Cheer Motions

Mastering the Basics: The Essential Guide to Cheer Motions

One of the first things a basketball player learns to do is dribble a ball, a football player learns to throw a football, a soccer player dribbles a soccer ball, a skateboarder learns to roll on their board, etc. Cheerleading is no different.  Before you can hit a stunt or a high-energy routine, you have to master the basics of our sport: ARM MOTIONS!

The secret to a great cheerleading isn't just knowing where you arms go, it's about sharpness. All arm motions need to be sharp. That means that you need to tighten your muscles for each motion.  The tighter the motions, the cleaner and more polished your cheering and dancing will be.  

The "Cinnamon Roll" Secret

If you want to master your arm motions, you need to have the correct fist placement. We use two main views: 

Big Cinnamon Rolls: The "flat" side of your fist (thumb side) faces the crowd.Use this for High-Vs, Low-Vs, Ts, and Diagonals)

Little Cinnamon Roll: The "circular" side of your fist (pinky side) faces the crowd for the following motions: Goal Posts, top arm of L, bottom arm of K, Daggers, and Punch.

The Core Motion Library (pictures from NCA)

When hitting these, always check your "peripheral vision." If you can't see your arms out of the corner of your eyes, they are too far back!

• High-V:  Your arms fold a bold "V" shape.  Keep your shoulders relaxed and down.    

  

• Low-V: Same as above, but your arms are forming an inverted V. 

 

• T: Arms are locked out straight to the sides.  Think of a straight line from fingertip to fingertip. 

 

• Goal posts (touchdown): Both arms are punched up near your ears. Once again, make sure you can see both arms out of the corner of your eyes. Little cinnamon roll faces the crowd.

 

• Diagonal (right & left): One arm is in a high-V and the other in a low-V. 

 

• L (right & left): One arm is extended in a punch near your ear with little cinnamon roll and the other arm in a T position with big cinnamon roll facing crowd. 

 

Additional motions

• Broken-T (half-T): Little cinnamon rolls face crowd

 

• Daggers (tabletop): Little cinnamon rolls face crowd.

 

• Punch: One arm punched up near head/ear with little cinnamon roll. The other arm, bent with fist in hip.

 

• Clap (prayer clap)

 

• Clasp

• Buckets: Arms extended in front of you like you're holding buckets 
• K (right & left): Back arm hits a High-V and front arm crosses body with a Low-V. 
• Candlesticks: Arms extended in front of you like you are holding candles. 

Level Up Your Sharpness: Training Drills

Once you know the correct placement of each motion, including the proper way to form a fist, then you can begin doing drills to strengthen your motions. 

Hit drills: The best place to do hit drills is in front of a mirror or a place where you can see your reflection. Each motion gets two-counts and you are focusing on being sharp and tightening your arms for all motions. Try this following order when practicing your hit drills: 

          Count 5,6,7, 8. 

• High-V 1-2
• Low-V 3-4
• T 5-6
• Goal post 7-8
• Right diagonal 1-2
• Left diagonal 3-4
• Right L 5-6
• Left L 7-8

Timed Drills: Hit each motion sharply and hold for one minute. You'll feel the burn around 30 seconds in. Squeeze your muscles and clench your fists. After a minute, shake your arms and let rest one minute before hitting your next motion. Pro-Tip: Once this becomes easy, try holding a can of soup or light weights in each hand as you hit and hold the motions. 

Bottom Line: Every cheerleader started here. Master the basics and stay sharp!

What to Expect at Tryouts

Every cheerleading program has their own format for cheerleading tryouts.  Some schools have specific tumbling requirements, essays, or even teacher recommendations.  Most programs have clinic days where candidates learn the material required to perform at tryouts.   Make sure to inquire about all the requirements for the team you are trying out for.

Here’s what to expect at KCHS Cheer tryouts.  

Come ready to work! Wear tennis shoes and athletic clothing you can easily move in. Hair should be in a ponytail with bangs pinned back. Make sure to bring plenty water and a light snack.  

If you’ve been keeping up with all the previous posts, then you’ll be ready for tryouts.  Each topic prepares you for one of the components you’ll be learning at tryout clinics.

• Stretching
• Cheer motions
• Jumps
• Chant
• Cheer
• Dance

Clinics start off with a short jog for warm-up, followed by stretching.  Basic cheer motions will be reviewed (make sure to check out our post on cheer motions).  Cheerleading kicks and jumps will then be demonstrated and you’ll be given a short time to practice them. It’s really beneficial for you to start practicing them now! You can find the tutorial on our jumps post.  You will also learn a chant, a cheer, a short dance, and a basic kickline sequence.

