Basketball Floor Cheers

Cheerleaders can use a variety of tactics to choreograph and perform basketball floor cheers during a game to get the crowd excited. By incorporating stunts and tumbling into your routines, the crowd is more likely to get into the game. Here are just a few hints for choreographing, cheering, and performing basketball floor cheers.

Planning Your Basketball Floor Cheer

Crowds get bored of seeing the same routines and cheers every single time. Whenever you're planning to cheer for a game, you should always include some favorite cheers into your repertoire. However, you should also take special care to come up with new and exciting cheers each week. If you can include stunts or tumbling into your cheer, that's even better.

Writing Your Cheer

In order to choreograph your routine, you need to write words first. If you have writer's block, consider:

• Reworking old words into a new routine
• Writing a cheer based on your team's colors
• Writing a cheer based on your mascot

Tip: Much of your summer should be spent brainstorming and writing new cheers. This way during the year, you can focus on choreography and improving your stunts.

Choreographing Your Cheer

Including some well-done stunts and tumbling in your cheer will really make the fans take notice. However, you should take care to work to your team's ability level and not push the squad beyond what they can do safely. Only incorporate stunts and tumbling into your basketball floor cheers that your team is extremely comfortable with performing. Remember these tips when your team is choreographing the cheer:

• Perform stunts that are well rehearsed 'easy' for you squad.
• Put the stunt in the middle of your cheer and make the transition smooth. (You don't want the crowd watching you try to find your places for a stunt. Instead, you should be 'cheering your way' into stunt position.)
• Work in tumbling whenever possible.

An effective way to think of choreographing your cheers is as follows: Verse A: Motion Verse B: Transition Verse C: Stunt Verse D: Dismount

Performing Your Routine

Part of successfully cheering through a game is timing when to cheer. Cheerleaders should also know basketball game rules well so that the cheers are appropriate.

When Not to Do a Floor Cheer

There are certain times when it is appropriate not to cheer during a game and specifically, not to perform a floor cheer. You should not cheer:

• When a player, either on your team or the other team is injured.
• Never do cheers that involve stunts when the play is near you. If the ball goes out of bounds near the squad, the player is unlikely to be thinking about running into a group of cheerleaders. It's your job to get out of the way!
• After a bad play
• During official announcements
• You should not cheer during any free throw shots
• If you are not at home court, and the other cheer squad is performing a special half time routine.

Good Times for a Floor Cheer

Of course, the point of cheering through a game is to get the crowd excited and you should cheer as often as you can. Watch the game carefully and perform your floor cheers during these times:

• During the game
• During a time out
• During "dead" time, when there's not a lot happening during the game
• After a good or even mediocre play
• During halftime when you are on your home court

Other Tips and Hints

Sometimes fans are just quiet. Yell all you want, they are not going to join you. If you're cheering your heart out at a basketball game where the fans just don't get it try these tricks:

• Throw prizes into the crowd. Everyone loves free stuff!
• Use megaphones and signs whenever possible. Sometimes, the crowd simply can't hear what you're saying. However, a sign with a few key words that you want the crowd to say might do the trick.
• Smile until your cheeks hurt. If you're not enthusiastic, the crowd won't be either.
• Execute your routine well. Your movements should be sharp and your stunts flawless.

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