Coach guide
Cheerleading Tryout Score Sheet: The Cheer Tryout Judging Sheet, Scored and Defensible.
The categories, the point scales, and what real school districts and Varsity Spirit actually put on their sheets. Copy the rubric, or run the whole panel on a phone and let it total itself.
Every rubric on this page is cited to the program that published it.
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17/18 confirmedLast comp
Winter Regionals
Place
2nd
Score
87.35
Packing lists, music timing and day-of schedules attach to each event.
Athletes are listed by competitor number.
Short answer: a cheerleading tryout score sheet lists the skill categories a judge scores, the points each is worth, and a candidate number instead of a name. Eight categories appear on nearly every published sheet: jumps, tumbling, motions, cheer, dance, stunting, showmanship and overall impression. Totals of 50 and 100 are both common, and there is no national standard, because selection procedure is set locally by each district or gym. What makes a sheet hold up is not the total. It is that every candidate was scored on the same written rubric, by judges from outside the program, and that the sheets still exist afterward.
A 100 point cheer tryout judging sheet you can copy.
This is a general purpose sheet that follows the structure the published district rubrics converge on. Every category is scored by each judge, the judges are averaged, and the totals rank the candidates. Adjust the weights to your program before you publish it, then do not touch them again until next season.
Swipe sideways to see the full table
| Category | Points | What the judge is actually marking |
|---|---|---|
| Motions and sharpness | 15 | Arm levels, placement, snap, whether the motion stops where it should |
| Jumps | 15 | Height, hyperextension, toe point, arm placement, controlled landing |
| Standing tumbling | 10 | Split the score: half for difficulty, half for execution |
| Running tumbling | 10 | Same split. Difficulty sets the ceiling, execution sets the mark |
| Stunting | 15 | Scored in the position tried out for: base, flyer or backspot |
| Cheer or chant | 10 | Voice projection, timing, knowing the words, crowd command |
| Dance | 10 | Memory of the choreography, rhythm, execution, energy |
| Showmanship and spirit | 10 | Facials, confidence, presence, performance quality |
| Coachability and attitude | 5 | Effort, focus, response to correction, how they treat other candidates |
| Total, per judge | 100 | Average across judges, then rank |
Header fields matter as much as the categories: judge number, candidate number, and stunt position tried out for. No candidate name anywhere on the sheet. Mansfield ISD adds one more rule worth stealing, that a judge who makes a mistake must initial the correction.
Four scoring models, all of them in real use.
There is no national cheer tryout standard, and that surprises people. Texas UIL puts it plainly: the local school district adopts its own procedures, and the Texas Education Agency and UIL do not monitor, recommend or prescribe the process of selecting cheerleaders. So pick a model deliberately rather than copying whatever last year's coach used.
Model 1
Rate every item 0 to 5, then sum
Ten items scored 0 to 5 gives a clean 50 point sheet. Mansfield ISD publishes exactly this, with the scale spelled out on the page: 5 excellent, 4 above average, 3 average, 2 below average, 1 poor, 0 not demonstrated. Easiest model to train a new judge on.
Model 2
Ten points per category
The Varsity Spirit standard sheet uses five categories at 10 points each for a 50 point total. Their competitive sheet uses nine at 10 points each for 90. Simple to tabulate, but every category ends up equally weighted unless you deliberately add or remove rows.
Model 3
Uneven values summing to 100
The most common model in published district sheets, because it lets you say what your program values. Memorial High School in Spring Branch ISD scores cheer at 20 and running tumbling at 5. The University of Georgia spirit program scores its interview at 15 and running tumbling at 5.
Model 4
Percentage weights
Score each dimension 1 to 5 against written anchors, then weight it. Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns County weights stunt at 35 percent, cheer at 30, jumps and dance at 10 each, all tumbling at 10 combined and attitude at 5. Hardest to tabulate by hand, clearest to defend.
Seven published cheer tryout score sheets, side by side.
These are not invented examples. Each one is a score sheet the program itself put online, and the pattern across them is more useful than any single sheet: the totals differ, the category names differ, and yet they all measure roughly the same eight things.
Swipe sideways to see the full table
| Program | Total | Structure | What stands out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varsity Spirit, standard | 50 | Cheer, dance, jump, specialty skill, overall impression, 10 each | The minimum viable sheet. One row covers all tumbling as "specialty skill" |
| Varsity Spirit, competitive | 90 | Nine categories at 10, including an interview | Splits execution from difficulty on both standing and running tumbling |
| Mansfield ISD, TX | 50 | Ten items, each 0 to 5 | Splits every skill into two rows, one for form and one for difficulty or height |
| Memorial HS, Spring Branch ISD, TX | 100 | Judges 70, coaches 10, teacher recommendations 20 | Only 10 of 100 points are tumbling. Cheer alone is worth 20 |
| Bartram Trail HS, St. Johns County, FL | 100% | Weighted percentages, 1 to 5 anchors per category | Stunt is 35 percent, the heaviest single category in any sheet here |
| Homer Junior High, IL | 50 | Six categories, tumbling and jumps 0 to 10 each | Publishes the full skill ladder in advance, so athletes know what a 7 is |
| University of Georgia spirit program | 100 | Interview 15, sidelines 20, fight song 20, stunting 15, spirit 10 | The college inversion: interview 15, running tumbling only 5 |
Values reflect the versions each program published, and programs revise them between seasons. The UGA page notes its own figures reflect a prior tryout cycle and are subject to change. Verify against the current document before you copy any specific number.
