Cheerleading camp does several things for a squad. It helps build a solid foundation of stunting skills, adds new sideline and dance material to your performance list, and helps to form a strong team bond to name a few. Choosing a camp that is right for your squad is very important and there are a couple of main things to consider.

The first, and most obvious, is money. How much will it cost? How much do you have? How will you raise the difference? What deadlines do you have to get the money? Having a realistic plan in place will make answering these questions much easier. The sooner you get started in executing that plan the less stress there will be later. 

Another consideration is, do you want to go out of town or do you want to have instructors come to your own facility. They both have advantages and disadvantages. If you go away to camp, you are likely to have a larger number of staff members to provide instruction. This can be helpful when learning stunts because, you have enough people to show you each position. Having less distractions is another advantage of going away to camp. Everyone around you has the same goal you do: learn as much as you can, get ready for next season and have fun. Having a camp at home can be useful if you want more personalized attention, you want to be able to customize your curriculum, you have a young team that is not ready to travel or you just want to spend a little less money.

With either option, the most important element is the instructor. Who do you have teaching the material? Having a professional makes all the difference. Getting your old squad members who just graduated or a friend of a friend’s daughter who cheers in college to coach is nice and well intentioned, but not as effective. That help would be better used as a follow up later in the season. When it comes to laying the foundation, leave it to the pros.

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