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How to Run Cheerleading Tryouts
A cheerleading tryout is a performance with a safety check built into it. Athletes arrive with very different backgrounds, the session has to show a coach who can do what without asking anyone to try something new, and at the end the coaches assign roles as well as ranking a group. This is a ninety-minute run of show that keeps every athlete moving, keeps stunting and tumbling at the levels your program has cleared, and keeps every evaluator looking at something.
A 90-minute cheerleading tryout, minute by minute
This is the shape most programs settle on for a group of twelve to thirty athletes. The numbers are a guide: shorten the stations for a younger group, and skip any station your program does not run. Run it in a space and on surfaces your program and its governing body allow.
| Time | What happens | Who runs it |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 to 0:10 | Check-in, numbers, forms confirmed, then a warm-up and stretch suited to the age group, all together. | Registrar and one coach |
| 0:10 to 0:20 | Jumps, a set number each, in small groups on the same counts. Athletes show the jumps they do now. | One evaluator per group |
| 0:20 to 0:32 | Standing tumbling, only for athletes who tumble, only cleared skills, on matting your rules allow, with a qualified coach present. | Qualified coach and one evaluator |
| 0:32 to 0:44 | Running tumbling, under the same conditions. Athletes who do not tumble sit this one out and are not scored on it. | Qualified coach and one evaluator |
| 0:44 to 0:56 | Stunting at the levels your program has cleared, in groups formed by the coaches, with qualified coaches spotting. Skipped if your program does not run it at the tryout. | Qualified coaches and one evaluator |
| 0:56 to 1:04 | A short combination of motions, taught and then performed in small groups on the counts. | One teacher and two evaluators |
| 1:04 to 1:16 | A short piece of choreography, taught and then performed in groups, then in pairs. Scored on the second pass. | One teacher and two evaluators |
| 1:16 to 1:24 | A short cheer with the words given beforehand, performed in groups and then alone, for voice and projection. | Every evaluator |
| 1:24 to 1:30 | Water, thank you, and exactly what happens next and when families will hear. | Head coach |
The seven cheerleading stations, and how to run each
These are the stations the scorecard builder can add to the sheet, in the order they usually run. Delete the ones you are not running: a station on the sheet that never happened leaves a blank that looks like a missing score.
- Jumps. Each athlete performs the jumps your program asks for, such as a toe touch, a hurdler and a pike, a set number each, in small groups on the same counts and the same beat. Warm up first, keep landings on a safe surface, and ask for the jumps the athlete does now and never new ones. What to score: Jumps: the form, the height and the landing. Record the number hit in a set in the table below.
- Standing tumbling. Only for athletes who tumble, only skills the athlete has already been cleared for, on matting your rules allow and with a coach qualified to run it. Ask the athlete to show what they do, and never to try something new. An athlete who does not tumble sits this one out. What to score: Standing tumbling: form, control and landing, on cleared skills. Leave the cell blank for an athlete who tumbles none.
- Running tumbling. The same conditions as standing tumbling: cleared skills only, on matting and a space your rules allow, with a qualified coach. Keep the passes short, and stop any athlete who is unsure. No athlete is asked to try a skill above their clearance. What to score: Running tumbling: form, control and landing, on cleared skills. Leave the cell blank where an athlete did not tumble.
- Stunting. Only at levels your program and its governing body have cleared, in groups formed by the coaches, with qualified coaches spotting, on a surface and matting your rules allow. Watch the roles: the timing, the communication and the trust. No athlete is asked to base, fly or back-spot a skill above the cleared level. What to score: Stunting: the role, the timing and the communication with the group, at the cleared level. Leave it blank for athletes who were not in a group.
- Motions. Teach a short combination of motions on counts, to everyone at once, then perform it in small groups. Watch the placement and the sharpness on the second pass, when the first-timers have had a chance to catch up. What to score: Motions: the sharpness and the placement, and whether the athlete stays on the counts.
- Dance. Teach a short piece of choreography to everyone, then perform it in groups and then in pairs. Score on the second pass, since the first pass shows who has seen it before. What to score: Dance: how quickly the athlete learns it and how well they perform it.
- Cheer and projection. Give every athlete the words of a short cheer beforehand, then perform it in groups and alone, with the voice for the size of the space. Score the clarity and the control, not the personality. What to score: Projection and showmanship: a clear, controlled cheer, and how the athlete performs to an audience.
Keeping a cheerleading tryout safe
This is not the part of the session to improvise. The rules that cover it belong to your program, its governing body, your school or league and your insurer, and they change, so treat the list below as questions to answer before the day, not as instructions.
