What Do You Need to Start a Cheerleading Team From Scratch?
Sierra Swigert Last updated: November 3, 2026
You said yes. Maybe it was at a parent meeting, maybe it was a parks department email you answered a little too quickly, maybe a conversation after a football game turned into a commitment before you’d really thought it through. Whatever the moment was, you’re now the person starting a cheerleading team, and the decisions are already piling up faster than you can sort them: squad type, a facility, coaches, registration, uniforms, and about a dozen things you haven’t even thought of yet.
Starting a cheerleading team means building a structured program from the ground up: choosing your squad type, recruiting cheerleaders and coaches, setting up registration and a team website, and putting the safety and communication systems in place before your first practice.
None of that has to happen all at once, and none of it has to happen in the order it’s landing on you right now. What it needs is a plan, so you’re not guessing which decision has to come first and which one can wait.
That’s what this guide gives you: the order of operations from idea to first practice, so nothing critical slips through the cracks while you’re focused on everything else.
Choose your squad type first
Your squad type determines everything that follows: the facility you need, the coaches you recruit, the competition calendar you build, and the budget you set. Lock this in before making any other commitment.
USA Cheer reports more than 3 million cheerleaders participating across recreational, all-star, school, and STUNT programs in the U.S., so the landscape of options is wide.
While STUNT is worth including, it’s a more competitive format. Most first-time volunteer organizers are building a recreational or school-affiliated program:
- Recreational cheer is participation-focused, community-run, and manageable on a volunteer budget.
- School-affiliated programs work within an existing institution's structure.
- All-star cheer operates as a private, competition-only gym, which is a different undertaking entirely and outside the scope of this guide.
Squad type | Focus | Facility | Coach credentials |
Recreational | Participation and skill development for all ability levels | Community gym or school facility | Safety training and basic cheer certification |
School | Sideline support and school spirit | School gym or practice space | School district requirements; often less specialized than all-star |
All-star | Competition and advanced skill mastery | Private gym with specialized equipment | USASF certification and advanced stunting expertise |
STUNT | Head-to-head competitive format | Gym with competition-grade flooring | USA Cheer STUNT-specific training and certification |
Budget before recruiting
Set aside budget for six main startup cost categories before you recruit athletes or commit to a launch date:
- Facility
- Uniforms
- Insurance
- Coach certification
- Software
- Competition fees
Facility, uniforms, and insurance costs
Facility rental deposits, uniform minimums, and liability insurance create the largest upfront physical costs for a new cheer program.
Gym rental rates, uniform minimums, and insurance premiums all vary by region and program size, so get actual quotes from local vendors rather than relying on averages.
- Facility costs depend on your squad type and local market. Recreational programs often share community gym space at lower rates, while all-star programs need dedicated private facilities with specialized equipment. Ask about off-peak scheduling discounts, multi-season pricing, and whether the venue has hosted cheer programs before.
- Uniform costs typically include shells, liners, briefs, warm-up jackets, and hair accessories. Vendor lead times and minimum order quantities affect your timeline too, which matters once you're ready to order. Wait until tryouts are complete and you have final roster numbers before placing orders, since custom uniforms are expensive to replace if you order too early.
- Insurance is a non-negotiable budget line: Most facilities require proof of general liability coverage before allowing your program to practice on-site. Some organizations also carry accident insurance covering athlete injuries during sanctioned activities. Pair your insurance coverage with a written emergency action plan.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends every cheer program maintain a written plan explaining exactly what happens if an athlete gets hurt, with a copy distributed to every school, gym, coach, athlete, and family.
Coach certification, software, and competition costs
Three operational budget lines belong in every cheerleading program's launch budget: coach certification, registration and website software, and competition entry fees.
- Coach certification is a required safety expense, not an optional cost. Budget for it the same way you'd budget for insurance, because it protects your athletes and your program.
- Software gives you a professional website and online registration in one place. Jersey Watch costs $19 for the first month, then $348 per year, with no setup fees. That covers the tools you need to collect registrations, process payments, keep families informed, and organize rosters before the first practice ever happens. Every subscription includes a custom domain and free website design assistance using your organization's logo and branding.
