Cheerleading Tryout Evaluation Form

Give each candidate a 1-5 score in six rows. The descriptions under the sheet tell your judges how each number plays out on the mat, so your staff sees the same things. Print the sheet for one candidate at a time, or copy it as a roster grid that one judge fills for the whole tryout.

What a 3 Means at Each Level

Only the tumbling row reads off this table. A 3 means the candidate lands the level's tumbling cleanly and on every rep. A 4 has started on the next row's skills, and a 5 lands them clean. That reading is our own convention for tryouts. USASF writes these limits as what a routine may include, and it doesn't grade athletes. The stunt row works differently: the tryout station stays at prep level for every team, so the stunt column is what you check at callbacks, with built groups and your own team's spotters.

Source: USASF 2026-2027 Cheer Rules (PDF)(opens in new tab), tumbling and stunt charts, effective June 1, 2026. Level 7 has a chart of its own.

School squads don't compete in USASF levels. Pick the row whose tumbling matches the routine your squad will perform, and anchor your 3 there. Then check your state association's rules. The NFHS news release on its 2025-26 spirit rules changes(opens in new tab) restates that basket tosses are illegal in high school cheer and that extended stunts need a spotter, with a few exceptions. Leave tosses off a high school tryout entirely.

Writing your anchors into Striveon? Its evaluation criteria sit beside the roster on a browser window at least 1024 pixels wide, such as a laptop or a tablet held sideways. On a narrower window, a button above the roster opens them.

One Sheet per Candidate, or One Grid per Judge

Print Form gives you one candidate per page with the rating descriptions underneath. That suits callbacks and a small sideline tryout. A judge who holds a station for 40 candidates needs a roster grid, and Copy as Table pastes one into a spreadsheet. It has a line per candidate number, a stunt position column, the six rows, and a column for notes on the skill each candidate tried. There's no total column. Each judge fills only the rows they watched, so totals wait for the compile sheet. The printed sheet's Total Score out of 30 is an unweighted sum of the six rows, and the ranking uses the weighted total out of 50 on the compile sheet. For a paper grid, print that spreadsheet.

Number every candidate at sign-in and put the numbers on the grid in place of names. On a printed sheet, write the number in the Jersey # field and leave the name blank. Judges then score what they see on the floor. For a PDF, press Print Form and pick Save as PDF where the print dialog asks for a printer. The file holds the sheet and its descriptions and nothing else from the page.

A cheer tryout score sheet gives each candidate a number in a handful of categories, and the judges add them into one total. Some sheets add an interview to the skill rows. For a sport-agnostic starting point, see the general tryout evaluation form. It covers what tryouts in every sport share.

Execution and Difficulty

Varsity's competitive tryout judging sheet(opens in new tab) splits stunts, standing tumbling, and running tumbling into an execution line and a difficulty line, each out of 10. Crowd leading, motion technique, and an interview fill the rest, for a judge's total out of 90. It also asks for a candidate number and a stunt position on every sheet.

Our sheet keeps one tumbling row, and its difficulty comes from the level behind the 3 and from the skill the judge writes beside the score. Split the tumbling row in two on your copied grid if you want both numbers. The stunt row scores execution only, because every candidate shows the same prep-level stunt. On the tumbling row, pointed toes, tight bodies, and controlled landings decide execution. On the stunt row it comes down to the count: a load on time, a still hold for 8 counts, and a quiet dismount.

Spirit and Coachability

Two candidates with the same skills can still be far apart in spirit and coachability. Watch who brings energy to a group that's tired, who cheers for the candidate beside them, and who takes a correction without a shrug. You'll coach that athlete for a whole season.

Comparing Judges

In the station plan further down, tumbling, stunts, and jumps each get one judge's score, and the three shared rows get a score from all four judges. Compare judges on those shared rows only. The plan's compile sheet shows how.

What Counts as a Good Tryout Score?

Count your roster spots first. With 24 spots, the 24th-ranked candidate's total is the cut line for that tryout. Judges, levels, and sheets change from year to year, so compare a candidate with this year's group.

Sideline cheerleaders perform at games, and their job is the crowd: leading cheers, getting a response, and backing the team. A sideline tryout weights voice and crowd leading above tumbling passes.

Sideline vs. Competitive Cheer

A competitive squad is picked for a timed routine judged on difficulty and execution, so tumbling and stunts carry the score. A sideline squad is picked for long games, timeouts, and a crowd that may not be listening yet. Plenty of school programs run both teams. The weights table further down has a row for each.

How the Sideline Sheet Works

A sideline-only tryout is short enough for one panel. Candidates lead a chant and a sideline cheer in groups of three or four in front of every judge, so each judge fills all four rows and totals them out of 20. Average the judges' totals for the ranking, and settle any row where they split widely before results go up.

A standard stunt group has four positions: one flyer in the air, two bases providing the foundation, and one backspot ensuring safety. Each role asks for different strengths. Know where each candidate fits and you can build balanced stunt groups from the first practice. This form is for placement. The Stunts row on the main sheet stays the stunt judge's overall score for the station, and the judge finishes these forms during the water break before the routine round.

