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 isn't the exception.  As with any athletic activity, there are some key basics that one must start with before diving right in.

Let's start with the basic arm motions.  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.  

Fist Placement

Big cinnamon roll: Faces the crowd majority of the time (High-V, Low-V, T, diagonals)

Little cinnamon roll: Faces the crowd for the following motions: goal posts, top arm of L, bottom arm of K, daggers, punch

Motions (pictures from NCA)

• High-V:  Make sure you can see both arms out of the corner of your eyes. This helps to make sure your arms aren't too far back. Make sure to relax your shoulders.    

  

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

 

• T: Arms are extended out. Make sure you can see both arms out of the corner of your eyes, so they aren't placed too far back. 

 

• 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. Small 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 small cinnamon roll and the other arm in a T position with big cinnamon roll facing crowd. 

 

Additional motions

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

 

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

 

• Punch: One arm punched up near head/ear with small 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. 

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 a count 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, clasp 8. 

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

• 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. Once your arms start to build up to this drill, try holding a can of soup in each hand as you hit and hold the motions.