NCA National's Rings Unite on SFA squad members       April 2010. 

Voting is still going on for the Capital One Bowl Mascot winner!!  Go to www.capitalonebowl.com/mascots  to put in your vote for the best mascot in the country!!!  Currently, there is Bearcat, Paydirt Pete, Brutus, Joe Bruin, Testudo, Monte, The Bird, Joe Vandal, Mike, Big Blue, The Duck, Mr. C, Sebastian, Smokey, Big Red and Goldie.   For 12 weeks, these mascots go head to head in a epic showdown.  You can vote for as many mascots as you want and as often as you want!!    Make your vote today!!!


Welcome to Cheers101/Cheer Scholarships 101!! 

We would like to start off the Fall of 2010 with some words to all of you........   hope it helps in some way!!  We will also start putting in an ongoing page about things students who are looking at getting into college cheer need to think about, and what the parents need to know!! 

For those of you who are new to the college cheer arena, we welcome you and hope to answer some of your questions.  For those of you who are incoming freshmen to college cheer, Congratulations on making the squad, but as you have guessed at this point, this is only the beginning of your journey in college cheer!!!!  We will try to give you some guidance on your first year.  And for those of you who are seasoned cheer members, we hope we can igive you some options should you look towards another program during you college cheer career!!  Now let's get started!!

For those who are looking at going to college in the next year or three....... the biggest piece of advise that I can give you is do your homework on whatever school or type of cheer program that interests you.  You may be suprised that your first choice isn't really the right school for you.  And the big conference schools may not be the right answer for your first school, either!!  And they may never be!!  You need to research the school, the cheer program (are they NCA/UCA/NCAA Competitive or are they in one of those, but not very competitive), check out the dorms, check out the library, the rec center, the campus, the neighborhood and the shopping nearby.  Even if you have a car, your will primarily be using the 3 mile radius around the campus as your main area of travel!!  Do not be intimidated......talk to some of the students, the professors, the coaching staff.  Then start attending clinics.  Go to as many clinics as you can at the school you are interested in, then at some other colleges, if nothing else, for the experience.  You will start seeing some of the differences in work eithic, coaching, skills, competition, and personality of the team.  When it comes time to try out, you will definatley see how much that experience will help you!!

For incoming freshmen.  You are the low man/woman on the totem pole.  Not just in school, but on the squad as well.  You will have more of the "set up" responsibilites for equipment, for practice, for the grunt work.  You will also have to learn quickly how to work with you new squad and keep pace with the leaders.  The more experienced squad members who are returning and the ones that transferred in.  IT will be a learning experience.  You will be on your own for the first time.  Learning to budget your time, your practices, your studying, eating, washing clothes and all else that encompasses living on your own.  You will probably have a roommate, so all this new stuff, it will involve working around a person you may or may not know.  You may get along with this person or not, does not matter, you still have to function.  Please, please, please remember your grades, though!!!  The base of your GPA starts here!!  It is hard to recover from a first year low GPA rather than a decent first year base and then trying to bring it up.  We are not trying to sound like the broken record.  Do your homework.  But we want you to undertand that if you decide to transfer schools, you have to have a certain GPA to move to another squad!! 

kFor you guys/gals out htere who are seasoned at the college cheer world, remember that you are now at a new school.  YES, be proud of the squad you came from.  It gave you the basis of the reason the new squad wanted you onboard!!  IT is who shaped you into the tumbler/stunter you are today.  Whether it was an all girl or coed squad.  Whether you went to an bigger, better school or took a step back to work on school work. You are now a part of this new familiy and you need to show them the respect.  Wear the new colors proudly and speak highly of your new family.  You will have an adjustment period because the new squad is not the old one, and the coaching is giong to be differnet, but they picked you for a reason.  Be proud and be respectful!! 

1.  Have you visited the school you intend to try out for?

2. Do you know anyone on the current squad you are trying out for?

3. Have you talked to the coach of the squad you'd like to try out for?

4. Did you go to any of the clinics?  Open practices?

5. If it's a coed squad, have you been practicing or doing private lessons in order to try out?  Learning at tryouts is not a good option!

6. Have you checked out the tumbling requirements for the squad you want to go to?

7. Do you know if they are an NCA or UCA squad?  Does that fit with the type of cheerleader you are?

8. Does the squad compete?  If it is an all girls squad, are they an NCAA squad?

9. Do you know the time requirements for the squad during fall and spring?  What about the summer clinics and camps?

10. Have you applied to the school that you are going to try out for?

11. Do you have "Plan B" options on who to try out for if you did not make the squad you wanted?

12. Have you thought about your career goals in combination with your cheer goals?  Do they match?

13. If you are a transfer college student, will your credits transfer?  Will you lose any?  Does this school offer your major? 

14.  What will your parents say!?!?!

These are all very important things to keep in mind.  We are here to help you thru this time of year, and in getting ready for the next few years to come! 




Cheer Scholarships 101  *  cheerincollege@gmail.com  *   PO Box 80732  *  Austin,TX  78708  *  512-921-7853  * All Rights Reserved