Spotters at the Stunt Station

The USASF 2026-2027 Cheer Rules(opens in new tab) require a spotter at Level 1 for stunts at prep level and above, except shoulder sits, T-lifts, and stunts supported only at the waist. At Levels 2 to 6, the requirement starts above prep level. At Levels 1 and 2, floor stunts (a base lying on their back with arms extended) need a spotter too. A backspot who stands behind the stunt can be that spotter, as long as they aren't one of the bases under the flyer's feet.

A tryout calls for more than the rule. Your candidate backspot is someone you're still evaluating, and the candidates in each group may have met an hour ago. So keep the station at prep-level two-leg stunts and put an experienced adult spotter at the side of every stunt, within reach of the flyer's head and shoulders, while the candidate backspot works from behind.

What Each Role Shows at Prep Level

A flyer stays tight and still at the top and commits to the dismount without hesitating. Bases dip together, call the counts, and fix a wobble with small adjustments of grip and feet. A good backspot's hands are already where the flyer will need them, and the counts often come from the back. Flexibility is easier to judge on the floor, so check heel stretches and scorpions there.

The same six rows work for a middle school squad, a high school sideline team, and an all-star level team. Two things change between them: the level behind the tumbling row's 3, and how much each row counts toward the total.

Weights by Program

We wrote these weights for this sheet, as a starting point. Move a point between rows if your routine leans elsewhere. Every line adds up to 10, which makes 50 the top total. The green 3 marks each program's heaviest row.

Middle School Cheer Tryouts

Many middle school candidates are stunting for the first time, so coachability weighs 3 and jumps and dance/motions weigh 2. You can start spotting natural flyers and bases from body type and preference, but score what they do on the floor, because a tall, strong 12-year-old who has never stunted may still turn into the steadiest base on the squad by spring. Tumbling, stunts, and spirit share the bottom weight of 1. Raise tumbling if your routine uses it.

High School Cheer Tryouts

A high school sideline squad leans on spirit. A competitive squad leans on stunts. The tryout stunt row measures prep-level execution, timing, and counts, and every competitive stunt group is built on those, which is why it carries the 3. If your school picks both teams from one tryout, score once and run each candidate's row scores through both lines of the table. The competitive ranking picks the competition team, and the sideline ranking picks the game-day squad.

All-Star Cheer Tryouts

When an all-star tryout also places athletes on teams, the level table near the top tells you which team a candidate's tumbling fits. That's why tumbling weighs most in this row. Rank totals within each age and level group, so a Mini candidate is never measured against a Senior one. USASF also keeps held single-based extended stunts out of Youth divisions and below.

Elementary School and Rec Cheer Tryouts (Ages 6-10)

This is for school and rec squads. All-star Mini and Youth teams are placed with the level table above. Young athletes are still developing coordination and body awareness, so put coachability ahead of tumbling and stunts. Watch how they listen to instructions and how they treat teammates. There's no separate weights line for this age: use the middle school line, where coachability already weighs most. An 8-year-old who listens and keeps trying is the one who improves fastest over a season.

Keep tumbling expectations realistic. Forward rolls, cartwheels, and bridges are fair goals at this age, with handstands and a cartwheel into a bridge as stretch skills. Score what a child can do safely under supervision. Pushing advanced tumbling too early creates fear and bad habits.

This plan runs a tryout for 40 candidates in 150 minutes with four judges, two mat areas (a tumbling strip and a stunt mat), and the open floor for jumps and motions. Off the panel you need two experienced adult spotters and a tabulator who runs sign-in, music, and the grids. Teach the cheer and the dance at clinic in the days before, so tryout day spends its minutes on scoring.

The Panel and Its Rows

Each judge holds one station for the whole rotation. The routine round at the end puts all four in front of the same groups, which is where the shared rows get their scores.

Sign-In and Building the Groups

Open sign-in 20 minutes before the start, so warm-up begins at 0:00 with every number already pinned on. Each candidate writes a stunt position, whether they've flown before, and their best standing and running skill on the sign-in sheet. Build the four rotation groups from that sheet. Every group of 10 needs at least two flyers and two backspots, so the stunt mat can run two groups of four at once. If flyers run short, a group with one flyer builds one stunt group at a time and the flyer rests between turns.

Station Rounds on the Mats

Twenty minutes gives each candidate about two minutes of mat time at the tumbling strip and a turn in two positions at the stunt mat. Set the strip and the stunt mat up before sign-in opens.

Teaching and Scoring the Routine

In the routine round, groups of five perform the clinic cheer and dance in front of all four judges. It's the one block where the whole panel sees the same thing at the same moment, and that's why the shared rows come from here. Keep the groups the same size and the same length on the floor, so no candidate gets a longer look.

Tumbling already has its anchors in the level table, and stunts and jumps have theirs in the rubric. The shared rows need practice. Before tryout day, play a video of last season's routine, or film your returning squad doing the clinic routine, and have the panel rate dance/motions and spirit for the same three athletes. Pause after each 8-count section and have every judge hold up a score on their fingers before anyone speaks, so no judge adjusts to the first number said.

