Once the season has kicked off, it’s time to start getting down to the creative stuff: cheering, stunts, and formations. Have you ever sat down and tried to write an ovation? It is not always an easy task.
STEP ONE: Choose the type of joy.
The first thing you have to do is decide if you want a short chant or a longer standing ovation. If you decide you want a standing ovation, you should choose one with or without a gimmick.
For chants during timeouts, it’s best to stick to short phrases and repeat them at least three times. It can be anything from singing “Go, Fight, Win” during a timeout to a longer ovation with a couple of lines. You have to repeat the lines anyway to get the crowd involved.
Floor cheers require a little more effort. Once you decide whether or not to animate with a trick, you can choose the ending. With trick: the most common ending is a repeated phrase. No trick: The repeated sentence at the end is not necessary.
STEP TWO: Start writing.
Whether you use a cheat or not, the first thing to do is start listing rhyming words.
Back
Lake
Stack
hit
Before
Further
Score
For
Here
Near
fear
year
Now try to make sentences with the words you have.
Hello Hornets, watch out! The Rockets are BACK!
We are here to win with the skills you MISS!
You think you’ve seen it all BEFORE
Think again, we’ll show you MORE!
So take a step back and look at the team of the YEAR.
Roanoke Benson, the team at FEAR.* HINT*
One of the most important things to remember when writing cheers is that you don’t have to write complete sentences. Sometimes it is much easier to use short sentences in which the words are easy to punch through.
STEP THREE: Try it out.
To make sure it sounds good, you need to say the joy out loud. You might feel silly, but it will only help you in the end. If you’re embarrassed to say the words out loud, what makes you think girls will want to do it?
(If you cheer without a Stunt, skip to STEP FIVE)
STEP FOUR: Pick a trick.
Once you get an ovation, the next step is to decide on the trick, if any. This step depends on the preferences and skill level of your squad. My girls usually stick to prep and complete. These solid stunts can be manipulated to look different. One of our more unusual stunts is our “helicopter”. It is also called a “flat back.” This is where four girls, one rear base, two side bases and one front base, hold the shuttle over her head while she lies on her back, hence the name flatbacks.
Options for stunts include doing them at the beginning or in the middle, at the end, or throughout the cheer. With our helicopter joy, we used it at the beginning. This is a great way to switch things up a bit. The crowd loves it! It grabs their attention and keeps them interested for the rest of the merriment. One of the drawbacks of this option is that if the girls are using their energy at the beginning of the cheer, their voices won’t be as strong at the end.
Another option is to do a trick in the middle. This isn’t very common in gaming, but it’s a great idea for competition. This requires a lot of stamina to look and sound good, as it’s usually a longer joy. If you can pull it off, great! Just remember, since it’s a longer standing ovation, make sure the girls are ready to hit the court as soon as the buzzer rings. A trick at the end of the ovation is the most common option. Everybody does. Since it’s so common, it’s good because the crowd expects it and knows when to get involved. It’s easier because the girls can do their moves at the beginning and then use the adrenaline at the end to fuel the stunts. This is always the safe way to go. The last option is stunting during all the joy. This requires a TON of work! Start the girls in a tight formation. You can then start the stunt on set or 1, 2, 3, 4. This really holds the attention of the crowd, as long as they can hear the words! Again, lots of practice! *CLUE*
Regardless of when you decide to stunt during a cheer, there are a few things to remember. Make sure you practice the stunts for a couple of weeks before performing. NEVER go to the ground with a trick unless you are 100% sure it will stick. It’s better to have watered down stunts than one big stunt that doesn’t stick. With this newfound attention from the crowd, the last thing you want is for them to see one of your cheerleaders go down.
STEP FIVE: Establish a formation.
*CLUE*
Trainings can be a complex idea or they can be simple. When you’re a cheerleader, the same lineups get boring and you really want to change things up. Seems like a good idea like the ones on the ground, but it’s not always necessary. The crowd doesn’t notice the small changes, and formations that seem so exciting and new to cheerleaders look a mess from the stands.
One of the most important things to remember with formations is to set them up according to the trick you are doing. It’s nice to change positions to give other girls a chance to be in front of the formation, but it’s not always the most effective. You want to try to keep the back bases towards the back and the front bases towards the front. Glue the ruffles in the middle and the side bases on each side of them. This will help with the transition from formation to stunt or stunt to formation.
Another thing to remember is that when the girls transition from each location, bumping into each other doesn’t make the team look good. Make sure they have practiced getting from one place to another and know the best direct route without falling over each other. When you go to each location, if you’re not clapping your hands with the words, make sure your arms are straight at your sides.
The formations can be any type of design you choose. You can make straight lines, stepped lines, a rhombus, a circle, a triangle, or anything you can think of. They can also be spread all over the floor, just half the fans, or in a compact formation anywhere on the floor. When I try to plan formations, I mark the points with Xs and write their names below. Here are a couple of options for a twelve member squad.
rear base B
S side base
F-front base
x-traveller
Y-Extra
_________________BED AND BREAKFAST___________________
________________S_S_______________S_S_________________
_______________Y_X_F_____________Y_X_F_________________
______________________BED AND BREAKFAST____________________________
___________________X___Y___X__________________________
__________________S___S___S___S________________________
____________________F___Y___F__________________________
STEP SIX: PRACTICE!!
Can’t say enough. BE SURE TO PRACTICE! No matter how excited the girls are to show new joy, as a coach, it’s your responsibility to make sure they’re ready to take action. If you have any doubts about your ability to perform a stunt, DO NOT let them do it!