Banquet Gift Ideas

Updated: 12/2/23

End of the year banquets are a great way to recognize your cheerleaders, parents and all supporters. It definitely “takes a village”  and a banquet is an excellent way to recognize everyone who helped you throughout the year. 

For this year's Cheerleading banquet, I've been searching the web for some inexpensive gifts to give to my team. I found some cute ideas, most of which are affordable and unique. Check them out! I got 4x6 frames at Joann fabrics, inserted their competition group photo on the front and wrote an end-of-the-year-poem on the back. There are also these really cool pack of five floating frames on Amazon   Easy to do, and very inexpensive! Here are a pack of 12 adorable  bags for the team and so affordable! 

For girls to whom I presented awards, I found these adorable cheerleader makeup bags . They had really cute wine goblets that I thought would be perfect for parents who went above and beyond to help out throughout the year. I also loved these earrings as a cute gift for the team because they are tiny and can't really come out and they can sleep in them! And this big pack of hair ties which you can use in the packaging of your gifts to your team!

Tryout Tips for Cheerleading Coaches

Get yourself organized and have a plan! Make sure you have each candidate complete registration forms and a health history form as well as a waiver of liability. If you feel a Dr's note is required for clearance to tryout, request it. I make sure all forms are in and complete one week ahead of tryouts. 

Also, when tryouts are over, provide feedback to each candidate - start with their weaknesses and inform them on where they can improve. I have found that because of the relaxed and professional way I conducted tryouts, I have girls who come back the following year to re-tryout! By providing feedback to these girls/guys, you assist them in developing skills that are lacking and fine tune those they have mastered.

Good luck!

End of the Year Cheerleader Evaluations

So important to developing a strong cheerleading program is getting feedback from your team at the end of the year. I take the time to meet with each team member for one hour. During that time, they bring with them a feedback form I provided to them containing questions about the program and events we did as a team that year. I also ask them to evaluate such things as their equipment (I discover a lot each year about practice  T shirts - one group likes short, tight shirts, while another year, big and baggy is in!), their personal performance, their choreography, their coaches, conditioning, practices, and more. During that time, I also evaluate them and provide feedback on how I believe that individual performed and offer suggestions on improvement if she plans on returning the following year. I always learn a ton, so I keep three pads handy during each individual meeting: one for things to institute for the following year, one for things that I need to bring to the attention of my AD, and things to think about.

Cheerleading Tryouts – Safety, Safety, Safety

Tryouts are approaching! During the process of putting together the best possible team, coaches need to keep safety in mind when forming their new team. Stunting has become the forefront of cheerleading at games and competitions. Because of this, coaches have to focus on training and safety. If your team is going to stunt, safety education is of the utmost importance!

One of the most important elements of being a safe team and preventing injuries is having a safe practice area. We spent our first year practicing at night in the dark on a patch of grass and dirt! We spent that summer fundraising for mats. Mats are an essential element of cheerleading. There are several places to purchase cheer mats. We bought ours at tiffinmats.com and they were delivered very quickly!

When your team stunts, the focus should be on the stunt and no talking should occur until the stunt is back down on the ground. Designate a member of the stunt group (usually the backspot) to verbalize the counts of the stunt. This way, you ensure additional safety with all attention on that stunt.

Coaches need to become safety certified. There are several clinics and conferences that coaches can attend where hands-on safety techniques are taught.

Coaches need to know the rules of the sport at their level. For example, I just found out that in our conference, the cheerleaders are not allowed on the court during the last 3 minutes of a basketball game. Who knew? Now, I know! Check your rules website frequently for rules updates.

Tips for High School Cheerleaders wanting to cheer in college:

 Contact the college coach as soon as you think you might be interested in attending school there! Don't wait! I keep a list of interested applicants throughout the year and send them information on good "insider" type stuff as I receive it.  For example, I received an email from the University that the application fee will be waived at our next Open House. I was able to pass along this information to my interested HS cheerleaders! I also pass along information on scholarships and grants as I receive it, as well as invite them to attend games, practices, competitions as well as other campus events.

Clean up  your Facebook account!!!! YES! College coaches check  your MySpace and Facebook accounts. There have been several recruits who I chose to remove from my "list" after seeing what is posted on their accounts. I tell my recruits, "Don't put anything on there that your grandmother wouldn't be proud of." C'mon - be real. We all know you drink and like to party. Great. But grow up! No one cares! It doesn't impress anyone, especially a college coach! So clean them up - oh yeah - and we can get around any "privacy" blocks. Trust me, we find it all out... It's not worth you losing your opportunity to cheer in college - right?

Contact the coach to set up a visit. A visit usually includes touring the practice facilities, locker rooms, campus, etc... You want to make sure these facilities are clean and what you are looking for. You will be spending a whole lot of time in them, so make sure it is a good fit. Also, I usually arrange a time where the recruit can meet the team, whether it be at a team dinner, or just a trip to the beach with the girls. This way, you can kind of "feel out the team", and also ask the girls questions about the coaching staff, and gather some good information about what it will be like to cheer in college.

I will add more tips. Bye for now! Cheers!

 
 

January 27, 2008

I spent the day recruiting for next year. I am officially in recruiting mode right now. I got a list of local competition results and emailed each of the coaches congratulating them on their performance in the competition, then attaching information on our program. Once Ihear back from them, I plan on setting up a time to go out to those schools to talk with their teams and get them pumped up for cheering at college - especially at MY college!

1-24-08

I got a classic email today! I got an email from a mother who was marketing her daughter to colleges for cheerleading scholarships.
It said, "My daughter is a outstanding in cheerleading, and would like a full scholarship to cheer at your school. She has cheered & danced since she was a baby. She has a double full twist & is an olympic tumbler & flyer. For financial reason I think she knows we can't afford 30 or 40 thousand a year to send her to school. Thank You"

What, exactly, is an olympic flyer?