Hello All,
Okay I need some help. I own a dance studio and have been teaching dance since I graduated High School. However, I have been asked to advise a nearby small town's cheerleading squad. AND be their choreographer.

These girls are GREAT! Good learners, very energetic and have great attitudes. However, none of them have any cheerleading or dance background. They don't even have tryouts for the team.

So I was wondering for all you cheerleaders. If you would mind sharing with me the flow of on of your average practices? And sharing drills with me also?

I want to do the best I can with these girls and I know what my strengths are AND my weakness! So I appreciate ANY help or advise you can offer!

Mahalo in advance!

Miss Becca

I need a bit of background first on the team.

Is it a school team?
Are you planning to compeate?
Are you planning on incorperating stunts?

Miss Becca
This site is the best -- you will find lots of ideas and inspirations for cheer and probably for your studio.
Best of luck

www.oakharborcheer.com
Scroll down and on the left there are tons of great links that she has put together...I use it for my HS teams and my studio

CoachT

Thanks all for you input, to answer the questions:

Is it a school team? - YES, it is a school team. Almost like a club, they don't hold auditions for the squad, they just sign up.
Are you planning to compeate? - They have in the past, but I am not recommending it for the girls. I would rather focus on performing at the school and increasing their knowledge of the sport, before putting them out to be ridiculed by their peers.
Are you planning on incorperating stunts? - Not yet. Just kicks and jumps are enough of a challenge, I think maybe we can start working on stunting next summer.

Does that help a bit?

Okay usually we start with a bit of a warm up. Running a few laps or if they are younger I suggest heel stretch tag. Its like normal tag but who ever is tagged has to kick their leg up and hold it until someone comes and run under it. Then after warm up we stretch.

Then you could work on motions, like high v, low v etc. I like to put them into windows so I can see everyone and go around and correct some wonky arms. I just yell out the motion I want to see but ive seen some coaches use simon says or other inventive games.

Then you could go onto jumps. Personally I like just 5 jump lines where only the person in the front jumps then rotates to the back after they jump. Its easier to pick out problems with less people jumping and they dont get as tired.

Then I would go onto some coreography or a cheer to teach/ clean.

From there would be stunting/tumbling practice if you wish.

Good Luck!

there is a great book called Complete Cheerleading. I coach a high school dance team but I find this book to very helpful. I have girls on the cheer squad also and theyve asked to borrow the book a few times. It is written by excellent cheer coaches from areas of the country that don't start girls cheering as soon as they can walk.. so its really perfect for a beginner team. Lots of info you can use and incorporate as your skill level progresses as well.