- Skill levels. What skills are allowed at which level, for which age group, at a tryout? If the answer is none for stunting or tumbling, say so in the announcement, and score only what the session can show.
- Qualified coaches. Who is trained or certified to run and spot the skills you plan to include, and who will be in the room? Anyone who is not qualified does not spot, run or demonstrate.
- Spotting. Who spots, how, and how many, are program and governing body rules. Follow yours, and never ask an athlete to attempt something without the spotting your rules require.
- Surfaces and matting. What is required for tumbling and stunting, and does the space meet it? If it does not, those stations do not run.
- No new skills. Ask athletes to show what they already do. Never ask for a skill an athlete has not been cleared for, and never let an athlete talk themselves into one.
- Warm-up and breaks. A warm-up suited to the age group, water at every change of station, and a plan for heat in a gym.
- Head injuries. Who is trained to recognize a suspected one, and what do your program, league and state require? Many programs and states require the athlete to come out and not return the same day.
- An emergency plan. A written plan with the address of the gym, the nearest phone and the person who will make the call, and a first-aid kit and ice in the room before the first athlete arrives.
How many people you need
The usual way to wreck a tryout is to run it with too few evaluators and ask each to watch everything. A workable plan, by turnout:
| Athletes | Evaluators | Helpers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 16 | 3 | 1 registrar, 1 music and counts | One evaluator per station group. Any stunting or tumbling is run only by coaches qualified for it. |
| 17 to 30 | 4 or 5 | 1 registrar, 1 music and counts, 1 helper | Add a teacher for the motions and the dance, and a qualified coach for each skills area. This is the size most sessions are. |
| 31 to 48 | 6 or more | As above, plus a floor helper | Split by level into two groups, or run two sessions. One mat and one teacher cannot give forty athletes a fair look. |
Two evaluators on every station is better than one, scoring independently, and impossible for most volunteer programs. If you can only double up on one thing, double up on the motions and the dance, where opinions differ the most.
Cheerleading tryout checklist
Most tryout problems start before the first athlete arrives. Pack and set up from this list the evening before, so the morning goes on watching athletes.
- Paperwork. A sign-in sheet, each athlete's registration and medical consent, one scoring sheet per evaluator with spares, and clipboards and pens.
- Numbers. Numbered stickers or bibs, and a master list of numbers to names that only the registrar holds.
- The space. A clean, clear floor, and the matting your rules require for any station that needs it, checked before anyone arrives.
- Music and counts. A speaker, the music for the motions and the dance, and a person who calls the counts, so every group works to the same beat.
- The material. A short motions combination, a short piece of choreography and a short cheer, written out, so every athlete is taught the same thing the same way.
- Qualified coaches. The people who will run any stunting or tumbling, confirmed in advance, with their qualifications on file.
- Station assignments. Which group starts at which station, written on a sheet where everyone can see it, so the first rotation does not begin with twenty athletes asking where to go.
- First aid and water. A first-aid kit, ice, water for everyone, and the plan for an injury written down with a phone that works.
- Afterward. A way to collect every scoring sheet before anyone leaves, and a short message ready that says when and how families will hear.
Assigning roles after the tryout
A cheer tryout does not only rank a group. It places athletes in squads, in stunt groups and in roles, and that is a different judgment from a rank.
- Score each athlete in the role you are considering. A strong base and a strong flyer are not competing for the same spot. Use the position sheets for the groups you actually split.
- Watch athletes work together. A role is about timing, trust and communication with a group, and that only shows with a group. Form trial groups in the session, and rotate them.
- Decide on skills and the group's needs. Never on size or appearance, and never on what an athlete's family has said they want.
- Tell families what the role is, and what comes next. A role at a tryout is a starting point, and an athlete can be moved as skills are cleared.
- Keep the clearance with the coach. Being placed in a role is not clearance for any skill, and the athlete only attempts what a coach has cleared.
Mistakes that make cheerleading tryout scores wrong
- Asking for a skill to fill a cell. A blank is honest and a forced skill is a safety risk. Score only what an athlete has been cleared to show.
- Assigning on size or appearance. Roles are decided on skill, trust and the group. A judgment about a body is not a score and it is not fair.
- Confusing flexibility with ability. Flexibility is trainable, and an athlete should not be marked down for a range they have not had the chance to build. Note the potential.
- Scoring showmanship as personality. A quiet athlete can learn to project. Score the clarity and the control, and the ability to perform through a mistake.
