Do you Have a Game Plan?

coaching sidelines

You've learned all of your cheers and chants, and you've worked on some crowd-pleasing stunts. But is your team really ready for game day?

I am now coaching a brand new team. They have no sideline cheerleading experience. When I have rebuilt programs in the past, I would at least have a good number of cheerleaders that have at least cheered at a game. So, I am starting at square one. I have taken for granted having athletes on my team with sideline experience, so I want to pass along what I am doing to get my team game ready. I hope these tips are helpful to you!

Pre-Game

How will you stand at attention for the National Anthem? My teams have always done a salute over their hearts with their right hands and then their left hand behind their backs with fingers crossed for good luck.

Determine what you are going to do right before kick-off or before the game starts. We are going to do our fight song. You can do that or you can choose a cheer with a stunt. Our fight song ends with a stunt.

Sideline Cheers

Start the game with a crowd favorite, a chant you know the crowd loves to yell.

Determine your first five cheers and make sure your captains know them and how to call the cheers. I like yelling the last line of the cheer and then going into the full cheer.

Be consistent in how many times you yell the cheer. In most cases, my team yells the cheers four times.

Practice how your team will turn from facing the field to facing the audience. Yell 5-6-7-8 and have them cross their left leg behind their right so they turn the same way.

Quarters and Time outs

Plan what you will do between the quarters and plan at least 5 time out cheers. For these, keep it simple. This is a great time to use signs. I even do simple cheers such as holding up signs with the school letters and then Go, Fight, Win. They yell with the signs F-R-C-S, Go, Fight, Win! Those who are not holding a sign can tumble in the front or lead the crowd with simple motions.

This is a great time to show off your skills. Choose a solid stunt that your team hits 9 out of 10 times or choose a jump or tumbling skills.

In a timeout or quarter cheer, an easy template is to have everyone chant with motions once through, move to stunt groups once through, and stunt once through.

Decide if you want to end in the stunt or come down while chanting. if you come down, be sure to go through the words one last time while hitting the crowd.

Practice Spiriting

When you practice the sideline, quarter and timeout cheers, make sure they practice spiriting after. Make sure they yell words like “Let’s go Tigers.” They should not be yelling “whoo!” Yell actual words. Make them jump a few times after or they can do some kicks. Standing tumbling works well here too. The more jumps they do the better their jumps will get for competitions and performances.

Half-Time Plan

Determine what they will do at half-time. Half-time is an opportunity to show off your team’s skills. My teams typically do a cheer with a stunt and then a dance with a stunt sequence and pyramid.