30 Must-Know Cheerleading Terms, Phrases and Slang

65 cheerleading terms explained, from flyer, base and cupie to herkie, basket toss and full out, plus the slang cheerleaders use.

Cheer vocabulary is split between the sideline and the competition mat. Sideline work brings the chants, the motions and the pom-poms, while all star routines bring stunt and tumbling terminology that sounds like a foreign language from the stands. The words related to cheerleading below cover both, from the roles in a stunt group to the names of individual jumps, and the words associated with cheerleading culture come with them. Use the cheerleading glossary further down to look up a single term.

Must-Know Cheerleading Terms, Phrases and Slang:

1. Base
2. Basket Toss
3. Flyer
4. Full out
5. Handspring
6. Herkie
7. Jump
8. Liberty
9. Mount
10. Pom-poms
11. Pyramid
12. Routine
13. Scorpion
14. Stunt
15. Tuck
16. Varsity
17. Cheer
18. Cradle
19. Cupie
20. Dance
21. Extension
22. Heel Stretch
23. High V
24. Low V
25. Motions
26. Sideline
27. Spotter
28. Toe touch
29. Tumbling
30. Whip

Cheerleading Glossary: Every Term A to Z

Term	What It Means
All star	Club cheerleading for competition only, not tied to a school or sports team.
Back Spot	The squad member standing behind a stunt, watching the flyer’s waist and taking the head and shoulders in a fall.
Back tuck	A backward flip in a tucked position, a standard tumbling skill.
Base	The person or persons who lift and hold the flyer. Everything above them depends on how still they stand.
Basket Toss	Two bases toss the flyer up from interlocked hands, the flyer performs a skill at the top and is caught.
Bid	An invitation to a major competition, such as a bid to the Cheerleading Worlds.
Bobble	A wobble in a stunt that is recovered rather than dropped.
Bow and Arrow	A flexibility position where the flyer pulls one leg up beside the head and extends the opposite arm.
Bucket	A hand position with the fist turned so the palm faces down, as if holding a bucket.
Callback	The second round of tryouts, where a shortened list of candidates is asked to return.
Candlestick	A hand position with the fist turned so the thumb points up, as if holding a candle.
Chant	A short, repeated sideline call meant for the crowd to join in, shorter than a full cheer.
Cheer	A chant performed for the crowd, usually with stomps, claps and sharp motions to mark the beat.
Clean	Standing with arms straight down at the sides. The neutral position every motion starts and ends from.
Cradle	The dismount where the bases catch the flyer in a seated position before setting her down.
Cupie	An extended stunt where the flyer stands with both feet together in one base’s hands.
Dance	The choreographed section of a routine, used to add style and hold the audience.
Deduction	Points taken off the score for a fall, a bobble or a rules violation.
Dismount	Any controlled way of bringing the flyer back to the floor from a stunt.
Elevator	A stunt where the flyer is held at shoulder height, also called a prep.
Extension	The flyer stands with legs locked, held above the bases’ heads at full arm’s length.
Flyer	The cheerleader lifted into the air in a stunt or pyramid. Also called the top or top girl.
Full	A layout with one full twist, an advanced tumbling skill.
Full Out	Running the routine exactly as it would be performed in competition, with every element in.
Handspring	An acrobatic move over the hands and back onto the feet, forward or backward.
Heel Stretch	A flexibility skill where the flyer holds one leg up by the heel, out in front, standing on the other.
Herkie	The jump named after Lawrence Herkimer, one leg straight out to the side and the other bent down.
High V	Arms raised in a V above the shoulder line.
Hit	Performing a routine or a stunt cleanly, without a bobble or a drop. A hit routine is the goal.
Hit zero	Performing a routine with no falls and no deductions.
Hurdler	A jump with one leg straight in front and the other bent behind or to the side.
Jump	A dynamic move off the ground into a set leg position, scored on height, form and landing.
Kick double	A toss or dismount where the flyer kicks one leg and then twists twice.
Layout	A backward flip with the body fully straight.
Level	The difficulty tier a team competes at, which sets which stunts and tumbling skills are allowed.
Liberty	A one-legged stunt where the flyer’s free foot is drawn up to the knee of the standing leg.
Load In	The setup step where the flyer’s feet are placed in the bases’ hands before the stunt goes up.
Low V	Arms extended down and out from the body, forming an upside-down V.
Marking	Walking through a routine without the difficult skills, the opposite of full out.
Megaphone	The cone-shaped horn cheerleaders use to carry a chant across a stadium.
Motions	The sharp, fixed arm and hand positions used to punctuate words during a cheer.
Mount	The formation in which flyers are lifted into the air by their bases.
Passe	A position with the toe of the free foot at the knee of the standing leg.
Pike	A jump or body position with straight legs together in front of the body.
Pom-poms	The fluffy handheld accessories shaken during a performance to make movement read from a distance.
Prep	A stunt with the flyer at shoulder height; same as elevator.
Punch	A motion with one arm straight up and the other fist on the hip.
Pyramid	A multi-level structure built from several stunt groups at once.
Roundoff	A cartwheel that lands on both feet at once, used to build speed into a tumbling pass.
Routine	The full choreographed performance: stunts, tumbling, jumps and dance, scored as one.
Scorpion	A flexibility stunt where the flyer pulls the free foot up behind the head with one hand.
Sideline	The area beside the field or court where cheerleaders perform chants and cheers during play.
Spotter	The squad member whose job is safety, watching a stunt or tumbling pass and catching if needed.
Squad	The full team, including bases, flyers, back spots and tumblers.
Stunt	Any skill where cheerleaders lift or support another cheerleader off the ground.
Stunt Group	The small unit that builds one stunt together, usually two bases, a back spot and a flyer.
T motion	Both arms straight out to the sides at shoulder height.
Toe Touch	The jump with a horizontal straddle split in mid-air and the hands reaching toward the toes.
Touchdown	Both arms straight up overhead, parallel, like a referee signalling a touchdown.
Tuck	A jump or flip with both knees pulled tight to the chest in the air.
Tumbling	The gymnastic side of cheer: rolls, handsprings, tucks and full passes across the mat.
Twist	A rotation around the body’s long axis, added to a tumbling skill or a basket toss.
Varsity	The top competitive squad at a school, above junior varsity.
Whip	An advanced no-handed backflip with a fast whipping motion, usually linked into a longer pass.
X Out	A tuck in which the flyer or tumbler kicks arms and legs out into an X shape before landing.