Publish the skill ladder before tryouts, not after.
Tumbling causes more tryout disputes than everything else combined, because "an 8" means nothing until you say what an 8 is. Homer Junior High publishes its whole ladder in the tryout packet. Copy the idea even if you change the skills, and hand it out weeks in advance so athletes can aim at a specific number.
Standing tumbling, 0 to 10
- 1 cartwheel attempt
- 2 cartwheel
- 3 back or front walkover
- 4 back handspring
- 5 jump to back handspring
- 6 cartwheel tuck
- 7 standing tuck
- 8 jump to tuck
- 9 cartwheel to full
- 10 standing full
Running tumbling, 0 to 10
- 1 round off attempt
- 2 round off
- 3 round off back handspring
- 4 round off multiple back handsprings
- 5 round off tuck
- 6 round off back handspring tuck
- 7 round off back handspring layout
- 8 specialty pass to layout
- 9 round off back handspring full
- 10 specialty pass to full
The ladder sets a ceiling, not a score. Memorial High School spells this out on its own sheet: performing the skill does not automatically award the points, and a round off back handspring full could be scored 3.5 out of 5. Homer's packet gives athletes the same advice from the other direction, that it is better to throw something you know will hit and be clean than a harder skill that comes out shaky.
How many judges, and what happens to the numbers.
Three to five, from outside
One published cheerleader constitution requires a panel of three qualified judges chosen by the coach and approved by the principal, specifies they should be from out of town, and asks the program to secure UCA or NCA certified judges. Another district runs five, split by station: two score tumbling, three score jumps, cheer and dance, and overall impression is the average of all five. A third uses impartial third party judges from a regional cheerleading association, with candidates identified by random number only.
Whatever the count, ask the question the UCA tryout kit asks: have any of these judges worked directly with any of the candidates? A conflict you find the week before is an administrative detail. The same conflict found afterward is the whole story.
Averaging, dropping and tie-breaks
Averaging every judge is at least as common as dropping the highest and lowest scores. Dropping is real practice, and one Texas district used five NCA judges with the high and low discarded and the middle three counted, but it is one option rather than a standard. Pick one, write it in the packet, and do not change it once scores exist.
Write the tie-break down too. One published constitution brings tied candidates back as a group, along with the highest and lowest scorers who made the squad, gives judges fresh score sheets, and only then lets the coach break a remaining tie. Have someone other than the coach tabulate: one district uses an independent processor, and the UCA kit suggests the principal, vice principal or bookkeeper rather than the person picking the team.
Elementary, middle school, high school, all-star.
The same eight categories work at every level. What changes is where the weight sits, and getting that wrong is how a youth program ends up cutting an eight year old on tumbling difficulty.
Swipe sideways to see the full table
| Level | Weight it toward | Play down | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elementary and youth | Motions, spirit, coachability | Tumbling difficulty | Skills are still forming. Reward attitude and fundamentals, and consider a no-cut structure |
| Middle school | Motions, jumps, basic tumbling | Stunt difficulty | Balanced sheet. Tumbling counts but nobody is throwing fulls yet |
| High school sideline | Cheer, crowd leading, motions | Running tumbling | The job is Friday night. Memorial HS scores cheer at 20 and running tumbling at 5 |
| High school competition | Tumbling, stunting, jumps | Interview | Difficulty wins on the mat. Split execution from difficulty on every tumbling row |
| All-star | Stunting by position, tumbling | Crowd leading | You are placing athletes on teams by level, not cutting them. Score the stunt position |
| College | Interview, sidelines, fight song | Running tumbling | UGA scores its interview at 15 and running tumbling at 5. Representing the school is the role |
The score sheet is a record, so treat it like one.
Most tryout guidance stops at the rubric. The part that actually costs coaches their season is what happens in the two weeks afterward, when a parent asks to see the numbers. These are not hypotheticals. A New Jersey district found an irregularity in its own selection process after parents appealed, having arbitrarily lowered a squad cutoff from 87 to 78 when only six athletes cleared the original line, and it responded by abolishing competitive selection entirely. In a Texas district, a former coach alleged discrepancies in score sheets that were changed and not authenticated by the judges. In Florida, a district opened an investigation into overriding a coach's cut, and the coach and several athletes threatened to walk.
Before
Publish the rubric
Categories, points, skill ladder and tie-break, handed out in the packet weeks ahead. A rule everybody saw in advance is very hard to argue with. A rule that appears afterward is indefensible, whatever the intention behind it.