What does the final day of tryouts look like?  Your hair should up and out of your face. Wear a white t-shirt (no spaghetti strap tank tops), black athletic shorts, and tennis shoes. Make sure to arrive early. You’ll check in and receive your tryout number.  From there, you’ll need to warm-up and review on your own outside of the gym.  Groups of up to four will be called into the gym at a time.  Take a deep breath, walk in with confidence and a smile on your face. I know it is a nerve wracking experience, but try your best to have FUN!

Candidates will then perform their jump, chant, cheer, dance, and kickline.  Don’t be discouraged if you make a mistake. Just jump right back in and pick up with the rest of the group.  We aren’t looking for perfection and all of us have been in your shoes.  Once your group is done, you’ll exit the gym.  Take a moment to be proud of the hard work you put in.  Results dates and times will be sent out via the BAND App.

Best of luck and see you at tryouts!

Learn a Dance

If you’ve never had any dance experience, learning a choreographed routine can be difficult at first. It is a world of counting to eight over and over again.  Instead of words to accompany the motions like in a cheer or chant, each motion goes to a count or half-count.  Those counts must then be in sync with the beat of the music.  Sometimes hearing the beats can be tricky, but with practice you’ll learn how to count to music.

You might have already heard the famous  “5, 6, 7, 8.” This is used to signal the start of the routine. Dances can include cheer motions, steps, kicks, jumps, etc.  To help you memorize the dance, make sure to count out loud when learning it. The verbal cues and physical motion will help your mind and body remember what comes next.  I also suggest practicing an 8-count over and over until you have it before moving on to the next section of the dance.  It’s like trying to memorize words or numbers. It’s much easier to memorize a small group at a time than a large group at once.  

Take a look at the example tryout dance from 2014.

Learn a Cheer

What is the difference between a chant and a cheer? A chant is a short, repetitive cheer used on the sidelines (see previous post about learning a chant).  A cheer is longer and is often used during halftime performances or even time outs.  Cheers can tell a story or focus on getting the crowd to yell back with them.  

Here is a sample cheer from UCA tryout material used in 2014.  

(Yell to start cheer) Score Mustangs Score

1, 2 this cheer’s for you

KC fans, yell Go Big Blue (The crowd is then suppose to reply back with you: Go Big Blue)

3, 4 let’s cheer some more

KC fans, yell Score Mustangs Score (The crowd is suppose to reply back with you: Score Mustangs Score)

(Now you repeat the same lines you want the crowd to yell back with you)

Go Big Blue, Score Mustangs Score

(crowd should yell with you) Go Big Blue, Score Mustangs Score

Remember to work on those sharp motions when executing a cheer.  Tight motions make the cheer clean and easy to follow.  Use your loud voice and break your words up so that your crowd can clearly understand you.  One thing many people make the mistake of doing when they yell a cheer is singing.  We don’t want to sing the cheer, but instead break up the syllables to help enunciate the words. Make sure to end the word on its last sound and not draw it out.  For example, the above cheer has many instances when someone might accidentally “sing” it.

Incorrect:

One, twoooo, this cheer’s for yooouuu,

Correct:

One, two, this cheer’s for you.  

The best way to think about it is to use a breath for each syllable.  Place your hands on your upper abdomen while you practice yelling the cheer.  You should feel your muscles contracting with each syllable to help push out the air and project your voice.

Once you’ve learned the cheer, practice it in front of a mirror or record yourself to see what areas you need to improve on.  Look for sharp, clean motions. Listen for a loud, clear voice. And of course, make sure to have a smile on your face.  

Learn a Chant (sideline cheer)

Now that you’ve had some time to learn the basic arm motions, let’s learn some material to help you prepare for tryouts.  The video below is just an example, and is not the actual chant for this season’s tryouts.  However, learning this will help prepare you for the new material at tryouts.

Chant
A chant is a short, repetitive cheer used on the sidelines.  The main purpose of a chant is to get the crowd involved and yelling with you.  A caller, the person calling out the cheer, will start the chant by facing the crowd and yelling out the first part of the chant.  This signals the squad, who then turns to face the crowd and finishes yelling the remainder of the chant along with the caller.  On the second time through, the motions for the chant begin. Enthusiasm, smiles, and spirit need to exude as you perform this chant.  The chant continues until you hear the caller yell “last time.”  When the final motion is hit, it is held for a few seconds before you begin to rally (more on rallying below).  In our program, squad members hold the last motion until the caller yells “KC” and the rest of the squad cleans their last motion by yelling “Go Mustangs.”

Yelling
Often times, people confuse yelling and screaming.  In cheerleading, we want to yell by projecting our voice to help amplify it.  This is all done through the correct use of your breathing and your diaphragm muscle.  If you scream, you risked injuring your throat, and it becomes too high pitched and difficult for the crowd to follow.  You want to take deep breathes, and push words out using your diaphragm muscle.

