Cheer Coach Resources

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. In this post I share ideas for choosing captains for your team. I always recommend getting approval from your administration on your captain selection process to ensure you have their support. Click Here to purchase an editable packet I created to streamline your Cheer Captain Application and Selection. Cheer Captain Qualities Below I have listed some of the most important qualities for a captain, which qualities would you add or change? Reflect on your values as a coach and write them down. Keep these values in mind as you choose captains. Dependable It goes without saying that you need to be able to rely on your captains. You should be able to delegate...

Cheer Team Attendance Policy

Cheerleading Practice Attendance Policy and Consequences Do your cheerleaders keep missing practice? It affects the success of the team. You have to rearrange stunt groups, line ups, and choreography. Often times this means watering down stunts. I coach a high school cheerleading squad and I made the mistake my first year as head coach by not having an attendance policy. I always had cheerleaders absent! But once I implemented our attendance policy, we almost never had a cheerleader missing from practice. Whether it be a doctors appointment, the flu, or a family emergency. Absences happen. There is no way to fully avoid them. However, you can set your team up for success by implementing a fair and consistent attendance policy. Write Out Your Attendance Policy Clearly Include your attendance policy with your list of rules. We have a cheerleading contract that includes the attendance policy. Your attendance policy is implemented to ensure the safety and preparedness of y...

Advice for a First Year Cheer Coach

Advice for a First Year Cheer Coach Choose Your Battles Coaching high school cheerleaders is so rewarding. However there are times when it can be tough to coach teenage girls. Choose your battles. Include The Team in Making Certain Decisions Ensure you have a clear distinction of coaches decisions and cheerleader's decisions. For example, as coaches we decide lineups, stunt groups, captains, etc. Cheerleaders help us to decide on practice clothing, how they wear their hair for certain games, themes for spirit week, etc. Establish that the coach has final say. Create a structure so your team knows when they help make decisions and which decisions are made by coaches. Over Communicate, but Keep It Concise Decide how you will communicate with your team and their parents/guardians. Parents appreciate knowing the schedule as soon as possible. At tryouts, try to give the cheerleaders and families as much information as possible. Then post the information. If you are us...

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