When it comes to cheerleading, it was always my dream to cheer in college since the day I attended middle school cheerleading tryouts. Of course, I had cheered as a "little league" cheerleader all throughout elementary school, but it was never taken too seriously. When I joined the high school squad, I knew college cheer was what I wanted to do. Although I made the team at Lindsey Wilson College during the first round of tryouts, I was in for more than I had originally planned. These are the HUGE differences I wish I would've known between high school cheer and college cheer:
1. Tumbling is MANDATORY.
That back handspring you had was a maybe (on a good day) when it came competition time in high school. By the time college competition came around, you had that back handspring-tuck or you were in the back of the mat doing nothing while trying to look cute doing nothing without the judges taking points off.
2. Your jump sequences are PERFECT.
In high school, if your jumps were bad, you were put in the back of the formation. In college, if you’re jumps are bad, you keep doing them (over and over again) until you point both toes, chest up, arms straight, legs straight. Sometimes coach will bring out the ankle weights. That’s when you learn to practice jumps in your spare time (multiple daily trips to the gym).
3. Your rivals are actually your best friends.
Although in high school, you wouldn’t be caught DEAD talking to another girl from the rival school (the worst kind of betrayal), college is more of a grown-up setting and we make friends with everyone, especially rivals – I mean, you have to have more people to stunt with in the pool during the hotel stays for competition.
4. Generally, the coach is more involved and the parents are not.
In most cases, the high school coach is a coach and that’s about it. It’s not very often that the high school coach will be right there on those mats with you, doing the full routine, stunting, tumbling and doing jumps. College coaches, however, are always there for backup. Sarah is sick and can’t stunt today? Coach steps in and does Sarah’s part of the stunt (unless it’s flying…that’s a different story). When it comes to parents, in high school, parents are at EVERY game and competition, almost every practice, they run the fundraisers and events held by the team, and they’re also a part of the team decision on uniforms, bags, poms, bows, and shoes. In college, parents generally attend the games and competitions, but that’s where their attendance ends. As a college cheerleader, you handle the fundraisers by yourself, and decide as a team when it comes to new purchases.
5. Your basket tosses are higher, bigger, and much better, as well as stunts in general.
In high school, there are so many rules and regulations that come along with our favorite thing: stunting and basket tosses. In college, we also have regulations to go by, but they aren’t nearly as strict. We’re dare-devils, and we LOVE to try new things. College cheerleaders generally find the most difficult basket toss or stunt that can be done clean and sharp, but also gives the judges that “Wow!” factor; while, sometimes, high school cheerleaders are limited to what can be done while abiding by the rules and regulations.
6. Your practices are much longer, and earlier.
Most high schools have their cheer practices after school is over, a couple of day each week. High school also has occasional weekend practices when competition is around the corner. Generally speaking, high school cheerleaders practice 3pm to 5pm on Mondays and Thursdays, 3pm to 4:30pm of gymnastics on Wednesdays. High school cheerleaders spend approximately 5-6 hours practicing each week. In college, if you weren’t there before the sun came up, you were late. You have 6am to 8am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You also have training 6am to 8am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Plus the one to two hour night practices on Wednesday and Sunday nights. College cheerleaders generally have approximately 12-14 hours of practice each week. Either way, we all have a pretty eventful week with games and competitions on top of these crazy hours.
7. You aren’t afraid to call someone out on their flaws…when it’s completely necessary.
So many times in high school cheer, if a stunt failed, it was most often put on the entire group, even if it was the simple mistake of one person. In college, if Sarah lets go of Christi’s foot too soon, throwing Christi off balance and causing her to fall, you’re much more likely to tell Sarah something along the lines of: “Hey, you went a little early that time, you need to go on count five, not four.” College cheer is more of an adult atmosphere and you feel more comfortable talking out the REAL problems of the stunt, not the drama part that comes along with high school
8. Sometimes, college cheer can make you do some pretty risky things.
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I can’t count how many times I’ve been injured by doing risky stunts/tumbling/jumps while in college cheer. In high school, if you try something risky, it’s very likely that the coach will look at you and say something like this: “Let’s not do that. It’s too risky. You’ll get hurt.” Although injury does not always come when doing risky things on a college cheer squad, it is pretty common to break a finger, earn a huge bruise, bust open your lip, or even pull a muscle.
Although high school cheer and college cheer are different in so many ways, they have one major thing in common: a passion for the sport. Whether you’ve cheered since you learned to walk or have only been on the squad for a year or two, we all have an incredibly deep-rooted passion for cheerleading. The bond you share with the girls on your team is very nearly unbreakable, because you all want one thing… To be the best cheerleader you can be.
