High School Stunting During Tryouts

[haybale]

Has anyone incorporated stunting in their tryouts? And if you have how so? I was thinking about doing it for Varsity only seeing as with all my current juniors staying I’ll only have about 12-15 spots and a 25 person JV team or ALL sophomores. I really want to base it on not only their dance and Cheer but also on stunting.

 

[Zyylophone]

For my high school as an athlete and then on to coach, we always had stunts on our score sheet for tryouts. This is in Virginia though and it was for competition. I say if its for a competition team and you're looking for an assessment of stunting ability, then I would include it just to get a general guideline of what the athletes can perform. If stunting is something you want to see on your sideline and incorporate in to games then I would probably include it for tryouts but more of an "assessment" but not necessarily a requirement. But usually if you dont require it and there are still kids that want to stunt, majority of the bunch will follow and try to show a stunt just to say that they can do it. Definitely a preference in what youre looking for out of you kids for that season/team!

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I do. I score it during last day of clinics. That way, the day of the tryout, we have 3 stations and they move quickly (tumbling, cheer, dance.)

 

[CoachTamara]

We did this year. Most bases scored about the same honestly, and backstops scored in the same general range. It really mattered with flyers more than anything.

We formed groups and had flyers rotate between all of the groups for basic stunts. We switched people in and out as needed, so they were working with a variety of different people. It showed a lot more about their willingness to try and adapt than actual stunting ability for most bases/backs, but you got a sense of who could do what and look at technique. We then allowed them to show any stunt they wanted beyond the basics that we had already covered, and had all flyers show body positions.

I think we will mix things up a bit next year, but we will including stunting again for sure.

 

[ScottyB]

Has anyone incorporated stunting in their tryouts? And if you have how so? I was thinking about doing it for Varsity only seeing as with all my current juniors staying I’ll only have about 12-15 spots and a 25 person JV team or ALL sophomores. I really want to base it on not only their dance and Cheer but also on stunting.

We always do and always will for both squads. Stunting is such a valued skill for all aspects of the season (games, competitions, even appearances too) that we need to see them perform in a pressured but controlled environment as we look ahead for the year.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

We stunt at tryouts, but don't "score."

We really don't "score" anything. Our tryouts are big evaluations where we look at several different aspects, get a feel for the athletes and how coach-able they are, and then go about placing them on teams.

Then I spend the next three months evaluating their abilities further before deciding who is going "on mat" for competition the day before our choreography camp.

 

[cheerKT]

When I cheered we did not, but my last 2 years of coaching we worked an hour or two into one of the clinic days. It was not scored, since obviously the girls who had cheered before were at a huge advantage. We would throw a completely new base together with an experienced one, a new flyer on an established group, etc. And switched them out frequently. As coaches we used it to judge their ability to be flexible, try new things and catch on quickly.