
(clap, clap) Low V
(clap, clap) T
(clap, clap) Troken T
(clap, clap) Right K
(clap, clap) Left K
(clap, clap) Right Punch
(clap, clap) Left Punch
(clap, clap) Daggers
(clap, clap) Touch down

Then start over.....

When working on motions you guys should feel the muscles from your shoulders to your forearms tighten up and become sore. Motions should always be hit, not placed.

When doing them to words, hit the motion at the beginning of the sound. Ex: When hitting a Touchdown motion while yelling the word touchdown. Your arms should be up and locked as quickly as they can be, the moment you start to say 'touchdown.'

Like others have said, doing them to counts and hitting on the number and practicing them alot will help your motions get better.

I coach High School and Youth teams and I always tell my girls that when they are doing motions they should be using as much force as if they were trying to punch someone. I tell them that their muscles should hurt afterwards. If it doesn't hurt then you aren't tightening up and punching the motions.

When I first started cheering, I did my motions in a mirror, it really helps.
Also, like a lot of people said are doing drills to counts. In high school we did something like this...
Have everyone count, and do the motions
1/5 - Clap
2/6 - High V
3/7 - Clap
4/8 - Low V
The High V and Low V are easily exchangeable with T's and Goalposts, and other motions. And like nothingimpossible said, the team will most likely hate it so they'll want to get better so they won't have to do it anymore! It's tedious and has to be done daily, but it gets results!

Come up with a motion sequence and first go over it slowly, making everyone hit and hold their motions as the coach comes around and fixes them. Slowly move faster and put it to counts. When I did school cheer we did motions with jumping jacks to a certain song (I don't know the actual song title but it's very popular at football games it's the one where at the end it goes like "da da daaa da HEY! *insert go mascot*")

I was thrilled to see this discussion. My oldest daughter has very sharp motions and looks great cheering on the sidelines but one of her friends on the squad told her that she's too sharp so she started to question her motions. I explained to her that it looks so much better when the motions are sharp and crisp. I finally had to take a video of the squad cheering to prove to her that her motions look much better than the girls that were not as sharp.

We always did the 16 count for motion practice
1-2 high v
3-4 daggers
5-6 low v
7-8 t
1-2 left L
3-4 right l
5 touch down
6 daggers
7 clap
8 right punch

Motion drills suck, but doing them really helps. In middle school we did (*=clap)
High v *
Low v*
Touchdown*
T*
Right l*
Left l*
Punch***
And in high school we do
High v
Low v
T
*
Touchdown
Low touchdown
Right diagonal
Left diagonal
Candlesticks
Tabletop
Broken t
Right l
Left l
Right k
Left k

Or if that doesn't work (and this also helps with learning the cheers) you can have everyone sit down and call a girl (or two) to stand up and then the coach calls a random cheer and they have to do it. It's embarassing when you mess up, which will make them practice and you can also see who knows the cheers and who needs to work on what motions.



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