- Letting tumbling outweigh everything. Tumbling is one part of cheer. A squad needs motions, voice and dance as much as it needs a standing skill.
- Judging only the best moment. A tryout is one afternoon. Watch how an athlete handles a correction as closely as the highlight.
- Rewarding the early developer. In any age group the oldest athletes are almost a year older than the youngest. Check the birth date on the sheet before you decide an athlete looks behind.
After the tryout
Average the independent sheets before anyone discusses a name, tell families privately and before the squads go up, and keep the sheets until any appeal window has closed. The longer version, which applies to every sport, is the general tryouts and evaluation guide.
Once the squads exist, the paperwork is the registration form, the code of conduct and the uniform and equipment checkout, with the uniform fitting before the first performance.
Other sports, and the general version
This is the cheerleading version. The general tryouts & evaluation works for any sport, and the cheerleading forms and templates page lists the other 5 cheerleading documents.
Playbook Logix provides customizable templates for informational and administrative use. They are not legal advice and will not meet the requirements of every organization, sport or jurisdiction. Review anything you intend to rely on with your own attorney or your insurance carrier, and check your league and state requirements.
Common questions about cheerleading tryouts
How long should cheerleading tryouts be?
Ninety minutes is a sensible target for one age group of twelve to thirty athletes. Less than an hour does not leave enough time to teach a motion and a dance and then watch them, and more than two hours is scoring fatigue, not skill. If you need a second session, score both and average them rather than treating the second as a tiebreak.
What should a cheer tryout include?
Seven stations cover what a coach scores: jumps, standing tumbling, running tumbling, stunting, motions, dance, and a cheer with voice and projection. Keep each one simple enough that a nervous eight-year-old understands it from one demonstration. Tumbling and stunting are run only at the levels your program has cleared, and an athlete who does not tumble or stunt sits those stations out.
Should a cheerleading tryout include stunting and tumbling?
That is your program's and its governing body's decision. If you run them, use only skills athletes have been cleared for, with the people, the matting and the levels your rules require, and never ask for something new. Many programs hold them in a separate, controlled session, and a tryout without them is still a tryout.
How do you run a cheer tryout with lots of athletes?
Teach the motions, the dance and the cheer to everyone at once, then watch in small groups. Split the skills stations by level, with a qualified coach at each. A tryout that has forty athletes waiting for one mat is scoring their patience.
How do you assign roles after a tryout?
The coaches decide on skills, trust, communication and what each stunt group needs, after watching athletes work together. Try athletes in the role you are considering them for, at the level they are cleared for, and never assign on size or appearance.
More cheerleading tools
The rest of the cheerleading toolkit
Cheerleading Registration Form
Tumbling and stunting background, last season's level, uniform and shoe sizes, and injury questions, on a form for sign-up day.
Open the generatorCheerleading Code of Conduct
Cleared-skills, spotting, surface and injury rules for athletes, and distraction, filming and placement rules for parents, on one page with one signature.
Open the generatorCheerleading Tryout Evaluation Form
A scoring grid for jumps, tumbling, stunting, motions, dance and projection, with a table for the jumps and counts you record.
Open the generatorCheerleading Player Evaluation Form
A mid-season report for a parent: cheer skills against the age group, a section for each role, and room for words.
Open the generatorCheerleading Uniform & Equipment Checkout
Uniform set, warm-ups, bow and poms, with set number, size, condition and replacement cost, and a return date.
Open the generatorPlaybook Logix
What happens after the cheerleading tryout
Playbook Logix is registration, rosters, payments, schedules and team messaging for youth and adult sports, in one place. The scorecard decides who plays where. Playbook Logix takes over once the teams exist, and it can handle the sign-ups before them.
Take sign-ups for the tryout
Open the tryout as its own program with a birth-date window and a cap on spots, collect the fee if you charge one, and have every family give you the same information before they arrive.
How it worksBuild the teams from one pool
Registered players land in a single pool and you place them on teams afterward, so the rosters you build from your scorecard are the ones families see. A roster can hold players, coaches, managers and volunteers.
How it worksTell families what happens next
Post the results and next steps on the team message board, with an Acknowledge button to see who has read them. Email and text blasts for anything that cannot wait are on the paid plans.
How it worksThe Starter plan is free, and the iPhone and Android app is free on every plan. Anything described above as Coach plan and above needs a paid plan. See the plans or the mobile app.
After the tryout comes the roster
Playbook Logix takes the part that starts once the team exists: registration, medical forms parents fill in on their phone, who has paid, and a roster that is the same in everyone's pocket. There is a free plan.