All star cheerleading goes beyond just cheerleading on the sidelines. This is a competitive sport that can be extremely high caliber and strenuous if competed at a high level. Allstar cheerleading involves competing a 2 and a half minute routine that involves jumping, stunting, tumbling, and more. Each compenent is scored based on technique, execution, and difficulty. The overall routine is also scored on creativity and performance. Allstar cheerleading has developed over the years and has become and extremely technical sport. It is very different from other sports as athletes train for hours and hours everyday just to compete for 2 and a half minutes. It is interesting because if a cheerleader makes a mistake during this 2 and a half minute routine, they mustmove onto the next thing with a smile on their face, where in other sports if you make a mistake on a play you can do better during the next play. This makes cheerleading an extremely high pressure sport. Cheerleaders all over the world travel all over during season which is typically from November to April to compete this 2 and a half minute routine. At the competitions throughout their season, they are hoping to receive and invitation to the cheerleading world championships, which is the biggest competition at the end of each season.
Stunts involve 4 people in each, one flyer, one backspot, one main base, and one side base. Teams can have anywhere from 1 to 8 stunt groups on their team. There are typically three stunt sequences in one competition cheer routine. There is normally one main stunt that usually lasts a good 30 seconds, which is a lot in a 2 and a half minute routine. Then there is a second stunt that is usually very quick, as it is used as more of a transition stunt just to grab a few more points and show off one more skill. Finally, there is the pyramid, which is considered its own section since it is a little different than the regular stunt sequences.
Jumps are harder than they sound! Since there is typically only one jimp sequence in a cheer routine, unlike stunts and tumbling where there are multiple, the one jump sequence must be perfect. Cheerleaders must time there approach into the jump perfectly and the jump, as well as having perfect technique. In allstar cheer, no matter what level it is, you must tumble out of your jump. So, for level 1 they must do a jump into a balk walkover, and for level 6 they must do a jump into a back tuck or standing full.
There are two main tumbling sequences in a cheer routine; standing tumbling and running tumbling. Both involve the entire team tumbling at once. Standing tumbling is where the cheerleaders do not run into it and they tumble backwards, and running tumbling is where cheerleaders do run into it and tumble forwards. Then, there is other tumbling throughout the routine to make the routine busier and more complicated as well as to earn a few more points. This tumbling may just be sprinkled a little bit everywhere, or an additional tumbling sequence may be added to showcase more tumbling your team can do.
As mentioned above, the pyramid is considered its own section of the cheer routine as it's a little different than the regular stunt sequences. The pyramid is where all of the stunt groups come together to do one combined stunt. This is usually at the end of the routine as it is supposed to be the grand finish where the entire team comes together to show off one last thing.
The dance is typically the last sequence in a cheer routine. After doing all of these skills extremely quickly for 2 minutes and 15 seconds straight without stopping, you are usually extremely tired which is why most teams opt to put the dance in last. If a team had to tumble or stunt last, it would be extremely difficult since they are already exhausted from the entire routine. Some teams do end up putting stunts or tumbling at the end instead of the dance to showcase their endurance, but it's not really a make or break situation so the majority of teams end up dancing last. This allows the team to really give their all into the last couple seconds of their routine as they just have to focus on motions and not crazy stunting or tumbling. This is the only sequence in the cheer routine where the team is doing strictly just dancing.
As mentioned, a lot of teams sprinkle a little bit of each sequence throughout their routine, regardless of which sequence they're in. For example, teams may incorporate motions into their tumbling section, even though it's not their dance section, or they may include a couple tumbling passes in their dance section even though it's not their tumbling section. All of this extra stuff contributes to the remaining parts of the scoresheet, which is creativity and difficulty. Adding extra things in each sequence to keep everyone moving at all times makes the routine extremely difficult as well as adds creativity, which can help improve your score.