Tryout Day, Block by Block

From Four Grids to a Callback List

The tabulator starts once the grids are in and the candidates have gone home. Expect the ranking that evening at the earliest, and post nothing until the staff has read it. For each candidate:

1. Write the candidate number and the stunt position from the sign-in sheet.
2. Copy tumbling, stunts, and jumps from the station judge's grid.
3. Average the four judges' scores for dance/motions, spirit, and coachability.
4. On those three rows, take each row's highest score minus its lowest. Enter every gap of 2 or more in the Gap column, marked M (dance/motions), S (spirit), or C (coachability), such as 2M or 3C.
5. Multiply each row by your program's weights and add the six for the total (50 at most).
6. Rank within the squad you're picking, or within each age and level group at an all-star gym.

Take the compile sheet to a staff meeting before anything is posted. Any Gap of 2 or more on a shared row is talked through by the two judges who gave the high and the low score (a rule of thumb we use). A coachability gap may only show that four stations asked for four different corrections. Draw the cut line, then build the callback list: the candidates a few places either side of it, plus anyone whose spot depends on tumbling, stunts, or jumps, where only one judge scored. A second judge watches that row at callbacks.

Then read the roster as stunt groups. If the line leaves you with eight bases and two flyers, the next flyer below the line may help the team more than the last base above it. Equal totals go to the row your program weights 3. The next one or two names below the line become alternates, led by any who fill a missing position.

If your judges enter scores in Striveon, give each judge a round of their own. A round keeps one score per athlete for each skill, so four judges in one round would overwrite each other. Each released evaluation is stamped with the coach who released it.

Telling Candidates Their Results

Alternates and callback candidates need the most from you. Tell a callback candidate which row the second look is for, so they know what to warm up. Tell an alternate which position they're first in line for and the one habit that kept them below the line, such as counts that came late on the load. A candidate who missed out entirely gets one concrete thing to practice, such as a toe touch with straight knees in the air and feet together on the landing. Rows that came out low across the new roster make a good first month for your cheerleading practice plan.

Share this section with candidates before tryout day. Most of a cheer tryout score is earned before it, and the rest of this section speaks to them directly: what the sheet above rewards, row by row, and how to get ready for each.

Before Tryouts: Preparation Tips

Practice the basics until they're automatic. Clean jumps and solid tumbling fundamentals score better than skills you're still learning. Work on flexibility daily, since splits and heel stretches take weeks to build. Go to tryouts with skills you land every time.

Build your endurance. Tryouts are physically demanding, and fatigue shows in your performance. If you're gasping after one tumbling pass, the routine round at the end will show it. Conditioning gives you the energy to smile and stay sharp when others are fading.

What the Score Sheet Rewards

1. Tumbling you already land. A 3 means clean at the level, so a pass you land every time beats one you land half the time.
2. Stunts: Count out loud, stay tight, and say clearly at sign-in which position you want.
3. Jumps: Get up high, lock your knees, point your toes, and land quietly.
4. Motions: Arms that lock exactly on the count. Every judge watches them in the routine round.
5. Spirit: A face and a voice that reach the judges' table, at the chant and in the routine.
6. Coachability: Each station gives you one correction. The next rep is what gets scored.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Don't attempt skills you haven't mastered. A tuck you land on your knees scores below a clean back handspring. Judges notice when athletes reach beyond their ability, and they notice when fear shows in your face.

Don't forget your face. Facial expression and energy are part of your performance. Athletes who look bored or scared hurt their scores even when their skills are solid. Practice performing with real energy that reaches your eyes.

In All-Star cheerleading, "2.1" is a split-level format. The first number indicates the stunting level, and the second number indicates the tumbling level. So "2.1" means Level 2 stunts with Level 1 tumbling, allowing teams to perform more advanced building skills while keeping tumbling at a more accessible level. The USASF 2026-2027 age grid(opens in new tab) spells it out: the first number sets the rules for stunts, pyramids, and dismounts, and the second sets tumbling. USASF's Prep-tier divisions (a division name, unrelated to prep-level stunts) run 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, and 3.2, and its Elite club divisions add a Senior 4.2.

What Level Should an 11-Year-Old Be In?

Age picks the division, and the division caps the level. In USASF's Elite club divisions for 2026-2027, Tiny runs Level 1 only, Mini Levels 1-2, Youth Levels 1-5, and Junior Levels 1-6. An athlete born in 2015 fits both the Youth range (born 2014-2019) and the Junior range (born 2011-2018). Within that cap, the skills decide. An 11-year-old with a standing back handspring and a round off back handspring series is tumbling at Level 2.

Tryout Scoring vs. Competition Scoring

A tryout sheet scores individuals for team selection. A competition score sheet scores a whole team's routine. Our cheerleading competition score sheet guide walks through formats like the United Scoring System(opens in new tab), where, as Cheer Theory describes the 2022-23 season, seven score sections each carry a difficulty score and an execution score.