What Is It Called When…? Cheerleading Terms by Situation

Know what happened but not the word for it? Find the situation on the left and the cheerleading term on the right.

When…	It Is Called
A cheerleader stands on top of a stunt	Flyer
Cheerleaders lift and hold the flyer	Base
Someone stands behind the stunt to help and catch	Back spot
Bases throw the flyer from their interlocked hands	Basket toss
The flyer comes down from a stunt into the bases’ arms	Cradle
The flyer stands on one leg with the other foot at the knee	Liberty
The flyer pulls one foot up behind her head	Scorpion
One base holds the flyer’s feet together overhead	Cupie
Several stunts are linked together	Pyramid
Both legs are straddled out to the sides in a jump	Toe touch
One leg is straight and one is bent in a jump	Herkie
The flyer wobbles but does not fall	Bobble
A routine has no falls and no deductions	Hit zero
A routine is performed at full intensity	Full out
A team walks through the routine without skills	Marking
The arms are straight down at the sides	Clean
The arms go straight up in a V	High V
A backward flip is done without the hands touching	Whip

#1 Base

A cheerleader who holds up and supports the flyer in a stunt. In a typical stunt group there is a main base and a secondary base, with a back spot behind them. Bases do most of the lifting with their legs, not their arms.

In a sentence: “Bases, lock your arms and squeeze the feet.”

#2 Basket Toss

A toss in which two bases interlock their hands into a basket, the flyer steps in, and the group throws her as high as possible. At the peak she performs a skill such as a toe touch or a kick double, then comes down into a cradle. A back spot helps with the throw and the catch.

In a sentence: “The basket toss went so high she had time for a kick double.”

