Here’s a hard truth about cheer: the season really does not end. Cheer athletes practice, compete, or prepare for the next season, twelve months out of the year. Sometimes, the work is grueling, and the sport doesn’t feel fun at all. The excitement of a new team or new choreography wears off, or it’s the middle of travel season, or the huge competition events aren’t here yet. It can be stressful and even discouraging at times.
A great way to boost your athletes’ spirits is to have a themed cheer practice. This is a day (or even a whole week!) where you can break up the day-to-day monotony of that slow or stressful part of the cheer season, have a little fun, and maybe it even serves as a team bonding exercise.
Here are 18 ideas for your next themed cheer practice:
“LITTLE MISS”
Have you seen this trend? “Little Miss, always late to practice,” or, “Little miss flexible.” Have athletes come up with their own “Little Miss” title, and wear it on a nametag or white t-shirt to practice.
SEASONS
Assign a season (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) to each stunt group, and see what they come up with!
HOLIDAYS
Have too many stunt groups for the seasons theme idea? Try assigning holidays! Easter, Halloween, Flag Day, Labor Day…there are at least ten U.S. holidays to choose from.
WACKY TOURISTS
Get hyped up for travel season and have the athletes dress up like tourists. Think Hawaiian shirts, high socks, and sunscreen on the nose!
WHITE LIES
This one requires a little self-deprecation and may be more appropriate for an older team of cheerleaders. The idea is to come up with a lie about themselves like, “I never butt out in my stunts,” and, “I always point my toes,” write it on a shirt (or their stomach!) and show up to practice wearing their “white lie” proudly.
TWINKIES
Pair the athletes up and have them match for the day. This is better if you as the team mom or coach pair them up to prevent clicks. One season, we even had team moms purchase matching t-shirts or accessories and randomly hand them out to athletes in random order. Then, when the athletes showed up to practice they were surprised by who their “twin” was!
SUPERHERO
With so many heroes to choose from now, you can’t go wrong with a superhero-themed practice!
THROWBACK UNIFORMS
This is a great one to get the coaches and senior athletes involved. Grab your throwback uniforms and wear them to practice! It’s fun to see how cheer uniforms have changed in even just a few years.
CRAZY SOCKS
This themed practice idea is cheap, easy, and fun! Grab your wackiest pair of socks and show them off.
DRESS LIKE A COACH
Every cheer coach has their “thing.” Maybe it’s a certain shirt, the way they wear their hair, or the iced coffee they walk into every practice with. Have the athletes dress like a coach (maybe even make it a surprise). Everyone will have a good laugh, and the pictures will be GOLD!
DECADES
Pick a decade (or two or three!) and let athletes come dressed in the themes of that decade.
SAFARI
“Go on safari,” and have the athletes dress like lions, cheetahs, or tigers.
AWARENESS
Choose a charity to represent at practice. For example, dress in all pink for breast cancer awareness, or all yellow for childhood cancer. You could even turn it into a fundraiser for that cause.
BATTLE READY
This theme is great for the week of a big competition. Have the cheerleaders dress in camo and let them put “eye grease” on to get fierce and ready for battle.
CHEER MOMS
Come on moms, we have to poke fun at ourselves every now and then. Let the cheerleaders dress up like a “cheer mom” to practice and see what they come up with!
SPORTS TEAM
The kids can dress all the same, like baseball players, or wear something from their own favorite team.
DISNEY VILLAINS
A twist on the Disney theme: instead of dressing like Mickey and Minnie, have the athletes dress up like the villains of Disney!
RAINBOW
How fun would it be to assign all seven colors of the rainbow across the team? This one is cheap and easy for all athletes to participate in.
Remember that no matter which of these ideas for cheer practice you choose as your themed practice, always make it safe, inclusive, and easy to tumble and stunt in!