Rallying
Rallying includes yelling and doing kicks and/or jumps to show your spirit.  You see rallying after every chant and performance, and during exciting moments during a sporting event. 

Check out this video to learn a little more about rallying and showing spirit at tryouts. 

https://youtu.be/twHoaJKVkmA

Learn a Chant 

Watch the video below to learn a chant (sideline).  

If video doesn't load, click the following link: Come on Shout Your Colors Out, Blue & White

Jumps

Cheerleading jumps are a way to show your spirit and enthusiasm on the sidelines.  They also show great athleticism and flexibility.  They are not something you can master overnight, but instead they are a skill you work on to improve daily.  Just like doing the splits, proper stretching and technique will help you get the results you’re looking for.

All good cheerleading jumps must have a prep.  The style of the cheerleading jump prep has changed over the years, but ultimately, the main goal is to use the prep to execute the jump with the most power, height, and form.  Before trying a cheerleading jump, practice the following cheer jump prep.  It will help you develop proper form and technique that you’ll need once you start including the actual jump with it.

Jump Prep: Don’t forget to do a proper warm-up and stretches before trying any of the jumps below.

If the video doesn't load, click HERE.

Once you have the timing of your jump prep down, try to add the following jumps.

Pencil/T-jump: This jump helps you get the rhythm of jumping and hitting that T motion while you’re in the air. Hitting your T-motion is a crucial component in executing a cheer jump. If you don't hit the T-motion, your arms may end up blocking your legs from hitting their desired motion or slow down your upward momentum. The second aspect the pencil/T-jump helps you develop is keeping your chest up.  Many times people tend to lean forward toward their legs while jumping. This actually causes your momentum to decrease and pushes your body down instead of allowing it to lift up into the air.  When you hit your pencil/T-jump, you should almost feel like you paused for a second in the air before gravity brings you back down.  Counting your jump out, you should hit your T motion on 4, and slowly come back down to the ground. It is very important to make sure you land correctly, so that you don’t cause major jolting to your knees or shins.  To do this, allow your body to absorb the momentum by landing toe and then heel with a slight bend to your knees.  Think about jumping into the air to rebound a basketball. When you’re coming down from that jump, you don’t land flat footed with straight legs.  If you did, you would feel that jarring pain in your knees right away.

If the video doesn't load, click HERE

Toe Touch: The toe touch is the most common cheerleading jump.  It is also the jump most programs require you to perform at tryouts.  The simple way to explain a toe touch is that it’s your straddle stretch in the air. You use your jump prep, hit your T, keep your chest up, and make sure your toes are pointed.  Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see the height right away.  It will come with increased flexibility, proper technique, and of course, practice!  I think the hardest part people tend to have when trying to execute a toe touch is getting your legs in the proper position.  If you have your legs in front of you, you’re stopping your legs from extending any further.  You want your legs to rotate out to the side of your body, behind your T-motion.  Have your shoe laces either facing up to the sky or rotate outward.

If the video doesn't load, click HERE

Flexibility

Flexibility is essential in building strong cheerleading skills. It helps improve your kicks, jumps, dancing, and stunting.  To begin your flexibility training, you need to always warm up your muscles first.  If you stretch cold muscles, you risk pulling or tearing a muscle.  Start with a short 5-10 minute warmup (e.g., jumping jacks, light jog, or short dance).  Follow the basic daily stretching routine below.

Daily Stretching Routine

Ankle rolls (rotating ankles): 20 per ankle; 10 each direction
Gastrocnemius (calf) stretch: 10-20 seconds each  leg
Quadriceps stretch: 10-20 seconds each leg
Shoulder stretch: 10-20 seconds each arm
Tricep stretch: 10-20 seconds per arm
Rotate wrists & stretch: 10 rotations per wrist (5 clockwise, 5 counter-clockwise) 10-20 sec hold per wrist
Straddle stretch: 10-20 seconds per leg, plus 10-20 seconds center stretch (both hands reaching forward on the floor)
Splits stretch: 10-20 seconds per leg, plus 10-20 seconds center stretch	Check out these video tutorials

Intense Stretching Routine (2-3 times a week, alternating days)

1. Begin with a 5-10 minute warmup (jog, jumping jacks, or dance)
2. Using a flexibility band (belt, dog-leash, or long ribbon) hold each stretch for 15-20 seconds (Click HERE to watch video)
• Straight leg ( 2 sets each leg)
• Out-wide “groin stretch” (2 sets each leg)
• Across the body “I.T. band” (2 sets each leg)
3. Splits: right, left, and center

• hold each for 15-20 seconds
• 2 sets of each