You Be the Judge

Back in the day, for cheerleading tryouts it used to be a popularity contest. Girls would stand up in front of the whole school, perform a dance and cheer and the school would vote on who should be on the cheerleading team. Yep, that is the way I initially tried out. Times have changed, so if your school is still doing tryouts this way, please stop! Raise the standard for the sport.

Many coaches now bring in judges from the outside that have cheerleading experience. I have judged a number of tryouts. But guess what? I personally have NEVER brought in outside strangers to judge tryouts. I actually do not agree with this method and this is why:

What other sports team brings in outside judges to determine their teams? I can’t think of any. Please let me know if I am wrong! Cheerleading is a sport. If we continue to use this method, we are not helping change the myth that cheerleading is not a sport.

When you enlist others to select your team, you are telling people you are not qualified to make the selection. You may be saying – well I am not! Maybe you were the only one who would step up and coach. Maybe you know nothing about cheerleading. The people I have had to judge tryouts are the team’s tumbling coach, and my assistants. So, get help from those individuals. Or, learn what you need to learn to determine who has the skills it takes. Be confident in knowing that if you have chosen to coach, you likely have a good eye for knowing what looks good and what does not.

When you enlist others to select your team, you are giving up some of your authority. I think some coaches have judges come in and select the team so when the girl who doesn’t make the team or she makes JV instead of Varsity, it is easy to put it on the judges and not take responsibility as a coach. My opinion is that you step up and take the responsibility.

The truth is that you will likely choose the same exact team as the judges. Yes, you are going to get the calls from the parents who are upset with the results. I have taken many of those calls and they are still going to call you anyway and you are still going to have to explain why. At the very least, you will gain respect from the parents and the team for being able to back up your decisions.

Learn more by watching this video below.

Be The Judge Video