- Competition entry fees vary by event, but first-season programs should budget for them early. Waiting until registration closes to price out competitions often means scrambling for funds you don't have. Research local and regional events that fit your squad type and skill level before committing to dates.
Name your team and open a bank account
Choose your team name and open a dedicated bank account before you collect a single registration fee or commit to a facility agreement. These steps are the administrative foundation everything else builds on.
Pick a name that's unique in your area, reflects your community, and works cleanly on a website URL and across uniform lettering. Short, clear names work well. Check out these youth sports team name ideas if you need a starting point. Once you've landed on a name, choose your colors and sketch a simple logo concept using a free logo-maker tool.
Open a separate bank account in the team's name as soon as the name is set. Most banks require an EIN or TIN to open an organizational account, so gather that documentation first. Limit account access to designated authorized users, typically your treasurer and head coach, to keep finances clean and accountable from day one.
Recruit and vet your coaches
Every coach must be recruited, qualified, and screened before athletes step onto the mat. The sections below cover where to find coaches and what credentials to look for.
Where to find qualified coaches
Community networks, local gyms, and parents with a cheer background are your most practical recruiting sources for a new volunteer-led program.
Once you have candidates, match their background to your squad type. A rec program needs someone patient with beginners. A competitive squad needs a coach familiar with USASF skill progressions and age-appropriate stunting rules.
Before any coach works independently, complete a structured onboarding plan: review program policies, confirm certifications, assign a background check, and hold a supervised practice.
Certifications, safety training, and background checks
Every coach should complete safety training, earn appropriate certification, and pass a background check before stepping onto the practice floor with athletes.
Nationwide Children's Hospital Center for Injury Research and Policy notes that most cheerleading injuries occur during practice, and that newly certified coaches should work under experienced supervision before leading athletes independently. The American Academy of Pediatrics echoes this, recommending coaches be trained in spotting techniques for partner stunts and advanced skills.
Jersey Watch makes background checks easy to manage for volunteer-run cheerleading programs. From the admin dashboard, you can send screening invitations directly to coaches and volunteers, then track each person's status in the same place you manage registration and the website.
Set up your website before tryouts
Your team website needs to be live before you announce tryouts, because it's the single place families will check for dates, details, and registration links. Without it, you're fielding the same questions over and over by text and email.
A Facebook page or generic website builder can't do what a cheerleading program actually needs. Sports-specific features like schedule display, registration links, and roster pages require a purpose-built tool. Jersey Watch's website builder includes all of these out of the box, with a custom domain and free design assistance using your organization's own logo and branding.
Setup complexity is the concern most volunteers raise first. Jersey Watch's Customer Care team works exclusively with volunteers so they can help first-time cheerleading admin get a website off the ground in just a few hours.
Open registration and organize your season
Online registration turns your website into the main place where all season operations happen. It connects athlete enrollment, fee collection, roster creation, and family contact information in one place. The three sections below cover the specific work of running a youth sports program: what to collect at signup, how to organize rosters, and how to keep families informed all season.
Capture required registration details
A cheer registration form needs more than a name and a payment. Before the first practice, collect athlete name and age, parent or guardian contact, emergency contact, medical notes, and any division or skill-level questions. Families confirm consent by checking an "I agree" box during registration, which serves as your acknowledgement waiver.
Jersey Watch's online registration handles all of this in one place. You can set registrant limits, offer payment plans, apply multi-registrant discounts for families with multiple athletes, and send automatic receipts. Every one of those features is included in every subscription. This youth sports registration form template can help you build your form from scratch.
Starting online from day one means no handwritten forms to decode and no missing payments to track down before the season starts.
With Jersey Watch, online registration forms live right on a dedicated registration page, making it easier for parents to sign up and pay
Organize rosters as signups arrive
Roster organization starts the moment registration opens, not the week before the first practice. Waiting until signups close means a last-minute scramble to sort athletes and get coach contact lists ready in time.
With Jersey Watch's team management feature, you can create teams and assign registrants as they enroll. Assign athletes individually, in bulk after filtering by age or grade, or use random distribution to spread unassigned athletes evenly across existing teams. Every assignment is admin-initiated, so you stay in control of the final roster.
