High School Recruiting Male Athletes

[Kolleen]

Hi all,

We have one male athlete right now, but we would love to gain more and work towards true coed style stunting and a coed-style team. Does anyone have any tips on recruiting male athletes? Or even just in general? I recently took over a new school and we have 10 athletes, i'd love to get more for next season!

Thanks!

 

[cheermomforever]

Hi all,

We have one male athlete right now, but we would love to gain more and work towards true coed style stunting and a coed-style team. Does anyone have any tips on recruiting male athletes? Or even just in general? I recently took over a new school and we have 10 athletes, i'd love to get more for next season!

Thanks!

It’s hard to compete against football, basketball soccer and other sports boys compete in.

 

[Elle B]

If saying “I’m looking for more male cheerleaders” isn’t working , you might want to consider some rebranding. Call them “Stunt Men” instead of cheerleaders. Instead of having them wear a uniform that resembles the girls uniforms, have them in all black with “Stunt Men” embroidered on a polo shirt. If you make some sort of recruitment flier, put a photo of the uniform on it so that they know what they’re getting into. Emphasize the need for tremendous arm strength. Turn it into a “how much you bench?” contest for the boys. I’m picturing a flier with a one man stunt with the caption, “Are you strong enough to hold 125lbs up in the air? Then you have the makings of a Stunt Man!”

 

[quitthedrama]

If saying “I’m looking for more male cheerleaders” isn’t working , you might want to consider some rebranding. Call them “Stunt Men” instead of cheerleaders. Instead of having them wear a uniform that resembles the girls uniforms, have them in all black with “Stunt Men” embroidered on a polo shirt. If you make some sort of recruitment flier, put a photo of the uniform on it so that they know what they’re getting into. Emphasize the need for tremendous arm strength. Turn it into a “how much you bench?” contest for the boys. I’m picturing a flier with a one man stunt with the caption, “Are you strong enough to hold 125lbs up in the air? Then you have the makings of a Stunt Man!”

I love this concept. My kids are now involved in college cheer and over the past several years most of the guys have no cheer experience. Many are former football players who still wanted to experience the games from the field and they are primarily used for stunting (they don't have to do anything else in the dances, do motions etc. which would likely be a deal breaker for some of these guys). It doesn't translate well for tumbling or competition purposes as it is a lot easier to teach someone how to stunt than to tumble but for a college that does minimal recruiting and doesn't have a history of competitive placement at NCA it at least gets guys on the sidelines.
I have heard of at least one college who at the beginning of the school year their cheer program offers a free pizza to any guy who can toss a girl and think it's a great way to get guys who wouldn't have considered cheer to realize it isn't all the stigma and stereotypes show it to be.