A huge part of the sport of cheerleading is a cheerleader’s ability to jump. Jumps may sound easy and simple, but there are many different types of jumps, such as toe touches, pikes, hurkies or a combination of those. Not only do jumps look great in a routine, but they can also earn you a lot of points at a competition. Jumps need to look graceful, so balance, coordination, poise and strength are needed to make your jumps look great.

Toe touches are the most basic and commonly used jump. They look great in sidelines, routines, and can also get you a lot of points at competitions if you execute them correctly. To have a great toe touch, you must be extremely flexible and you also must have a lot of leg strength. To start the jump, begin with your feet together and arms in a ‘High V.’ As you swing your arms into a ‘T’ position, jump and kick your legs out into a straddle. When you land, snap your legs back together.  Practice these a lot, and when your toe touch begins to improve, try to make it faster, higher, sharper, cleaner, and crisper.

Another commonly used jump in cheerleading is a hurkey. They are sometimes called hurdlers and can be don to the left or right.  Before doing this jump, it is very important that you stretch and do ‘splits’ because a hurkey requires a lot of flexibility. To begin for this jump, your arms can be in either a ‘High V’ or ‘High Touchdown.’  You swing them around and then back out in front of you. When they are out in front of you, they are in what’s called ‘Candlestick’ position.  You then kick one leg out in front of you as high as you can, and bend the other one beneath you. As you land, your feet should snap together. This jump can be extremely difficult, so a lot of practice will be needed; but, if you put in time and effort to this jump, it can look great!

The last commonly used jump in cheerleading is called a pike.  It is probably the most difficult, and many cheerleaders have troubles executing there’s correctly.  Because cheerleader’s techniques for this jump are usually wrong, it often does not look that great. But, if cheerleaders can execute this correctly, they can look great and earn many points for your competition routine.  To execute a pike, you begin with your arms in a ‘High Touchdown,’ you then swing them around and out in front of you, into ‘Candlesticks’ position.  You jump and put your legs out in front of you, and snap them back inward toward you.  If your pike does not look good after many practice attempts, stretching can very much help your pike!

You can also add combinations of these jumps to your routine to make it look even better! Double-toe touches are common, but your squad can be very creative and come up with even different combinations!  Also, you can add gymnastics and tumbling to your jump sequence.  ‘Toe touch back-handsprings’ look very good, as well as ‘toe touch back tucks.’ Your squad can still become very creative with this, and make jumps look even better!