What to Expect at Cheer Camp: Activities & Skills

Is your child into acrobatic and dynamic stunts? Do they love performing as part of a tight-knit team and making brand new lifelong friends?

If so, cheer camp is a great choice for a summer pastime. 

Cheerleading is a dynamic and challenging sport that requires strength, coordination, and teamwork. Attending a cheer camp can be an excellent way to develop and enhance your skills in this exciting sport.

In this blog post, we’ll dive into some of the activities and skills you can expect to learn at cheer camp.

Stunts

Stunts are the backbone of cheerleading—they make a cheerleading performance exciting!
Cheerleaders often perform exciting stunts that require physical strength, coordination, and trust in their teammates. These stunts include lifts, where one or more cheerleaders lift a flyer (the cheerleader who is lifted) in the air, and tosses, where the flyer is thrown up in the air and caught by her teammates. Cheerleaders also form pyramids, where a group of cheerleaders creates a human pyramid with a flyer on top.

Understanding proper techniques for stunts is essential—not only to make the stunts look good but also for safety. At cheer camp, children will learn how to execute stunts safely and effectively. They will also learn how to work as a team and trust their teammates, which is crucial when it comes to performing stunts.

Tumbling

Tumbling is an important part of cheerleading as it adds variety and complexity to routines. It involves a series of acrobatic moves, such as flips, twists, and rolls, that require a great deal of strength, flexibility, and coordination.

At cheer camp, your child will have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of tumbling, which include a few different common moves, such as:

• Forward rolls
• Cartwheels
• Roundoffs
• Back handsprings
• Tucks

These moves require a lot of practice and skill, but with proper training at cheer camp, your child can master them.

Overall, tumbling is an important aspect of cheerleading, requiring dedication and hard work to perfect. At cheer camp, your child will receive guidance and instruction from experienced coaches who will help them develop their tumbling skills and progress to more challenging moves.

Dance

Cheerleading isn’t just about stunts and tumbling—it also incorporates dance and choreography to create exciting and dynamic routines. 

The dance component of cheerleading is crucial as it adds energy and style to the performance. At cheer camp, children will have the opportunity to learn and practice different dance styles, such as jazz, hip-hop, and pom.

In addition to learning dance styles, at cheer camp, children will also focus on improving their performance skills. This includes learning how to convey emotions through facial expressions and body language, how to perform with confidence and stage presence, and how to synchronize movements with music. 

By honing their performance skills, children at cheer camp will become more engaging and dynamic performers, making their cheerleading routines even more exciting and memorable.
Cheers

It’s not called cheerleading for nothing! 

Cheerleaders hype up crowds for events through catchy cheers and chants. These cheers and chants are performed to encourage and support the team, along with promoting audience participation. At cheer camp, campers will learn a variety of cheers and chants that they can use during games or competitions. These cheers and chants are specifically designed to energize the team and create a sense of unity among the fans.

Aside from learning specific cheers and chants, cheer camp also teaches children sideline routines, which are specific dance routines that they can perform on the sidelines during breaks in the game. These routines are designed to keep the crowd entertained and energized throughout the game.

Team Building and Leadership

Cheerleading is much more than just a physical activity—it’s a team sport that requires excellent communication, collaboration, and leadership skills. 

Effective communication is key in cheerleading because it enables the team to work together efficiently and smoothly. Without clear and concise communication, cheerleading stunts and routines can quickly become disorganized and dangerous.

Cheer camp is an excellent opportunity for campers to work on their communication skills through team-building activities. These activities are designed to help the team learn to work together, trust each other, and communicate effectively.

Leadership is also a crucial component of cheerleading—great leaders can motivate and inspire their team to perform their best. At cheer camp, cheerleaders learn how to be effective leaders on and off the field by learning how to communicate effectively, lead by example, and motivate their teammates. 

These leadership skills aren’t only crucial for cheerleading—they’re an essential life skill that your child will appreciate in their later lives! 

Deciding on a Potential Cheer Camp?

Cheer camp provides a valuable opportunity to learn and develop the skills required for cheerleading, including stunts, tumbling, dance, and teamwork. By participating in these activities, you can improve your physical abilities, build your confidence and communication skills, and make new friends who share your passion for cheerleading.

If you’re in the process of evaluating different cheerleading camps, we can help—our brand new Camp Comparison Checklist makes it easier than ever to have all of your summer camp information, from pricing to location, in one convenient place.

Download the Camp Comparison Checklist today!