How to Become a Cheerleader in Middle School

If you have ever wanted to become a cheerleader for any reason, now is the time to start, at least three months before tryouts. In middle school, becoming a cheerleader is a lot easier than in high school. If you want to become a cheerleader, you need to know motions, jumps, and tumbling, so, if you want to become a cheerleader, keep reading.

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If you don't know the exact date, begin training as soon as possible. Besides, training more is better. Also over the summer you should take a tumbling class. Most middle school cheerleading is all or mostly tumbling.
Start eating a healthier diet. You should already have healthy habits implemented into your diet. Eat appropriate well-portioned sizes. Middle school cheer teams tend to not give diet plans, so it doesn't generally matter. You should train with spare time. A healthy meal plan to follow is for breakfast, eat a small bowl of oatmeal, a banana, a small slice of cheese, a spoonful of peanut butter, and 3 glasses of water. Before morning practice it's best to eat an energy bar or a cereal bar. This should be your morning snack. For lunch, eat a nice filling lunch like pasta, or a sandwich with carbs for energy. Also, If you're still hungry you can have a small portion of fruits and vegetables. Eat whatever your parents make for dinner. For dessert, eat vanilla yogurt with peanut butter mixed in.
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You need to train for specific cheer moves like jumps, motions, and tumbling, and for overall endurance, strength, and flexibility. To train for jumps, you need to do at least 30 straddle leg lifts on each leg. A straddle leg lift is when you sit in a straddle and lift up one leg at a time without letting it touch the floor. You also need to do 30 squat jumps, 15 hops on each foot, 30 toe raises, and 30 squats. Don't forget cheerleader crunches, which is where you lie on your back with your arms above your head and crunch up into a toe touch on the floor, do 15 of these. Also, doing 10 of each required jump is great! For your motions, learn how to do bow and arrow, daggers, go or punch, hands on hips, left L, right L, left K, right K, left diagonal, right diagonal, T, broken T, high V, low V, touchdown, and low touchdown. Keep these motions stiff and tight. For tumbling, do 10 cartwheels, 10 round offs, and 10 handstands. Make sure you keep your arms and legs straight and tight and your toes pointed. Imagine you are a board. For endurance, do cardio 4 days a week. Do a cardio workout routine video. For strength training, which should be done 3 days a week, do a workout video that focuses on strengthening your arms one day, your legs one day, and your abs another day. For flexibility, do stretches twice a day. You need to have a good split.
Train your voice. Practice speaking loud and clear. Make sure you don't sing your words and they are low pitched, loud, and clear. Practice a good voice everyday by doing breathing exercises, speaking loud, and making sure every word that you say isn't too quick, slow, or mumbled.
You should be able to do a good toe touch, right herkie, and left herkie. You also need a solid cartwheel and round off. You need to have good motions, a split, and a strong voice.
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Shine at the tryouts. You need to stand out at tryouts. If you can do a herkie, toe touch, split, cartwheel, and round off, you should be able to make it. During cheerleading tryouts, dress neatly in a school shirt, dance shorts, dance or cheer shoes, your hair in a high ponytail with a bow.
- For school shirts, make sure they are in your school colors if you can. Tie up the back if it is too long. Wear black dance shorts if you aren't super-duper tan and pastel shorts if you are super duper tan. Your dance/cheer shoes should be either white or black with white ankle socks. If you pick to go with dance shoes, jazz shoes are the best option.
- For your hair, brush it into a ponytail that is behind your part and high. Wear a bow in either white or your school colors.
- Makeup is not necessary, if you're doing tryouts outside in the sun you shouldn't apply too much makeup, if you're still planning to wear makeup, wear sweatproof makeup.
- For your tattoo, make it have to do with your mascot, for example, a paw print, animal, or school initials.
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Do your cheer with a lot of energy. Make it loud, snappy, and sharp. On the first day of tryouts, they will have you perform a cheer, a toe touch and optional tumbling. Make sure you bring your legs up high in the toe touch and your back straight. For tumbling, do your cartwheel, round off, and handstand.
- In the breakout and warm up/stretching sessions, show off your split, straddle, and bridge. Give girls advice if they ask about your moves. You will perform a toe touch, herkie, split, cartwheel, round off, handstand, and cheer. You will do similar things to yesterday, but you have to be even better than before. Show off your oversplit if you are there.
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Celebrate when you make the team. Continue to do endurance, strength, and stretching routines. Don't stuff your head with ideas about cheerleaders and think you are better than the others. Make sure you are an awesome cheerleader and bring it! You can wear tank tops to practice if you want.
You can try out for an All Star team if you want or you can keep training on your own for the next year. Train even more and for longer sessions until you have the best jumps in town!

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What are the required cheerleading jumps?
Community Answer
A toe-touch is a jump that you will definitely use in cheerleading. Other jumps in cheerleading are pikes, hurdlers, and tucks.
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Can I be a cheerleader if I have never done gymnastics?
Community Answer
You can, but know that it takes hard work and you need to be able to do some stunts. Start by stretching.
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How do I improve toe touches?
Community Answer
Don't focus on touching your toes; bring your legs up to you. Also, doing toe touches (or any jump) on a trampoline will help.
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Tips

Have fun!
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Don't put too much pressure on yourself.
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Have a life outside of cheerleading.
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The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of How.com.vn readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on How.com.vn, please submit it in the field below.

Cheerleading shouldn't be about becoming popular. It should be about having fun and showing your skills. Don't be mean or rude to others, just because that's how cheerleaders are portrayed in movies. Being polite and practicing can take you far.
Cheerleaders are leaders. Be a good example. Be loud so you'll stand out more. Don't worry about tumbling or messing up a move. Make sure you smile, keep your arms locked and straight, and look judges in the eyes as you dance.
Remember to be yourself and have fun, so people will like you for you who are. You don't have to become someone you're not to impress others. People will like you for you, and if they don't, that's their loss.
Be sure to regularly practice your splits, as this is a key move for cheerleaders!

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Warnings

Overtraining can lead to serious issues in your physical and mental health.
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If you weren't previously popular, people may not talk to you at first, but eventually, other popular team members will treat you like family.
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