Hit It You say one final prayer before stepping onto the blue mats for the last time. You are where every competitive high school cheer squad dreams of being: the State Championships. Then you hear your cue: “And now, from Rochester, Illinois, the Rochester Rockets!” As you run to your mark, you think about all the time, effort, sweat, blood, and tears you and the 15 other girls have put forth just for these next 3 minutes. Before the music starts, you think two words to yourself: “Hit it.” The months of preparation, hundreds of hours of practice, and thousands of dollars put into competitive cheerleading are well worth to the rewards of hitting a perfect routine. The first step in achieving perfection on the blue mats is preparation.
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Many teams higher choreographers to create the entire routine. As previously mentioned, there are many rules that must be accounted for when creating the routine, therefore choreographers should have plenty of experience in cheerleading and be familiar with the rules. For partner stunts, there should be a separate spotter for each person over shoulder stand level, the bases must have their feet planted on the performance surface, and the total number of twists or dismounts cannot add to more than 1 1/4 rotations. For pyramids, the stunt cannot be more than two persons high, meaning the top girl must be supported by someone on the ground. For tosses, there are no more than four tossers aloud and three of them must catch the top girl. The top girl also cannot spin more than 1 1/4 rotations in a toss. For tumbling, flips and twists greater than one rotation are prohibited, and landing on anything but feet is prohibited as well (“2015-16 School...”). These are just a few of the many rules that must be followed in order to avoid disqualification. The routine should include a 1 1/2 minute long cheer which may include tosses, stunts, and tumbling. The words of the cheer should be clearly spoken loudly, as voice projection is a part of scoring. In the 1 1/2 minute music section of the cheer, there may be tosses, stunts, and tumbling in the music section, but there should also be a pyramid, dance, and jumps. It is important to keep in mind the visuals of the routine, as formation/transitions, synchronization, and degree of difficulty. A great deal of thought is put into all routines. Many questions that must be asked: Who does which skill best? How can we show our best skills in the most visually pleasing way? What do the judges want to see? What sets us apart from any other squad? All of these questions must be answered in order to achieve
Many teams higher choreographers to create the entire routine. As previously mentioned, there are many rules that must be accounted for when creating the routine, therefore choreographers should have plenty of experience in cheerleading and be familiar with the rules. For partner stunts, there should be a separate spotter for each person over shoulder stand level, the bases must have their feet planted on the performance surface, and the total number of twists or dismounts cannot add to more than 1 1/4 rotations. For pyramids, the stunt cannot be more than two persons high, meaning the top girl must be supported by someone on the ground. For tosses, there are no more than four tossers aloud and three of them must catch the top girl. The top girl also cannot spin more than 1 1/4 rotations in a toss. For tumbling, flips and twists greater than one rotation are prohibited, and landing on anything but feet is prohibited as well (“2015-16 School...”). These are just a few of the many rules that must be followed in order to avoid disqualification. The routine should include a 1 1/2 minute long cheer which may include tosses, stunts, and tumbling. The words of the cheer should be clearly spoken loudly, as voice projection is a part of scoring. In the 1 1/2 minute music section of the cheer, there may be tosses, stunts, and tumbling in the music section, but there should also be a pyramid, dance, and jumps. It is important to keep in mind the visuals of the routine, as formation/transitions, synchronization, and degree of difficulty. A great deal of thought is put into all routines. Many questions that must be asked: Who does which skill best? How can we show our best skills in the most visually pleasing way? What do the judges want to see? What sets us apart from any other squad? All of these questions must be answered in order to achieve