Once assignments look right, export a PDF roster for each team. Each PDF lists registrant names and primary contact details, so coaches get everything they need without any manual reformatting on your end.
Keep parents informed all season
Scattered group texts and Facebook posts are the fastest way to lose parents mid-season. A practice cancellation buried under 40 other messages in a busy thread means some families still show up at the gym. That's a frustrating experience for everyone, and it’s up to you to fix it.
One communication system solves this. Jersey Watch's communication tools let you send text and email updates directly to every registered family at once. No app download required on their end.
Contact lists stay current automatically because they pull straight from your registration data, so you're always reaching the right people. When a last-minute cancellation hits, one message goes out and every parent gets it.
Find a practice facility
Visit every facility in person before committing, because cheer programs have specific requirements that a standard gym walkthrough won't reveal on its own.
When you tour each space, check for:
- Flooring: sprung or foam-padded surfaces for tumbling and stunting
- Ceiling height: enough clearance for extensions and tosses
- Equipment: crash mats and spotting blocks on site or available to rent
- Emergency access: clear exits, a first aid kit, and a written emergency action plan the venue can share with your coaches before the first session
Facility rental is one of your largest variable costs, so ask about off-peak scheduling, multi-season discounts, and whether the venue has hosted cheer programs before. If you're starting a nonprofit sports team, documenting these costs early strengthens your budget and any future funding applications.
Host your first tryouts
A consistent tryout structure protects your program from complaints and gives every athlete a fair shot, which matters most when you're still building trust in the community.
Collect preregistrations through your team's online registration system before tryout day. Skip the paper sign-up sheets at the door. When athletes arrive already logged in the system, judges can focus on evaluation instead of paperwork.
Give every judge the same score sheet and walk each athlete through the same sequence: a chant, a cheer, a short dance, and the core skills relevant to your squad type. Consistency across every athlete is what keeps the process defensible.
Once selections are made, reach out to athletes who earned a spot right away. A clear, welcoming “you made the team” letter sets a positive tone and gets the season off to a strong start.
Order uniforms and gear
Wait until tryouts are complete and you have final roster numbers and measurements before placing any custom uniform orders. Ordering too early is one of the most common first-season mistakes, and it's an expensive one to fix.
Custom uniforms for new programs typically require six to 12 weeks of production time, and most vendors set minimum order quantities. Build that window into your overall launch timeline so the deadline doesn't sneak up on you.
Once you're ready to order, use your vendor's measuring chart and confirm quantities for every component your squad needs: shells, liners, briefs, warm-up jackets, shoes, hair accessories, and any practice wear.
Collect uniform fees through your online registration system rather than handling them separately. It keeps every payment in one place, which saves your volunteer treasurer from reconciling multiple budget lines across different collection methods.
Fund your program this season
Registration fees are what will primarily fund your season. With that said, targeted fundraisers and selective sponsorship outreach can fill any remaining gaps.
Fundraising ideas for volunteer-run programs
Online fundraising pages, restaurant spirit nights, and equipment drives are the most manageable options for a volunteer-led cheer program. Each one requires minimal setup and doesn't demand a full committee to pull off. For more ideas, check out this list of youth cheerleading fundraising ideas for small organizations.
Whichever fundraisers you choose, run all payments through one system. Jersey Watch handles both registration fees and fundraising proceeds through the same payment tools, with automatic receipts and real-time financial reporting included. Your volunteer treasurer gets a clear picture of incoming funds without needing to log into multiple platforms and accounts.
Build a local sponsorship package
A focused sponsorship package gets better results than a general donation ask. Businesses want to know exactly what they're getting in return.
Start with a local prospect list: gyms, sports stores, family restaurants, and any business whose customers overlap with youth sports families. Then write a one-page proposal that covers what your program does, how many families you reach, and what sponsors receive in return.
Offer two or three recognition tiers so businesses can choose a level that fits their budget. A basic tier might include a logo on your website; a higher tier adds banner placement at competitions or a shoutout in parent communications.
