How to Make the Cheer Squad

If you are considering trying out for the cheer squad, or you have a child who wants to, and you are just not sure what is the best way to go about it, then do I have some good news for you! Much like a job interview, cheerleading tryouts are about appearance; the appearance of how intelligent you are and your physical appearance. Here are some tips of how to improve your chances of making the squad or increasing the chances for your son or daughter. 

• Be thick skinned. Nothing is worse than a cheerleader who is incapable of taking criticism and rolling with it. Cheer coaches are tough and do not take anything from anybody. Consequently, you, or your son or daughter, has to be able to be able to hear how they did something wrong and then not cry. The best way to take criticism is as an opportunity to improve; if someone tells you that you did something wrong, the best way to handle it is, "Oh, now I know what to work on and not do next time!" Instead of thinking, "Why are they not nice and do they hate me?" This is especially true since not everyone is able to give constructive criticism and like to go for the jugular.
• Be prepared. Yes, be prepared physically. Practice your moves and do them over and over and over. You want to be able to do them without having to pause and think about what is next. Also, be prepared mentally. Think of how you will do your moves and visualize yourself doing them. If you can imagine what you want your performance to look like, the better the chances are that you will have a successful tryout.
  • You want your moves to be tight. If you are trying out for the squad and your moves are loose, all over the place, and just sloppy, then you are wasting the coach's time. Think of it this way, if you were on the sidelines watching the cheerleaders, would you want to see the cheerleaders flailing about and whacking each other or themselves in the face? Nope. While it might be funny, it would be an embarrassment.
  • Video tape yourself. If you tape yourself doing the moves, you can review the tapes and see what you can improve before showing off your moves to the coach.
  • Have poise, smile, and enthusiasm! Be smiling while you are doing your thing, be happy, and do not slouch. Seriously, can you imagine watching a cheerleader who looks melancholy/depressed and slouching over? Most depressing squad ever. Funny, I know. Also, I'll just slip this in here that you should make eye contact with the coaches as well; they will be expecting you to make eye contact with the people in the stands so show them you can look someone in the eye. Ok, let's just add that visual to the visual of the melancholy, slouching cheerleader; now we have a melancholy, slouching cheerleader who is looking at the ground. While funny, it is not something the coaches or the team you are cheering for will appreciate.