Skill Differences in College Cheer

College cheer is a competitive sport that requires discipline and dedication. To cheer at the college level, the athlete typically needs to meet minimum skill standards in order to make the team. As the Head Cheer Coach at Tarleton State University, I will share the skill requirements for our athletes.

It’s a Numbers Game.

Think about sports teams - they often have a huge number of athletes hoping to make the team but the rosters are typically small.  At Tarleton State, the cheer roster consists of 50 spots. With nearly 2,500 freshmen enrolling each year, you can bet that some may be interested in cheering at the college level but the open spots are few. Do these hopeful athletes have what it takes to make the cheer team? Experience and skill sets makes the difference.

Cheer Divisions

Cheerleading takes many shapes and forms, from little bitties to adults, from All-Star (competition) to grade school all the way up to college.  One of the more obvious differences in All-Star Cheer and school cheer is just that - competition.  All-Star cheerleaders are not always school cheerleaders and vice versa.  All-Star cheer is broken into levels for their skill sets.  These different levels are set for safety reasons by the U.S. All Star Federation (USASF).  Not only is All-Star cheer broken into levels, but they also have age groups which are set by USASF.  All-Star cheer typically runs all year long where school cheer is just during the actual school year, cheering at school athletic events.2  

College Cheer for your school first.

Looking further into college cheerleading, more specifically here at Tarleton, our cheerleaders participate in both school and competitive cheer.  Cheering for our school comes first, and then competitive cheer.  Safety skills are different in college as we cheer on different surfaces ie:  track, turf, dead mat (what you see below without the spring portion), basketball court whereas competitive cheer performs solely on a spring floor (see image below for what a spring floor looks like)

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Rules and Skill Sets

College cheer rules and skill sets are different from high school and/or All-Star Cheer.  Since colleges have different divisions like Junior College, NCAA Division I/II/III, all of the safety rules are implemented across the board for colleges from American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators (AACCA) and are required by NCAA to have a certified coach due to cheerleading not being a NCAA sport.  Most high schools follow the same guidelines set by AACCA but some are able to adhere to NFHS (National Federation High Schools) safety rules.1

Let’s break down some of the different skills within cheerleading and what the different skill sets are:  

Stunting, here are a few videos showing dismounts that are only legal for college cheer:

Twist Release to Prone X

Front Flip Cradle Dismount

Baskets:  

Back Tuck

Pyramids:

Inverted Pyramid with Release

One last thing that most don’t think about with cheerleading and would only come up with a routine would be the dive roll. Dive rolls are not legal for anyone except for college cheer according to USASF and AACCA.1

These are just a few examples, to view more videos there is a full listing on the AACCA website.1  

After reading this blog my hope is that you have a better understanding as to why there are so many differences in college cheer versus high school and/or all star.  It is important to realize that not everyone knows these differences however the plan is for those interested to be able to have a clear idea so that they are more aware and prepared should they make the transition from high school/all star to college.    

References

1 American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators:  http://aacca.org/

2 United States All Star Federation for Cheer and Dance Teams:  http://usasfrules.com/