SCZ London Cheerleaders

When you start training your jumps - try not to get too over-excitied about the height. The technique and the preparation is just as important as the jump itself. Remember that there are many things that make up the jump itself. Asd you can see the height is only one of them:

• Pointed Toes
• Chest Up
• Arm Preparation (Remember: Punch, Power, Pathway and Position)
• Landing
• Height
• Arm position during jump
• Power of the jump
• Clean

Jump Conditioning

Crunches - the stronger your abs are, the higher you can lift your legs.

Leg Dips - Put some 'bouncy' music on. Stand feet shoulderwidth apart, facing forward and keep your back straight. Do 8 small dips with your legs to the music - one count each, small but fast. Do this 3 times. Now do 3 counts of 8 doing slower and deeper dips - 2 counts each. Repeat this process at least 3 times at the beginning of every practice. This will not only increase your leg strength, but also your muscle memory.

Place a piece of tape as high up as you can reach on a wall in your house. jump up 100 times and touch the place on the wall above the tape. DO this 50 times with your right hand and 50 with the left.

T Jumps - Even if you have been cheerleading for 10 years, get into the habit of doing 10 perfect UBER-SNAPPY T-jumps as a warmup. This will ensure that your technique remains the same throught all your jumps.

Things to do

• Make your preparation as punchy as you can.

• Make your arms as neat throughout as you can. This will hide a jump that is not great yet.

• Keep smiling

• FLICK your legs at the height of your jump to give it extra power

• Point your toes

• Look up

• Keep your hands high - know the arm position you should be doing doy your jump. This should never fall below a 'T' level during the jump itself

• Mix and match the preparation arms to make it more interesting

• Use your arms to jump - Turbo Power!

• Finish with a nice sharp, snappy clean

Video Tutorials
The Zoo have created 4 Video Tutorials for Jumps, the first one shows basic jumping technique with the T jump, and the others are for Toe Touches, Herkies and Pikes.