College How Important Is "game Day" High School Experience To Make A Top College Team?

It's not that important.


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I am currently a Freshman in college and Thursday will be my first time cheering any kind of football game. I cheered all star for 8 years and my sole focus was competition. My advice would be she needs to understand that at college the first focus is game day and it can be boring and repetitive but it's part of college cheerleading and I personally am so excited for our first game and then I'm equally excited to start getting to work on our nationals stuff. I know that wasn't exactly what you were asking but just an insight from some one who is in the same situation your daughter may end up in.


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It depends on what school - Game day is important as that will be the main focus for football schools - That is the focus at college - is game day - my daughter only cheered in HS as a freshman - her HS squad was not very good - but did 11 years of all stars -so she did struggle a little bit with learning how to do the game day stuff but it can be done. College cheer focuses a lot on appearances at the school for school functions on and off campus which are a lot of fun. Cheering for football, volleyball and basketball is what her school does - as well as all girl comp squad which will compete at UCA Nationals. The focus is being prepared for games though, performing with the band - learning the cheers, the alma mater of the school, pep rallys - but my daughter had really no experience in game day and made it and has picked up on it =) so just know what to expect and she should be fine.

If she can pull the excitement out of her at tryouts and then later at games and really show her enthusiasm and game cheering abilities then she will be fine. If she gets up there and is hesitant/reserved then it will affect her

A willingness to learn - being "peppy"/enthusiastic - smiling (she is excited to be there) - tight/sharp motions will get her far having no game day experience - along with her all star background she should be fine skill wise - but don't downplay the peppy/smiling side as I have seen girls get cut because of it even with solid skills.

It seems like privates for game-day type things are becoming more common. See if your daughter can do a half-hour with someone going to the school she wants to try out for or a friend who goes to a high school with a good game day tradition. Another option is to go on YouTube and learn a few cheers to practice. There is no doubt in my mind that her physical skills are enough to make the team at any school, and practicing cheers seems silly, but doing them full out will definitely help. Do them at least once with hair half up with a ribbon and red lips (learning how to keep my hair out of lipstick was hard for me). And make sure she learns how to smile while yelling- I know at my first school cheer tryout I would look happy before and after a cheer, but during a cheer I would focus so much on being loud that I wouldn't remember to smile. Good luck to your CP!


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It all depends on the school, we had a girl with a standing full get cut solely because her gameday "wasn't up to par". Like posted above, big time football schools are looking at game day first and foremost. At Clemson, the very first cut was on gameday before the coach had even seen ANY skills! Nothing a little practice and attending prospect clinics can't fix

At the University of Kentucky in which the football team is terrible but the basketball team is one of the best (like the University of Kansas), the cheerleaders still have to be very enthusiastic. Being a top competitive team (which includes numerous national championships), UK looks for how well a cheerleader can lead the crowd as well as advanced tumbling and stunting skills. Hope this helps!

Hockey and Cheer Mom said:

My daughter cheers All-Star for a large nationally known program (level 5 worlds team flyer). She has her sights set on cheering in college. However, she attends a small charter school where there is no football program and the cheer program is more like a pep/dance squad and is unfortunately very sad for basketball. While this limit her chances to be considered for a good college cheer program?

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My CP only cheered 4th-8th grade football, and did NOT have any experience in the 4 years prior to her trying out for a big College cheer program, but had 10 years of all star cheer under her belt. She made it on the team she wanted at her dream college and this is her second year cheering there. She absolutely LOVES cheering gameday but she has seen that gameday or sideline cheerleading not be a favorite among some of the other cheerleaders on her team. Your daughter should watch a high school cheer team actually cheer at a game so she knows what she's getting herself into before tryouts to make sure that it seems like it would be a good fit before she even prepares for or even attends tryouts. Also, do some research to see what the colleges do for choosing sideline cheerleaders for competitions at Nationals because not all of the cheerleaders on the team compete at Nationals or even attend camps at some schools. This would be a major sticking point with some cheerleaders. Good luck and hope this helps-sorry so long and wordy!!

Kentucky Girl said:

At the University of Kentucky in which the football team is terrible but the basketball team is one of the best (like the University of Kansas), the cheerleaders still have to be very enthusiastic. Being a top competitive team (which includes numerous national championships), UK looks for how well a cheerleader can lead the crowd as well as advanced tumbling and stunting skills. Hope this helps!

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my CP has her sights set on Kentucky...she is just starting her Freshman year of HS and has only done allstar. I know it is early but are there college camps she could attend in the summer to learn more about a particular college program?

KDCheerMom said:

my CP has her sights set on Kentucky...she is just starting her Freshman year of HS and has only done allstar. I know it is early but are there college camps she could attend in the summer to learn more about a particular college program?

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I know UK has a fall clinic coming up in September. I am not sure of the age range, but here is a link with more info:

Kentucky Wildcats Official Athletic Site - Traditions




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Not all schools compete - some may just compete one squad, or multiple squads (all girl, small coed, large coed) - usually NCA or UCA. Sometimes not all cheerleaders will get chosen to compete on the comp squad - depending on the skills needed. Some schools just cheer sideline for football, basketball etc. - some of the bigger competitive cheer schools may look for a different skill set than a school that strictly does sideline cheer. Some schools do both - but depending on the school will usually look at the gameday/sideline then skills. It's best to attend a clinic at a school you are interested in to see what they place emphasis on and to learn their style. Schools usually have stunt clinics in the fall and cheer clinics in the spring. You can always email the cheer coaches and ask about upcoming clinics if there isn't any info listed. My daughter's school had a few open practices prior to tryouts which helped - they taught the dance motions etc


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flcheermom said:

Not all schools compete - some may just compete one squad, or multiple squads (all girl, small coed, large coed) - usually NCA or UCA. Sometimes not all cheerleaders will get chosen to compete on the comp squad - depending on the skills needed. Some schools just cheer sideline for football, basketball etc. - some of the bigger competitive cheer schools may look for a different skill set than a school that strictly does sideline cheer. Some schools do both - but depending on the school will usually look at the gameday/sideline then skills. It's best to attend a clinic at a school you are interested in to see what they place emphasis on and to learn their style. Schools usually have stunt clinics in the fall and cheer clinics in the spring. You can always email the cheer coaches and ask about upcoming clinics if there isn't any info listed. My daughter's school had a few open practices prior to tryouts which helped - they taught the dance motions etc


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Well said, flcheermom! At the UCA College Nationals in the large coed divisions, teams usually consist of nine men and seven women while all-girl teams have 20 women. I think the number for small coed teams has been moved up to 20 members, if I'm not mistaken.

Squads who don't compete such as Florida, Auburn, and Notre Dame focus only at cheering and supporting their teams.

Thank you to everyone for your insights and suggestions! I truly appreciate it and will be reaching out for more info on clinics, etc as she moves into 9th grade next year.