Once your program is established, a cheerleading camp can open an additional revenue stream, but sponsorships are the priority in year one.
Find competitions and build your schedule
Select competitions only after your coaches, athletes, registration, website, and facility are all in place. With those pieces confirmed, you have what you need to commit to dates and give families an accurate picture of the season ahead.
Research local and regional events that fit your squad type and skill level. For a recreational or community-run program, participation and skill development come first. Competitions are an exciting milestone, not the measure of success.
Once you choose your events, publish everything in one digital schedule: practices, competitions, and any team events. Families can check it anytime, and you update it in one place instead of re-posting across multiple channels. Jersey Watch's online sports schedule tool makes it easy to keep the whole season visible and current so no one misses a change.
Your cheer team is ready. Build it on Jersey Watch.
You've worked through every major piece: squad type, budget, coach screening, website, online registration and payments, family communication, facility, tryouts, uniforms, funding, and schedule. Together, they form a clear path from idea to first practice.
The most practical thing you can do right now is get your website and registration live before anything else. Everything else, from collecting fees to sending schedule updates to organizing tryout results, gets easier once families have a place to go and a form to fill out.
Jersey Watch puts those two pieces first and builds the rest around them. Background checks, SMS and email communication, scheduling, and fundraising all live in the same system.
Take the first concrete step: Launch your team website with Jersey Watch and open cheer registration today.
FAQs
Do cheerleading coaches need to be certified before working with youth athletes?
Yes. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that cheer coaches be trained and certified in safety techniques, particularly spotting for partner stunts and other advanced moves. Certification requirements vary by squad type and state, but programs affiliated with USA Cheer may follow its specific coach education standards. Treating certification as a prerequisite rather than an afterthought protects athletes and builds immediate trust with families in your community.
How many athletes do you need to start a cheerleading team?
Minimum roster size depends on your squad type and any governing body rules that apply to your program. Recreational programs often start with a small core group of interested athletes, while competitive all-star divisions may have minimum and maximum roster counts set by the sanctioning organization. USA Cheer reports over 3 million cheerleaders participating across youth recreational, all-star, school cheer, and STUNT programs in the U.S., so finding interested athletes in most communities is a realistic starting point.
What is a STUNT program, and is it different from starting a regular cheer team?
STUNT is a sport derived from cheerleading that isolates partner stunts, pyramids, tosses, and tumbling into a head-to-head competitive format. It's listed as one of USA Cheer's own programs and has been granted emerging sport status by the NCAA. Starting a STUNT program differs from a traditional cheer team because it is exclusively competition-focused and follows sport-specific rules rather than the sideline or all-star formats most volunteer organizers are familiar with. For most community-run programs launching for the first time, recreational or school-affiliated cheer is a more practical starting point before exploring STUNT.
How do I collect registration fees for a cheerleading team without using cash or paper forms?
Collecting cheerleading registration fees online, rather than at tryouts with cash or checks, gives volunteer organizers a receipt trail, real-time payment tracking, and a roster that builds itself as families sign up. A purpose-built platform like Jersey Watch includes payment collection, acknowledgment waivers, payment plans, and multi-registrant discounts in every subscription, so new programs don't need to piece together separate tools for forms and payments. Moving registration online from day one, before your first tryout, prevents the common headache of reconciling handwritten forms and tracking missing payments mid-season.
What insurance does a new cheerleading program need before its first practice?
A new cheerleading program typically needs general liability insurance at minimum, and many facility partners will require proof of coverage before allowing a group to practice on-site. Some organizations also carry accident insurance that covers athlete injuries during sanctioned activities. Alongside insurance, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends every program have a written emergency action plan explaining what happens if an athlete gets hurt, with a copy given to every school, gym, coach, athlete, and family. Insurance costs vary by coverage level and region, so treat it as a non-negotiable budget line from the moment you start planning, not something to sort out after registration opens.
Sierra SwigertOperations Manager
Sierra Swigert is the Operations Manager at Jersey Watch. She works directly with youth sports organizations every day and writes educational resources based on her firsthand experience supporting league administrators and volunteers, as well as her background competing in cross country and track.
