How to Choose Cheer Captains

Choose the Best Cheer Captains for your Team

Choosing cheer captains for your team is one of the most important decisions of your season. Your captains serve as a liaison between the coaches and the cheerleaders. It is so important to have a strong working relationship with the athletes you choose to be captain of your team. 

Cheer Captain Qualities

Dependable

It goes without saying that you need to be able to rely on your captains. You should be able to delegate tasks to them and know they will be completed in a timely manner. 

Integrity

Your captains are role models for your team. Choose leaders who do the right thing, even when they think no one notices. Choose the captain that stays after to roll up mats. Choose the captain who speaks highly of their teammates.

Hard Working

Your captains set the tone for how hard your team will work. Choose captains who push themselves during the workout. Choose captains who cheer loudly and enthusiastically during the entire game. Choose the captain who is determined to hit the new stunt. Choose the captain who does not complain during warm ups.

Encouraging

Captains have the privilege of helping teach their teammates cheers, dances, and stunts. We all learn best from someone who is kind and encouraging. Choose a captain who cheers for their teammates and believes in them to hit a new skill.

Experience 

Unless you have a new squad, I recommend that your cheerleading captain candidates have at least one year of cheerleading experience, preferably on your team. For example, we require captain applicants to have at least one year of cheering on our team before applying.

Cheer Captains Responsibilities

Calling Cheers

Our captains call the cheers and sidelines during football games and basketball games. We coach them to call cheers at least every two minutes and to plan ahead what material they will call during timeouts and quarter breaks.

Leading Practice Warm Ups

Captains are in charge of leading stretching and warm ups. This allows them to have ownership and leadership with the team. It also gives coaches a chance to take roll before practice.

Choreographing Routines

The cheerleaders love to create routines and halftimes. We assign one or two halftimes per year for them to create and teach. This allows the captains to work on their planning, leadership, and teaching. One day these captains could be coaches of their own squads so this is great practice. 

Cheerleading Captain Application

I recommend requiring a Cheerleading Captain Application that includes the following:

• Letter of Interest
• Report Card
• Letters of Recommendation
• Signed Cheerleading Captain Contract
• Votes from your cheerleaders
• Interview

When to Announce Captains

We ask for a letter of interest to be a cheer captain at tryouts so we know ahead of time who to pay close attention to. I prefer to announce captain after at least a few weeks of practice to observe how the athletes interact with their teammates and coaches. 

Then we have them submit their report card and at least three letters of recommendation from their teachers  or members of the community. They submit this along with our signed cheerleading captain contract. 

Once practice begins, we have the captain candidates introduce themselves to the team so the athletes know who is interested in being captain. After practicing together for a few weeks, we have the team vote on who they believe should be captain. This provides great insight on who the team looks up to and respects as a leader. 

You can also invite members of the community, teachers, or coaches from outside squads to hold an interview for each candidate. They can provide their feedback and recommend a captain for your program. 

After all of the recommendations and observations, you should feel confident in your decision to choose strong captains for your cheerleading squad.

What is your process for choosing a captain? Comment down below! I am always looking for more ideas to enhance my process of choosing a reliable captain