Cheerleading Tips for Competitions From the Judges!

Cheerleading competitions can be fierce and hard to do well. What does the judge want? Will they notice this or that? Well, fortunately for you, I have several tips that will help you with your competition composure because you will know exactly what the judges will want from your squad.

Knowing what the judges want will help you greatly and relieve your stress levels when gearing up for competition. The secret to impressing the judges is actually just not over-thinking things.

1. The judges want to see better synchronization because a lot of schools don't apparently put as much emphasis on this aspect of cheerleading as they could. The thought is there and the desire to do good synchronization is not enough; you have to be able to have great synchronization. The lack of synchronization accuracy is actually more distracting than one would think, even if the cheerleaders are only a fraction of a second off. The judges don't like to see the timing differences because these take away from the impact of the stunt and the overall routine. A car doesn't look so great if one of the headlights doesn't shine as bright as the other. 
2. Work on avoiding the falls. Judges hate seeing someone fall during a routine. For one thing, it makes them cringe because the person could be hurt but it also just detracts from the greatness of the routine. 
3. Make more use of the "role players" and don't let them just hang out in the back or the side doing something simple. Put them to work and make them part of the center of the show just as much as your other cheerleaders. 
4. Cover the score sheet. The judges can't give you any points for doing stunts if you do not do the stunts. It just makes sense. 
5. Have emotion but not EMOTION. Yeah, you're excited you finally landed the intense, new stunt and you know that you rocked the house but acting insane will not bode well. See, the judges look at how you react to things and if you act like landing the stunt was the first time doing so, they will see it and not be as impressed. Act like things were supposed to happen and you are composed. Even if you messed something up, act like it was part of the show and move on. 
6. Use your space. You have an entire performance area so use it. Keeping to one spot doesn't look aesthetically pleasing to the judges and the crowd. 
7. Be good sports. So you didn't win the competition? Well, as unfortunate as that is, still go and congratulate the other team(s) that did do better. Even if you don't know who won or lost, be good sports. 

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