What Makes a Great Gameday Routine?
Making its premiere in 2018, cheerleading has grown to love the Gameday Division. Gameday is a valuable division because it teaches the game day etiquette expected of college cheerleaders. For many athletes, it serves as the perfect bridge from all-star or high school cheer to the collegiate level. Gameday puts emphasis on crowd leadership, bringing the focus back to one of cheerleading's original purposes.
Elite skills can absolutely be successful in Gameday, but only if they're used to enhance crowd leadership rather than showcase difficulty. Successful Gameday routines use body language, facial expressions, effective stunts, tumbles, and jumps, prop usage, and vocals to engage the crowd. Let’s break down what each of these would look like in a successful performance.
Body language
Body language is the essence of a Gameday routine. Don't just hit your motions with your arms—use your head, chest, and body to help direct the crowd's attention. As you're performing, turn to different sections of the crowd and don't be afraid to move around within your "bubble" when it's appropriate. Leading your motions with your chest and hips creates a bigger visual effect, and something as simple as keeping your chin up can make you look more confident and engaging. During transition periods, body language needs to be turned up to one hundred. This is a non-choreographed time where you can be hopping, kicking, spinning, high fiving, even dabbing! The point is to make it look like you’re having fun as if you were in an actual game day setting.
Facial expressions
Body language is meaningless without compelling facial expressions to back it up. Your face should match the energy you're trying to create. Unlike most other divisions, Gameday requires you to constantly shout ad-libs or words to a cheer. Since you'll be shouting throughout the routine, raising your eyebrows is a great way to stay expressive even when you can't smile as much.
Effective Stunts, Tumbles, and Jumps
Stunts, tumbles, and jumps all follow the same principle in Gameday: they should help lead the crowd, not just showcase difficulty. Use your skills to emphasize key words in a cheer, build energy during transitions, and create memorable visual moments. Think about how each skill contributes to crowd engagement before adding it to your routine.
Examples include:
Hitting the top of a stunt or the front of a spinning stunt on a key word
Landing a standing tumble on a key word or using it to build energy during a transition
Using jumps, especially in transition sections, to maintain high energy in the routine
Using the apex/highest point of a dismount for a visual to match a key word(s) in a chant
Finishing a dismount with a full team motion, this is particularly strong at the very end of a chant
Moving while in a stunt, like bouncing or walking to continue hitting the crowd
Using ripples to draw the audience's attention across the entire mat
Keep in mind that most major Gameday scoresheets don't allow running tumbling, encouraging athletes to use tumbling as a crowd-leading tool rather than a difficulty showcase. Also note that skills performed during transition periods may not contribute to your difficulty score, but they can strengthen your overall impression score.
Prop usage
Props are one of the easiest ways to get the crowd involved in your routine. Whether you're using poms, signs, megaphones (megs), flags, rally towels, or banners, every prop should have a purpose. Use signs and banners to tell the crowd what to yell, poms and flags to create bigger visuals, and megaphones to amplify your voice or cue the crowd. As Gameday has evolved, teams have continued to push the envelope with props, finding creative ways to showcase their personality while making it even easier for the crowd to get involved. Don't be afraid to make an entrance with your props either. Running onto the mat with flags or rally towels waving can immediately create excitement before your routine even begins. The best props don't just add to the routine, they help lead the crowd.
Vocals
Strong vocals are what bring a Gameday routine to life. A good rule of thumb is that the floor should never be silent during your Gameday performance. Project your voice from your diaphragm so your chants cut through the crowd, and make sure you're articulating every word so the audience knows exactly what to yell. Cheer with upward inflection to sound excited rather than monotone, and fill any moments without choreographed words with ad-libs to keep the energy high. Any moment without choreographed words is an opportunity for ad-libs. Don't waste those moments.
Gameday isn't just about checking boxes on a scoresheet, it's about creating an atmosphere. Every visual and audible element of your routine should work together to lead the crowd. Because there's no single right way to do that, don't be afraid to experiment with new ideas and push the envelope. As long as every choice has a purpose and helps the crowd become part of the performance, you're building a routine that captures what Gameday is all about.
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