#3 Flyer

The cheerleader on top of a stunt, who is lifted, held or tossed by the bases. Flyers need balance, flexibility and a tight body, because a loose flyer is much harder to hold.

In a sentence: “Our flyer hit her heel stretch and held it for four counts.”

#4 Full out

Performing a routine at full intensity with every stunt, jump and tumbling pass included. The opposite is marking, where the team walks through the routine without the difficult skills to save energy or practise the timing.

In a sentence: “One more time, full out, like it’s finals.”

#5 Handspring

A tumbling skill in which the athlete springs from the feet onto the hands and back onto the feet, forward or backward. The back handspring is the basic building block of cheer tumbling, usually done after a roundoff or from a standing position.

In a sentence: “She has a standing back handspring, so she can tumble with the front row.”

#6 Herkie

A jump with one leg straight out to the side like a toe touch and the other bent down toward the ground. It is named after Lawrence Herkimer, who founded the National Cheerleaders Association in 1948.

In a sentence: “Hit a herkie on the last count and land together.”

#7 Jump

A basic cheer skill judged on height, leg position and a clean landing. The main jumps are the toe touch, the herkie, the pike, the hurdler and the tuck. Each starts with an arm swing called the approach or prep.

In a sentence: “Your jumps need more height, lift your hips.”

#8 Liberty

A one-legged stunt in which the flyer stands on one foot at extension with the other foot tucked at the knee of the standing leg. The pose is named after the Statue of Liberty, and many other one-leg stunts start from it.

In a sentence: “Go up to a liberty and hold for four.”

#9 Mount

An older word for a stunt, and also the way the flyer gets into one. Many coaches still talk about mounts when they mean the entry into a pyramid or stunt sequence.

In a sentence: “Learn the mount first, then we’ll add the dismount.”

#10 Pom-poms

The colourful bundles of plastic or paper strands cheerleaders shake to make motions visible from far away. Most squads just call them poms. Pom teams that dance with them compete as their own category.

In a sentence: “Grab your poms, we’re doing the sideline dance.”

#11 Pyramid

Several stunt groups connected to each other, with flyers linking hands or feet. Rules limit how high a pyramid may go, usually to two and a half body lengths, and pyramids are scored as their own section of a routine.

In a sentence: “The pyramid hit clean and the crowd went wild.”

#12 Routine

The choreographed performance a team takes to competition, set to music and including stunts, pyramid, tumbling, jumps and dance. All star routines last two and a half minutes.

In a sentence: “Our routine has three new stunt sequences this season.”

#13 Scorpion

A flexibility position in which the flyer, standing on one leg, pulls the other foot up behind the back toward the head with one or both hands. It is a common body position in stunts and needs a very flexible back.

In a sentence: “She pulled a scorpion at the top and the judges loved it.”

#14 Stunt

Any skill where one or more cheerleaders lift or support another. Stunts range from simple thigh stands to one-legged extensions and twisting dismounts, and each level of the sport allows a set range of them.

In a sentence: “We’ll start practice with stunts, then go to tumbling.”

#15 Tuck

Two meanings. A tuck jump has both knees pulled up to the chest. In tumbling, a back tuck is a backward flip in that tucked shape, and it is a milestone skill for many cheerleaders.

In a sentence: “She finally landed her standing back tuck.”

#16 Varsity

The top team of a school, above junior varsity. Varsity is also the name of Varsity Spirit, the company that runs many of the largest cheer competitions and sells uniforms.

In a sentence: “She made varsity as a sophomore.”

#17 Cheer

A longer set of words with motions, performed during breaks in play, such as time outs. A chant is shorter and repeated during play. A cheer usually aims to get the crowd to yell back.

In a sentence: “We’ll do the fight cheer at half time.”

#18 Cradle

The most common way to come down from a stunt: the bases pop the flyer up and catch her with one arm under her back and one under her thighs. The flyer keeps her body in a pike or V shape so she is easy to catch.

In a sentence: “Pop, cradle, and land on the count of eight.”

#19 Cupie

A stunt in which the flyer stands with both feet together in the hands of a single base, held at full extension overhead. It is common in coed cheer and takes real strength from the base.

In a sentence: “He pressed her into a cupie with one arm.”

