High School Competitive And Sideline Teams (tryout Result Questions)

[cheerforeverever]

Our school had this format, which worked well:

Tryout for a sideline team (cheer, dance, jumps, running tumbling) & made either-
Freshmen
JV
Varsity
This was the team you cheered at games with.

Then there was a separate tryout about a month later ( you already know most of their skills so it is more skill consistancy & stunting positions). Athletes made either-
JV competition - standing BHS OR running BHS requirement ( this squad was usually novice division)
Varsity competition - roundoff back tuck & standing 2 BHS minimum req. (intermediate to advanced div)
The rest were in "practice group"(like how NFL has practice team vs. actual team) and just worked on their skills to improve and work towards making a comp team in future years + be available to fill in.

We had most practices separate (marked either comp only or all squad) but any time teams were working on competition material & we were together, the other girls would be conditioning, working on school spirit ideas, jumps, doing things to build their skills. They went to a separate area so as not to distract/ be distracted. You have no idea how great quitting competition squad to decorate signs in the corner looks when you have had a LONG full out practice HAHA. But really.......

 

[madisonkole]

It's definitely a lot more work on my part, since I chose to choreograph a halftime routine for the game squads as well as the competition routine for that squad.. But the kids have been great about learning everything and I think this will be the first year that we have had a consistent halftime. It seems that whenever we plan to do the competition routine at games we have to change something last minute due to absence or if the skill just wasn't all the way there (falling at games does not go over well with our crowd).
So now with 2 hours a week dedicated to making sure our game routine and quarters are ready to go I feel very confident going in to games!

 

[njallday]

I went to a pretty big school in a "cheer town" so the tryout numbers were huge. We did have cuts and plenty of people didn't make any teams... but in general you were trying out only for a sideline team at tryouts. we had freshman, JV, and varsity. The max for Varsity was 30, the freshman team was always pretty large with 20 or more and JV stayed around 15. If you made one of those three teams, you were then welcome to tryout for competition a little later in the summer. we only had one competition team, though, and competed "mega varsity," so 28 girls and 2 alternates. tumbling actually wasn't a part of the sideline scoresheet (you were allowed to show it to the judges, though, adding to overall impression) so there could have been strong tumblers on JV and some varsity girls just didn't have an interest in doing competition so the competition team really was a mixture of athletes from all 3 sideline teams.

the competition team practiced completely separate from sideline. sideline practice was typically on weekdays directly after school. some days, the competition team would stay after the sideline practice ended and have a comp practice and the comp team also practiced on weekends all summer and fall. they were treated as completely separate teams, which i preferred.

is going out of your way to not cut people a common practice? it's weird to me because there was not one team in my school that didn't have cuts and A LOT of people were usually cut. maybe i just went to a really big school compared to most?

 

[GForce]

At the high school level, we usually made a few cuts. We typically had 12 in Varsity with 3 alternates and then JV ranged every year but usually 16-20. To be considered to Be on Varsity you needed a certain tumbling level. For JV no requirements so they tried not to make too many cuts because usually the people who aren't cut out for cheer end up quitting before the summer ended but we did cut the people that clearly couldn't do it. It all depended on the year.

 

[Hscoach10]

Sooo, yesterday was the first day of tryouts for the HS team I coach. I am happy to say that we have over 50 girls trying out! However, because of the competitions we attend, we will probably take 20 on Varsity and 15 on JV.

My co-coach and I took everyone who tried out last year, and ended up with 25 on Varsity and 14 on JV. This year we want to be a bit more selective and have minimum tumbling requirements for each team. We expect to have full team tumbling on Varsity, and majority on JV.

My question is: We want to make 2 competition teams (JV and Varsity competition) and have everyone who doesn't make a competition team be apart of the sideline teams. Girls who make competition are also required to be on their respective level sideline team. Essentially we will have:

JV Sideline
JV Competition/Sideline

Varsity Sideline
Varsity Competition/Sideline

This ensures that everyone who tries out makes a team, but those who are exceptionally good represent us at our state and regional competitions.

Has anyone ever done this? When do your sideline girls practice? Do they come in less than the competition girls? Do you choreograph them in the routine (in the back) and have them practice the routine with the girls, even though they most likely won't compete?

Advice is needed!

#toomanygirlsattryouts

We had the same exact situation this year with about 50 girls at try outs. We took everyone on the JV squad but have designated cheerleaders who are game squad or "competition alternates". They also have option of taking part in our skills camp and participating in tumbling class once a week. At this point they have attended all practices and we have them switch in and out of stunt groups. Once we start actually running the routine, this will change- although we have given them spots in formations because we do a big pep rally every year that I would like everyone to participate in. The girls know if they improve on skills and get tumbling they can be moved into the routine- and girls who are currently comp squad know if they are slacking off they may lose spot. So far it is going great- besides some parent confusion about the game squad cheerleaders' role on the team. Clearly defining this at try outs will definitely solve this problem. I would rather have a larger team and allow girls to continue to improve!!! Some have even been moved to the comp squad already which is great. Good luck!!!!!!

 

[jessicastuart]

I love all this feedback. I have been throwing the same idea around!

 

[AScheer]

I had one year that we had a competition team with girls from varsity and JV on it. Never did it again. Just my personal preference but it didn't work for me as a coach. All of varsity was on the comp squad with a few JV kids, so if there was a varsity practice and we finished our game day stuff, we couldn't work comp bc those kids weren't there. There were also occasional times that the comp squad would be there, but insert whatever game squad activity that our AD threw at us last minute and now our JV kids are at a practice that they aren't needed at (that was extremely rare, but happened occasionally.) For us it's just easier to keep them separate but that probably doesn't work for everyone.

