Cheerleading Practice Plan

Eight rows, one for each practice block: warm-up, flexibility, tumbling, stunts, jumps, dance, routine run-through, and cool-down. Fill in your drills, time allocations, and coaching notes, then print it for the gym wall or share it with your staff. The table also copies directly into Word, Excel, or Google Sheets if you prefer a digital version.

Every cheerleading practice plan should cover the five core elements that make up the sport. Competition routines are scored on each of these, and your practice blocks should map directly to them.

• Tumbling. Floor gymnastics skills performed individually: rolls, walkovers, handsprings, tucks, layouts, and fulls. Tumbling is scored on difficulty, execution, and synchronization when performed in group passes.
• Stunts. Partner and group lifts where bases hold a flyer at various heights (prep level, extension, liberty). Includes mounts, transitions, dismounts, and basket tosses. Stunts test strength, timing, and trust between group members.
• Jumps. Athletic leaps performed from a standing position: toe touches, pikes, hurdlers, and combinations. Judges score height, form, sharp arm placement, and landing control.
• Dance. Choreographed sequences performed to music that showcase coordination, rhythm, facial expressions, and team synchronization. Competition routines typically include 30-45 seconds of pure dance.
• Motions and Cheer. Sharp, precise arm positions (high V, low V, T, daggers, K, L) combined with voice projection and crowd engagement. This is the foundation for sideline cheer and the motion sections of competition routines.

Your practice plan should dedicate a block to each element across the week. The 60-minute and 90-minute templates below allocate specific time for tumbling, stunts, jumps, and dance in every session, with motions integrated into the warm-up and cheer/chant blocks.

A 6-year-old learning cartwheels and a 16-year-old drilling standing tucks need completely different sessions. The table below breaks down practice length, frequency, skill focus, and coaching approach for five program types from youth recreational through all-star. Adjust based on your team's experience and facility time.

Youth Recreational (Ages 5-8)

At this level, practice is about movement and fun. Teach basic motions (high V, low V, T), simple chants, and foundational tumbling like forward rolls and cartwheels. Keep every station under 5 minutes. USA Cheer's Safety Manual(opens in new tab) recommends that all skills be taught in proper progression, so do not skip ahead to handsprings or partner stunts before athletes have mastered basic body positions. If a skill requires more than one sentence of explanation, it is too advanced for this group.

Youth Competitive (Ages 8-11)

Athletes at this stage can handle structured drills and basic routine work. Introduce prep-level stunts (the flyer stands at the bases' shoulder height), back walkovers, and simple choreography sections. Practice can run 60-90 minutes if you keep transitions fast. The focus shifts from "can they do the skill" to "can they do it consistently," because competition scoring penalizes drops and falls heavily.

Middle School and High School (Ages 11-18)

School cheer programs split practice between competition prep and game day duties. Competition practices follow the 90-minute template below (tumbling, stunts, jumps, dance, full routine). Game day practices focus on sideline chants, crowd engagement, and halftime performances. Most high school programs practice 3-5 times per week, with separate tumbling sessions for athletes working on new skills. If your program covers both sideline and competition, dedicate specific days to each rather than splitting every practice between them.

All-Star Programs

All-star practice typically runs 2 to 2.5 hours and focuses entirely on the competition routine. The season spans roughly 10 months (tryouts in spring, competitions from fall through spring). Practices are intense: stunt groups drill transitions until every dismount hits clean, tumbling passes run in synchronized lines, and the team runs the full 2:30 routine multiple times per practice. Periodize your training so peak difficulty falls 6-8 weeks before your biggest competition, then shift to cleaning and performance quality.

Sixty minutes works for youth programs, recreational teams, and school squads that share gym time with other activities. Every block is tight, so set up mats and music before athletes arrive. Download the template or copy it to your clipboard.

Tips for Short Practices

• Combine warm-up and conditioning. Dynamic movements like high knees, lunges, and arm circles raise the heart rate while building the flexibility cheerleading demands
• Skip routine run-throughs if the team is still learning choreography. Spend that time on drill reps
• Rotate tumbling in small groups (3-5 per lane) while the rest of the team works jumps or motions
• Water breaks happen during transitions between blocks. Do not add a separate 3-minute break in a 60-minute session

Ninety minutes is the standard for competitive middle school, high school, and all-star teams. The extra 30 minutes compared to the 60-minute plan give you a dedicated stunt and pyramid block, a longer dance segment, and enough time to run the full routine 2-3 times with music. This is the format most coaches search for when planning competition practices.

Getting the Most From 90 Minutes

• Split tumbling by skill level. Beginners work basics on one end of the mat while advanced athletes drill standing tucks or layouts on the other. One coach per group keeps everyone moving
• Film at least one full routine run-through per practice. Athletes catch mistakes faster when they watch themselves than when a coach explains it verbally
• Use a music cue for transitions. When the music stops between blocks, athletes have 30 seconds to get water and move to their next station. This replaces formal water breaks and saves 5-8 minutes per practice
• Score the last routine run-through using your competition rubric. This gives athletes a concrete number to improve next practice and builds the habit of performing under evaluation pressure

Your practice plan tells you when to work on each skill. The drill library below tells you what to run during those blocks. Pick 4-5 drills per session from different skill categories and rotate them across the week so athletes build every area without repeating the same exercises two days in a row.

