In 1994, the Michigan High School Athletic Association voted to make Girls Competitive Cheer an official Michigan sport. Since that time, Competitive Cheer had evolved into the fastest growing female sport in the State of Michigan.
Each competitive team around the state competes in 4-12 competitions a year before heading to the regional tournament (Varsity). The top two teams from each region advance to the State Finals.
The Varsity team competes in 10-12 competitions each season, usually begining in late December or early January. The JV and Freshman teams compete as well. Not always in the same amount of competitions.
Competitive Cheer consists of three rounds of competition:
Round 1: Teams are judged on Formations, Voice, Team Coordination, Two Different Jumps, Difficulty, and General Impression.
Round 1 is a very visual cheer with lots of ripples, peel offs, and level changes. Formation changes should be visually exciting. MHSAA competitive cheer also puts a lot of stock in a teams enthusiasm, confidence, and facial expressions out on that mat. That is judged in the general impression score.
To be a great Round 1 Cheerleader, you should have:
Great Jumps
Great Facials
Tight Motions
Great Motion Placement
Great Execution of Motions
A Very Loud Voice
Round 2: Teams are judged on the "precision drill." All the teams in the state do the same 10 motions at the beginning of round 2. Each team can then choose five skills on which they want to be judged. At least one skill needs to come from each of the three Round 2 categories (jumps, tumbling, flexibility). Skills vary in difficulty. Round 2 also has a general impression category where the motions, voices, facials, formations, and team coordination is judged.
To be a great round 2 Cheerleader, you should have:
Amazing Jumps
Great Splits, A Solid Heelstretch
A Backwalkover
A Backhandspring
A BackTuck
Great Facials
A Very Loud Voice
Tight Motions
Great Motion Placement
Round 3: Consists mostly of stunting and tumbling.
Teams are judged on their formations, voice, team coordination, difficulty of stunts and tumbling, variety of stunts and tumbling, execution of their choreographed material, their choreography (# of single leg extensions, # of single twists, team tumbling, # of Back Tucks, # of Double Twists), and general impression. While Round 3 is often thought to be the most fun of all the rounds, it is also the most physically demanding.
To be a great round 3 cheerleader, you should have:
A Standing Backhandspring (Standing Back Tuck Preferred)
Great Facials
A Very Loud Voice
Stamina for connecting stunts
Great Technique in Stunting
Competitive season and competitive cheer are not for the faint of heart. It takes countless hours of hard work and dedication in order to obtain even modest rewards. However, competitive cheer celebrates cheerleaders as athletes, and demonstrates why they belong on the mat being cheered for by the crowd, and not merely cheering on the sidelines.
Competitive cheer teaches discipline, goal setting, confidence, and the power of a positive attitude. It teaches that sucess isn't permanent, and failure isn't fatal. The best competitive cheer teams in the state don't compete against their rivals, but compete against themselves to always improve, never back down, and strive to be the best that they can be.
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