From the Sidelines to the Blue Mat

From the Sidelines to the Blue Mat

It feels like yesterday that your squad was learning new material at #UCAcamp, achieving new goals with your new teammates at your first practices, and kicking off your school’s first football game. And just like that… Competition season is here! While the competition aspect of cheerleading is fun, it is also hard work and a huge time commitment. High school cheerleaders have the awesome responsibility to promote school spirit, be an ambassador for their school and lead the crowd on Friday nights. Competition is a reward for all of that effort – and it sure is worth it! Competitive cheerleading will teach you how to work as a team towards a common goal, the importance of dedication and how to strive for precision under pressure. Here is some advice for your upcoming cheer competition season.

Competition season is where cheerleaders get to showcase their athleticism and entertainment side of their squad, but what most people don’t know is that the 5 Roles of a Cheerleader remain consistent all year round. UCA is here to show you how Game Day cheerleading has prepared your squad for competition season since the summertime!

Crowd Leading: The most consistent and important role of a cheerleader. While your squad is used to leading your crowd on Friday Nights on the sidelines, this has given you practice in how to lead a crowd in the middle of a routine. Your hometown fans now know what to yell, and when to yell it, so your squad should be experts by now in building stunts and using signs and poms to get spectators of a competition to yell back with you as well!

Spirit Raising: You’ve spent the fall season hyping up the school and community to get excited for upcoming sports games. Now, you can use these same tools to get your school and community excited for YOU! Spread the word about your upcoming performance around the school to get fans to attend, have a Spirit Week with your team to pump yourselves up for the big day, and even hold a “day before competition” showcase to practice performing your routine in front of a crowd! You spend so much of your time raising spirit for the sports teams in your school – Now it’s time to do it for yourself!

Ambassador: Many of the competitions your squad attends will require traveling to another school or area. The same guidelines for traveling to an away football or basketball game also go for traveling to competitions. It all comes down to representing the school in the most positive light. This means respecting the facilities, the participants, coaches, your teammates and yourself. This also means good sportsmanship, no matter the outcome of the competition. Teams will be remembered for their talent, but they will also be remembered for their character!

Athleticism: Cheerleading requires strength and flexibility, endurance and technique to execute skills used during crowd leading, spirit raising and entertainment. You’ve been conditioning for competition season all summer and fall! Competition routines are the best way to showcase your squad’s athleticism within 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Performing elite stunts, pyramids, jumps and tumbling are strong examples of a squad’s athleticism, and your squad conditions those elements all fall and winter long to make it all look seamless.

Entertainment: Cheerleaders use their crowd leading tactics, spirit and athleticism to entertain the crowd. During football season, your squad entertained the crowd during timeouts, halftime and pep rallies. Now, you’re ready to entertain a crowd of hundreds of people! Through the use of original stunts and transitions, visual pyramids, tumbling, jumps and dance, your squad has been practicing the entertainment aspect of cheerleading all Game Day season. Once you get to your first competition, it’s amazing to finally see how each team creates unique and innovative routines out of all of these aspects of cheerleading!

Game Day has fully prepared your squad for the upcoming competition season. Consistency is key, so continue to do all of the amazing things you’ve been doing all year long! Best of luck at your first competition!