Matching Drills to Your Level

For youth recreational teams, stick to Standing Series Ladder (walkovers only, no tucks), Approach-Snap-Land, Motion Speed Drill, and the Cheer Fitness Circuit. These build fundamental body control without requiring advanced tumbling or stunt skills. For competitive middle school and high school teams, add Load-In Timing, Extension Hold Endurance, and 8-Count Breakdown. All-star programs can run the full table, scaling difficulty within each drill to match their USASF level.

All-star cheerleading uses a 7-level system defined by the U.S. All Star Federation (USASF)(opens in new tab). Each level caps the tumbling, stunt, and jump skills teams are allowed to perform. Your practice plan should only include skills permitted at your team's level. The table below summarizes what is allowed at each level so you can plan drills that match.

Using the Level Chart in Practice Planning

Before writing your weekly plan, check which skills your level allows. A Level 2 team should not spend practice time on standing tucks (that is Level 3). Instead, focus on perfecting back handspring series and prep-level stunt variations. When athletes are ready to move up, they need consistent execution at their current level first. Use your cheerleading evaluation form to track which athletes have mastered current-level skills and which need more reps before progressing.

Cheerleading practice is different from most team sports because you train four distinct disciplines (tumbling, stunts, jumps, dance) plus game day skills for school programs. Here is how to organize all of those elements into a session that flows.

Always Warm Up Before Tumbling and Stunts

Cheerleading involves flipping, catching, and supporting body weight overhead. Cold muscles and joints increase injury risk, especially for wrists, ankles, and backs. The American Academy of Pediatrics(opens in new tab) recommends a proper warm-up before all cheerleading activities, including dynamic stretching and sport-specific movements. Start every practice with 8-10 minutes of dynamic movement before any skill work begins.

Put Tumbling Before Stunts

Tumbling requires the most individual body control and benefits from fresh legs. Schedule it early in practice when athletes are at their sharpest. Stunts come next because bases and flyers need upper body strength that fades over long sessions. Jumps and dance can go later since they are less physically risky than inverted skills.

Run Stations for Large Teams

If you have 20 or more athletes, running one skill at a time leaves most of the team waiting. Set up 3-4 stations (tumbling mats, stunt area, jump zone, dance floor) and rotate groups every 10-12 minutes. Each group gets coached reps instead of standing in line. You need at least one qualified spotter per station where athletes perform inverted or elevated skills.

Separate Game Day and Competition Practices

School cheer programs that compete and cheer at games should not try to cover both in one session. Assign specific days: Monday and Wednesday for competition routine work, Tuesday for sideline chants and game prep. Mixing them in the same practice splits focus and cuts into the repetitions each element needs.

Sideline Cheer Practice Plan

Sideline practices have a different structure than competition practices. The focus is crowd energy, voice projection, and timing with game situations (timeouts, scoring runs, defense chants). A typical sideline session runs 45-60 minutes: 10 minutes of warm-up and motion review, 20 minutes drilling 4-6 chants with formations and transitions between them, 10 minutes on crowd engagement techniques (call-and-response timing, reading the crowd, sign usage), and 10 minutes running a mock game sequence where the coach calls situations and the squad responds with the right chant. If your program cheers football and basketball, dedicate separate practices to each sport since the pace, chant selection, and crowd dynamics differ.

How to Structure a Cheer Routine in Practice

Competition routines follow a standard flow: opening tumbling pass or stunt sequence, standing tumbling, stunts and pyramids, jumps, dance section, and a closing stunt or tumbling pass. When building a routine during practice, teach each section separately until it is clean, then connect sections two at a time. Only run the full routine once the individual sections are consistent. Trying to run a full 2:30 routine before the pieces are ready wastes time and builds sloppy habits.

End with a Full Run, Not Conditioning

In cheerleading, the last thing athletes should do in practice is perform. Run the full routine (or the largest completed section) at the end of practice with music, full energy, and performance faces. This builds the habit of peaking at the end of the routine when competition fatigue is highest. Save conditioning for a separate block earlier in the session or for off-practice training days.

A printed schedule on the gym wall works for a single session. It gets harder when you coordinate multiple stunt groups, track which sections of the routine are clean, or need to share the plan with assistant coaches and choreographers who were not at practice.

A Printed Sheet Is Enough When...

• You coach one squad with a small staff (1-2 coaches)
• Your season is short (rec league or summer camp)
• You write the plan the night before and adjust on the fly at the gym

Software Pays Off Once You Coordinate Stunt Groups

• You need to track which routine sections hit clean and which need extra reps
• Multiple coaches and a choreographer need access to the same plan
• You want to connect practice plans to athlete evaluations and skill progression tracking
• You run multiple squads at different USASF levels with overlapping gym schedules

For programs that coordinate practice across coaching staff and track athlete development over a full season, platforms like Striveon connect your session plans to drill libraries, skill assessments, and season calendars in one place. See how Striveon ties cheerleading practice planning to athlete development tracking.