#20 Dance

The dance section of a routine, usually near the end, where the whole team performs choreography together. It is scored for timing, sharpness and showmanship.

In a sentence: “The dance section has to be sharp, not floppy.”

#21 Extension

A stunt where the bases hold the flyer’s feet at shoulder height with arms fully extended overhead, while the flyer stands on both feet. It is the standard height for most two-legged stunts.

In a sentence: “Load in, extension, and hold for eight.”

#22 Heel Stretch

A one-legged stunt where the flyer holds the heel of her free leg with one hand and pulls it straight up to the side. It shows both balance and flexibility.

In a sentence: “Go from liberty to heel stretch without bobbling.”

#23 High V

A motion with both arms straight up and slightly out to form a V, fists closed. It is one of the first motions cheerleaders learn and appears in almost every cheer.

In a sentence: “Hit a high V on “go”, and keep the arms locked.”

#24 Low V

The opposite of the high V: both arms straight down and slightly out to form a V. It is often used as the finish position of a cheer.

In a sentence: “End in a low V, and smile.”

#25 Motions

The set arm positions cheerleaders hit in cheers and routines, such as high V, T, touchdown and punch. They are judged on sharpness and on every arm hitting the same position at the same time.

In a sentence: “Clean up your motions, I want them sharp.”

#26 Sideline

Cheering at games, on the side of the field or court, rather than in competition. Sideline cheers are short and focused on leading the crowd.

In a sentence: “Football season means sideline every Friday night.”

#27 Spotter

A person who stands by a stunt to catch or protect the flyer if something goes wrong, without carrying weight. Rules require extra spotters for certain skills and levels.

In a sentence: “Don’t take your eyes off the flyer, you’re the spotter.”

#28 Toe touch

The most common cheer jump: both legs straddled out to the sides, parallel to the ground, with the arms in a T. Despite the name, the hands should not actually touch the toes.

In a sentence: “Her toe touch is so high she hits a hyper.”

#29 Tumbling

The gymnastics part of cheerleading: cartwheels, roundoffs, handsprings, tucks, layouts and twists. Standing tumbling starts from a standstill, running tumbling from a run-up.

In a sentence: “Tumbling is worth a big chunk of the score at this level.”

#30 Whip

A fast backward flip without the hands touching the floor, keeping a low arched shape. It is used to link tumbling skills, often in passes like roundoff, whip, back handspring.

In a sentence: “She threw a whip into a full and stuck it.”

Cheerleading Slang Players and Fans Actually Use

Slang	What It Means
Hit zero	A perfect routine with no deductions, the goal of every competition team.
Full out	Doing everything at full intensity, used beyond routines for any all-in effort.
Marking it	Going through the routine at half effort without the skills.
Bobble	A small wobble in a stunt that is caught before it becomes a fall.
Sharp	Motions that hit exactly and stop dead, the highest praise for arm work.
Spirit fingers	Hands held up with the fingers spread and wiggling, a classic cheer gesture.
Cheer bow	The large hair bow worn by all star teams, a symbol of the sport.
Cheer mom	A heavily involved parent of a cheerleader, said affectionately or not.
Spankies	The briefs worn under a cheer skirt.
Worlds	Short for the Cheerleading Worlds, the top all star competition, held in Florida.
Bid	An invitation to a big competition, earned with a strong performance.
Mat talk	The encouragement teammates shout at each other during a routine.

Cheerleading Expressions and Sayings in Everyday English

• Rah-rah: Uncritically enthusiastic, as in “a rah-rah speech”. From the old chant “rah, rah, rah” yelled by college crowds.
• Cheerleader: Someone who loudly supports a person, plan or idea, often without question, as in “a cheerleader for the merger”.
• Pep rally: Any meeting meant to fire people up, even in an office. From the school gatherings before a big game where cheerleaders lead the crowd.
• Ready? Okay!: The call a cheer captain uses to start a cheer, so everybody begins on the same count. It is often quoted as shorthand for cheerleading itself.
• Bring it on: A challenge meaning go ahead, I’m ready. It was the title of the 2000 cheerleading film and is still closely tied to cheer.

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