How to Prepare for Cheer Tryouts

You are ready to work hard and make the cheer team, and you’re even getting an early start and giving yourself an edge by preparing early, but what do you work on? Hard work isn’t as effective when you don’t know where to focus it. First, know what is in the realm of things you can realistically achieve in the next couple weeks or months, depending on when your tryouts are. This isn’t to say that you can’t drastically improve your skills in that time, but be realistically optimistic about what you can do in a matter of weeks. Try out for a team that is a good fit for your abilities‚ challenging, but not impractical. If you don’t have tumbling experience, for example, you probably shouldn’t try out for an All Star squad yet. Start taking tumbling classes so you can try out next year if that’s what you want, and in the meantime try out for your school sideline squad. Next, find out the skill requirements. You can do this by researching online, watching the team perform, or asking the coaches and current or former team members directly. If you want to try out for an All Star or competitive squad, for example, talk to the coach and other members of the gym to see what you need to do for the level you want to make. As you research what will be expected of you, take notes so you know and remember what to work on! Once you have assessed your own abilities and researched the skills needed for various squads so you can select the team that’s the best fit for you, talk to the coaches of that team. If you want to try out for your school squad, for example, the best way to approach preparing is to talk to the coach and team members about what skills are needed. Specifically, ask about the score sheet for tryouts. Talk to the coaches as early as possible about what the score sheet might look like. Even if they don’t have the scorecard made yet, chances are they know what they’ll be looking for and can give you a general idea of things to work on. Plus, they will like that you are taking the initiative and working hard to make the team! As soon as you have that information, all that’s left to do is work, work, work! We have plenty of resources to help you learn the skills you need for tryouts, whether you are working on stances and motions, cheers and chants, choreography, stunts, jumps, or tumbling. What team are you trying out for this year? What skills are you working on for tryouts?