Cheerleading help

[CaptainCallisto]

I'm a primary school TA and have been asked to start a cheerleading club after half-term. I'm a trained dancer, but have never done cheer (it's not something that's offered locally either, hence the request for me to start).

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to look for examples of the sort of thing younger children would be doing? I've found plenty of videos of teenagers and adults online, but nothing that looks appropriate for 5-11 year olds.

I can cobble something together that the kids will enjoy, but I'd much rather do it properly if possible. Any help or general pointers would be much appreciated!

Just say no. Say you'll do a dance club, I'd you're happy to.

'Cheerleading' really rattles my feminist gears.
Can't it just be 'dance/gymnastics'?
I can't see anything in cheerleading which the world needs more of.

If you are a dancer you should be teaching dance, especially for minimum wage or what the school is paying you.

https://ukca.org.uk/clubs/setting-up-a-club/ might be more than you bargained for - but you will need insurance etc won't you?

I'm not a cheer fan either because of the costumes/makeup/appearance elements but the actual moves are very cool! And who doesn't love a pom-pom?!

Proper cheerleading is a sport with very talented athletes. Look up all star cheerleading on YouTube and see what it's actually about. No pom poms in sight there.

OP if they mean pom poms etc that's cheer pom which is different. To be honest given your knowledge of dancing I'd just do a fun dance class with pom poms.

@Leftphalange100 I have absolutely no disagreement there, just wish it could be called gymnastics rather than cheerleading.

Thanks everyone. There already is a dance club, so they were wanting me to do something different. I already run a musical theatre club one lunchtime a week.

I think I essentially will just do dance with poms. I have no intention of getting into the competitive cheer/gymnastics side of things - I don't have the training or qualifications to teach that safely!

I won't need my own insurance, no. As it's an after school club, run by the school, on the school premises, I'm covered by their insurance the same way I am when I teach PE (which I cover regularly).

My feminist flag is waving too!! Dance is more inclusive. Cheerleading has a lot of American misogynistic connotations... and might be hard to get the boys involved? 📣😘

I was a baton twirler and we did dance poms (no cheering involved!) as a competitive category. There are lots of fun effects you can make with pompoms that you can't get just through dance so look into that too.

All star cheerleading is often co-ed and is nothing like gymnastics because it has dance, stunts and specific jumps on top of the tumbling. It’s very much a thing in its own right. It also doesn’t use pom poms or involve yelling cheesy slogans. But for that reason you really, really cannot coach it if you’re not qualified to do so! Just say you’ll do a dance club.

I think I essentially will just do dance with poms
See this is why I think cheer gets a bad rep, and people think it’s anti-feminist etc. I know I know it’s about something fun for the kids but as a former national champion cheerleader and qualified coach I just think no!

Bit baffled by some of the responses here. Most of you have obviously not been involved in Cheer as it is today! It's a massive sport - participants are athletes and lots of boys/men also cheer (especially in US.) It is inclusive. Also other posters are correct that cheerleading is different to pom dance. There are lots of Youtube videos OP. You could teach the students basic cheer moves like the jumps which wouldn't be too difficult or unsafe. My DD cheered for several years doing grassroots and competitions and her team won some national titles. She loved it and it was a massive help for her in her teenage years; building her confidence, keeping super fit, working with a great team and making some fantastic friends. I was a very proud cheer Mom!

Pom dance would be what you're looking for. BCA is probably the biggest affiliate in the UK so you could look up their scheme. For young pupils you're probably looking into doing different motions with poms with the focus on movements being sharp and structured. Good luck!