Choreograph to the Score Sheet

I was watching competition videos with my team and showing them the best teams from State in their division. They asked to see the team that placed last. I put on that routine not knowing what to expect.  What I saw was a team that had some skills, but I knew right away that the only reason why they placed last was because the routine was not choreographed to the score sheet. This team must have been working very hard, but no matter how well they performed, there was nothing they could have done to get a winning score, or at least one to guarantee that they don’t get last place.

Cheer

When choreographing the cheer, find out what style of cheer the competition score sheet is rewarding.  Some score sheets heavily value the use of signs, poms, megaphones, etc. At this particular competition, signs and other props were heavily valued.  Unfortunately only one set of poms were used to lead the crowd in yelling their colors. Out of 10 points for props, as a judge, I would have likely given them 1 point for at least using one set of poms.  They left 9 points on the table, not to mention, crowd involvement, overall effect, etc. 

Your voices matter!  These are EASY points. Make sure you give them a cheer they can yell well.  Voices are so important. Especially if you are working off a score sheet where leading the crowd is not as valued, but using a cheer that is more wordy is the style, you need to make sure there are pauses to catch their breath.  Also, make sure you choreograph the stunts so they are not putting one up during a time when they are yelling words. So for instance, they dip on Go, lift on the pause, hit on Fight. Make sense?

If the score sheet does not score difficulty in the cheer, then save the difficulty for the music portion.  Only throw skills that are completely solid and add them to the cheer. Additionally see where the jumps and tumbling are scored.  On some scoresheets they are only scored for jumps and tumbling in the music. So, if you put all your jumps and tumbling in the cheer, the judges may not be able to score these elements.  

Music

Make your routine easy to follow.  As a judge it is so much easier to score when the stunts are at a certain place in the routine and when your pyramid is in one place.  The same is with jumps and tumbling.  

Look at what portions of the score sheet are more heavily valued.  Typically it will be stunts and pyramids. This means that you should make sure your routine distributes the proper amount of time where a particular area has a larger point value. Spending 4 eight counts on jumps, 6 eight counts on a dance and 2 on stunts, might not be the best choice if stunts are worth 20 points and jumps and the dance are worth 5 points.  

Be sure to read the scoresheet to see how much difficulty and execution is worth.  If execution is worth more, then be sure that before you upgrade your stunts or pyramid to make sure it is hitting solid.  Your team is going to perform much better when they are confident about hitting all of their skills.  

Make sure your pyramid has multiple connection points.  It is not a pyramid unless the group are connected. The particular team that my team was watching attempted to do pyramid with an extension, prep and shoulder sit and then connect arms at the very end. Unfortunately the middle group did not get up, so they failed to connect anything the entire routine.  Be sure to keep in mind if a stunt came down, make sure there is more to the pyramid so the team can recover and connect. This team may have gotten a point for attempting it, but I doubt they scored anything higher. 

Wrap up

As a coach it is your job to make sure you send your team to a competition with the best choreography possible that is created for the score sheet.  It is devastating to see teams that work so hard and get so excited to compete and then they don’t even have the chance to get a decent score. That is all on the coaches.  Be sure to know your scoresheet well and give them a routine that will give them the best opportunity to score well!