Guide to running a Cheerleading event
There are many things you need to consider when planning a Cheerleading Festival or Competition
This document should help you in your planning and preparation
If you have any further queries, please don’t hesitate to contact your regional representative at www.ukca.org
Prior to the Event:
You will need to consider your target age group and audience
Select which Cheerleading categories you wish to offer at the competition
- Pom Dance
- Cheerleading
- Street Cheer
- Are you including all 3?
UKCA Rules & Regulations can be used in full or adapted for the competition
- Club Competition – Use Community & Club Rules click here for the rules
- Your regional rep will have contacts for clubs in your area
- School Competition – Use National Schools Rules click here for the rules
- Decide whether it will be an intra or inter school event
Set a date for the event
Source a venue
When choosing your venue please consider the points listed below:
- Is it large enough to accommodate the expected number of competitors and spectators?
- Is it accessible to all?
- Does it have enough floor space for warm up and performance?
- Is there adequate matting for warm up and performance areas if the competition includes Cheerleading category?
- Does it have enough benches/chairs for seating?
- Are there adequate changing/toilet facilities?
- Does it have tables for registration etc?
- Does it have on site refreshment facilities?
- Is there parking available?
Set your budget
Is the competition going to be funded?
Will competitors and spectators need to pay?
Things to consider:
- Venue rental
- PA System rental – make sure unit it is compatible with all music formats
- Trophies/Certificates/Medals (always order extra to be sure)
- Paid Staff – If so how many? – Can you cover the event using volunteers?
You will then need to send out:
Invitations and Event Registration Documents to your target group
Ensure you have realistic deadlines for documents to be returned as you will need to order Trophies etc.
Make all documents as clear as possible to avoid unnecessary correspondence
VIP Invitations
Give as much notice as possible to high profile VIP’s as their diaries can be very full!
UKCA website link
Send details of your event and we will link to it from our regional events page
Entries:
Once you have team entries, you can compile a Running Order for the event
Prepare a document showing where and when teams will need to be in specific areas
(ie: 5mins Uniform Check – 15mins warm up – 5mins routine performance including entrance & exit time allowed) When you have the above in place, establish numbers of staff and volunteers needed to support the event, along with roles and responsibilities they need to fulfil.
Running order:
Forward a copy of the Running Order to all teams participating prior to the event
In-between each performance try to leave no more than a 5 minute gap to ensure the event flows and remains entertaining .You should stick to these times as closely as possible on the day to ensure smooth running.
The Event
A few suggestions for key Roles/Responsibilities/Tasks:
Greeter
Positioned at the venue entrance
Greet teams and spectators on arrival and guide them to respective areas.
Arrange nominated VIP greeters who can spend time with your guests and have knowledge of Cheerleading in order to answer any questions they may have
Competition Registration
Positioned at the entrance hall with relevant paper work and safety information to pass to team coach
Register teams in by checking name of squad and numbers attending
Direct teams to designated areas – ie: Warm up, changing rooms where bags, kit etc can be placed safely out of the way. Coaches need to be reminded that THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR TEAM AT ALL TIMES!
Announcer
Positioned in main performance area
Works with the PA provider
Following a running order prepared by the event organiser, the announcer welcomes teams onto the floor, encourages support throughout the day and generally keeps the party atmosphere going.
Seating Area
Positioned close to the seating area
Ensure aisles are kept clear and spectators/Cheerleaders stay seated during routines.
Jewellery/Uniform Check
Positioned at Warm up area entrance
Responsible for checking teams arrive in correct running order and Cheerleaders are free of jewellery/piercings and uniforms safe (shoelaces are tied etc) in accordance with Rules & regulations before entering the warm up area.
Competition Warm-up Area
Positioned in the Warm up area
Someone well organised and motivated should be here to keep Cheerleaders moving from the Jewellery check to warm-up area then to the performance floor. We would advise a 10-15minute official warm up time.
(5min general – 5min stretch – 5min to run through routine)
Performance Area entrance
Responsible for letting teams know when they can enter the performance area.
Wait for judges go-ahead.
Performance area Exit
Responsible for letting teams know which direction they need to exit the performance area.
Judges
Responsible for ‘Judging’ a team performance and ensuring the routine content is in accordance with Rules & Regulations.
Responsible for completing the score sheet if running a Competition and a feedback form if running a Festival.
Are you having Judges?
If you are running a Festival rather than a Competition you may choose not to have any at all.
If you are running a Competition, Judges should have adequate Cheerleading knowledge/qualifications.
A Qualified UKCA Judge may be available to support your event if given enough notice.
Email your event details to us.
Score Sheets
Each judge should be supplied with a score sheet for each performance, clearly showing the team name.
Official UKCA score sheets can be downloaded from the website. www.ukca.org
Scoring
Once teams have competed, all scores need to be added. This can be achieved as they go along, or left to the end where a judges’ break will allow time to rank teams and establish the final results.
A Festival rather than a Competition?
If the event is a Festival rather than a competition, you may choose not to rank teams by scoring their individual performance. If this is the case, we would advise giving each team as much written feedback as possible in order to help with the development of future routines.
Awards
Decide how you want to present the Awards (3-2-1)
Spirit Award (Fair Play Award)
To keep the true ‘Cheerleading Spirit’, you may wish to present a ‘Spirit Award’ to the team who are well mannered and show support and encouragement to other teams throughout the day.
After the Event:
- Post Results, photos and press release on your website
- Send all information to UKCA for inclusion on our website
- Send ‘Thank You’
- Teams
- Volunteers
- VIP’s
- Anyone else who supported the event…
What is your focus after the event?
UKCA host 5 National competitions throughout the year – details here
After attending a successful event, teams may want to compete again. UKCA host competitions at all levels.
Any UKCA registered team has the opportunity to enter these competitions
UKCA Membership Registration is FREE Click here to register
School competition structure of progression
UKCA has been working regionally for 6 years with several SSCO’s and PDM‘s. We now have a tried and tested competition structure. After competing in Borough Festivals, a number of PDM’S throughout the country agreed to fund their top teams from each category to attend UKCA’s National Schools competition in Manchester. This has proved to be a great success in all areas and has been quoted as:
“The best money spend in getting young people active”