 

[AScheer]

I went to a pretty big school in a "cheer town" so the tryout numbers were huge. We did have cuts and plenty of people didn't make any teams... but in general you were trying out only for a sideline team at tryouts. we had freshman, JV, and varsity. The max for Varsity was 30, the freshman team was always pretty large with 20 or more and JV stayed around 15. If you made one of those three teams, you were then welcome to tryout for competition a little later in the summer. we only had one competition team, though, and competed "mega varsity," so 28 girls and 2 alternates. tumbling actually wasn't a part of the sideline scoresheet (you were allowed to show it to the judges, though, adding to overall impression) so there could have been strong tumblers on JV and some varsity girls just didn't have an interest in doing competition so the competition team really was a mixture of athletes from all 3 sideline teams.

the competition team practiced completely separate from sideline. sideline practice was typically on weekdays directly after school. some days, the competition team would stay after the sideline practice ended and have a comp practice and the comp team also practiced on weekends all summer and fall. they were treated as completely separate teams, which i preferred.

is going out of your way to not cut people a common practice? it's weird to me because there was not one team in my school that didn't have cuts and A LOT of people were usually cut. maybe i just went to a really big school compared to most?

Our rival high school used to do it like yours. They had lots of never ending drama between comp kids and sideline kids. They also had less than stellar coaches that could have been the main issue there though. Comp kids felt they were above the sideline kids and the school also treated the ones on the comp team better. The sideline only ones were treated pretty bad. Did y'all have that problem?

 

[njallday]

Our rival high school used to do it like yours. They had lots of never ending drama between comp kids and sideline kids. They also had less than stellar coaches that could have been the main issue there though. Comp kids felt they were above the sideline kids and the school also treated the ones on the comp team better. The sideline only ones were treated pretty bad. Did y'all have that problem?

for the most part, no. there was a slight drama with the sacred varsity letter and letterman jackets. Varsity sideline and Competition both got letters and were allowed to get the jacket, so it wasn't an issue on the actual varsity sideline team. it was an issue with the Freshman/JV sideline teammates that some members of the teams got their jackets before the rest from being on competition. some years we had to compete in smaller divisions because there just wasn't an interest and most of the girls who wanted competition made the team. so i'm sure that's another reason why there wasn't much drama.

i do remember the biggest issue being during basketball season, though. competitions didn't start until January so all competition members were required to participate in everything sideline-related for football. when you tried out in the spring, it was for both basketball and football, but there were "exceptions" for basketball. you were exempt from cheering basketball season if you were on another sports team (indoor track/basketball/swimming) or if you were in the school play. this mattered because if you just quit mid season or for basketball you weren't allowed to tryout the next season. if you were on an approved activity, it wasn't considered quitting. anyway, the competition practice and competition schedule started to conflict in the winter, so the coaches made it work the best they could and created varsity groups A and B (basically 3 or 4 full stunt groups in each section) so that they could alternate games and the competition girls could still sort of do both. (if there weren't conflicts and the whole team could be there, they were) obviously (mostly the parents, not the kids) fought that the group with competition girls was "better" than the other blah, blah, blah. (i think they even purposely put the comp girls in group B so it didn't look that way, but we had a ...loud group of parents) it worked out. they may have changed their methods by now, but nothing too crazy ever happened.

 

[MHSCheercoach]

Here's my two cents:
First of all I envy you for having so many tryout, I don't even have 50 girls in the whole school where I coach.
Having heard how some other schools in my area have handled this my suggestion would be to make some cuts. 50 girls is ALOT of girls to deal with not only with the idea of trying to get all of them on the same page, but DRAMA cause let's face it, girls are drama. I would hold tryouts for sideline teams now. Depending on what your size limits are for Varsity and JV competitions I would take the max number you can (provided you have that many with killer skills) plus at least two-four extras. Have them all tryout for sideline and then in a month re-evaluate those who want to do competition (make it an option as not all of them may be interested) and pick your competition team. Those who don't make the cut still get to be on the sideline team and should still learn the routine in case another girl gets injured. Those who only want to do sideline can be left to make up cheers, words, dances, signs, spirit ideas, etc during the competition team practices.
Now with this all being said, please understand that with having essentially 4 different teams, practices are going to be longer and your and your co-coach are going to have double the duty.
I do like the other idea someone tossed out of having a JV sideline, Varsity Sideline, and then just 1 competition team. This would make it easy to have sideline practice for JV and Varsity sideline together for an hour and half then have them in charge of spirit stuff while the competition team practices for another hour or so.

 

[MDCheer09]

Love this thread!

We ended up taking 25 on Varsity and 29 on JV. Then, we split those groups into Sideline only and competition only. We explained to the girls that those who are "competition ready" can be moved down to a sideline only team if they get lazy or if girls on the sideline team pass them skill-wise! We all still practice together, but when choreography starts next week, the sideline girls will be placed in the back and have their own stunt group(s) so they can perform the routine during pep rallies and our parent night.

We will probably end up competing with 20 on Varsity and 15 on JV...but who knows!

 

[Twinklestars]

Sounds like you did a great job dividing up!

Best wishes for a successful season.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

We have pretty large-ish numbers.

Varsity is the competitive team. If you try out for Varsity, it is because you want to compete. I took 27 + 3 alternates. The alternates cheer games and everything else except compete. All 3 of my alternates ended up seeing the mat at some point in the season due to injuries. So anyone who tries out but gets an alternate spot is actually pretty excited because they know that there is a competition shot in their future.

If I made an entire "sideline only" Varsity team, kids would generally only view it as a "consolation prize" and they'd laugh/cry in my face, because if they wanted to be sideline only, they'd have tried out for JV (which is a non-competitive squad that does games only.)