During
Numbers, not names
Candidate numbers drawn at random, outside judges, independent tabulation, corrections initialed. One district videos the tryout for judge review only. Judges score independently and do not confer until every candidate has been through.
After
Keep the sheets
One constitution requires tallied scores to be filed in the school offices. One district posts score numbers within 24 hours. Decide your policy in advance, because deciding it while a parent is waiting looks like improvising even when it is not.
Know your state's disclosure rules before you promise anyone anything. In Texas, UIL and TEA state that teacher comments used in the selection process are subject to disclosure if a parent requests to review them, and that such recommendations may not be anonymous, because an evaluation that determines whether a student may participate must name the person who submitted it. They also note parents may review records pertaining to their own child, not to other candidates. Districts elsewhere vary: some allow view only access to sheets, others give every athlete a written critique sheet the week after.
Run the same sheet on a phone and let it total itself.
Paper works. It has run cheer tryouts for decades and it will run yours. What paper does badly is the hour after the last candidate, when someone is adding columns on a clipboard, three judges have different handwriting, and one sheet has a correction nobody initialed.
Cheerleaders gives each judge the same rubric on their own phone, scored by candidate number, totals and averages calculated as they go, and a ranked result the moment the last judge submits. The sheets are kept, so when a parent asks in two weeks, the record exists exactly as it was entered. You build the categories and weights yourself, so it is your rubric, not ours.
Being straight with you
- We do not sell a score sheet PDF. The rubric on this page is free to copy whether you ever use our software or not.
- Software does not make a tryout fair. A written rubric, outside judges and kept records do that. The app just removes the arithmetic.
- If your program runs two tryouts a year on paper and nobody has ever complained, you do not need us for this.
Cheer tryout score sheet questions.
What should be on a cheer tryout score sheet?
Eight categories appear on almost every published sheet: jumps, tumbling, motions, cheer or chant, dance, stunting, showmanship and overall impression. Tumbling is usually split into standing and running, and each of those is often split again into difficulty and execution. The header carries a judge number and a candidate number, never a candidate name.
How are cheer tryouts scored?
Four models are in real use: every item rated 0 to 5 and summed, usually to 50; ten points per category; uneven values summing to 100; or percentage weights per category. There is no national standard. Texas UIL states that the local district adopts its own procedures and that TEA and UIL do not prescribe the selection process.
How many judges should score a cheer tryout?
Three to five, from outside the program. Published policies show three certified judges at one school and five at another, split by station. Averaging every judge is at least as common as dropping the high and low scores, so treat drop high and drop low as one option you choose in advance rather than a rule.
What do cheer tryout judges look for?
Cleanliness before difficulty, in almost every published rubric. Sheets that split tumbling into difficulty and execution reward a clean round off back handspring over a shaky full. One district states it outright: performing the skill does not automatically award the points. Judges also score voice, motion sharpness and how an athlete takes correction.
Does GPA count in cheer tryouts?
Usually as a gate, sometimes as a score. One published cheerleader constitution requires a 2.00 grade point average to try out and to stay on the squad. The UCA tryout kit instead lists GPA as a line item on the master tabulation sheet alongside interview and teacher evaluation scores. Ask your athletic director first, because the district rule outranks your rubric.
Are cheer tryout score sheets public?
They are education records, so a parent can generally review what pertains to their own child but not to other candidates. Texas UIL and TEA state that teacher comments used in selection are subject to disclosure and may not be anonymous. District practice ranges from view only access to a written critique sheet for every athlete.
How long should a cheer tryout be?
Plan a clinic of two or three days, then a scored tryout that runs one candidate group at a time. Budget roughly three to five minutes per candidate per station, plus the group stunt block. The constraint is judge attention, not athlete stamina: panels get less consistent after about two hours, so build a break in rather than pushing through.
Should cheer tryouts be scored anonymously?
Score by candidate number, yes. Every published sheet we reviewed has a candidate number field and no name field, and one district assigns those numbers at random. Anonymity has a limit though: Texas guidance says teacher recommendations used in selection may not be anonymous, because the person submitting an evaluation must be named.
The rest of tryout season.
Cheerleading tryouts, end to end
The packet, the forms you collect first, the panel, and the eligibility rules that follow.
How to run cheerleading tryouts
The whole tryout day: clinic, stations, judge panel and publishing results.
Tryout scoring software
Digital judge panels, your own weighted categories and auto-ranked results.
Skill tracking by level
Carry tryout scores into the season and track progressions by USASF level.
Cheerleading competition score sheet
The other score sheet: USASF category point values, division totals and every deduction amount.
Making the roster
Turning a ranked result into teams, positions and a roster that holds up.
Software for school teams
Built for the coach who runs tryouts, practices and Friday nights alone.
Parent code of conduct
The document that settles most tryout arguments before they start.
Game day, every day
Score tryouts without the clipboard math.
Your rubric, your weights, every judge on their own phone, and a ranked result the moment the last score lands.
Takes 30 seconds. No credit card needed.