Cheerleading Becomes Even More Exclusive

Cheerleader tryouts at Colleyville Heritage High School were exceptionally harsh this year: only nineteen girls made the cut, enough to field only a varsity cheerleading squad. Some 39 girls tried out.

In previous years the school has accepted sixty cheerleaders, enough to also fill a junior varsity and freshman squad. This year, students and parents complained that judges only picked girls who could partipate in competitive cheering, weeding out the girls who cheer on the sidelines, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. This led Rick Chandler at NBC Sport’s Off the Bench blog to dub the process “[t]he strictest little cheerleader tryouts in Texas.”

After cheerleader hopefuls and their parents packed a school board meeting (and WFAA aired a segment on the issue), district administrators agreed to add more students to the squads, Amanda Carey reported at ABC News.

“The district administration made the decision to place all of the candidates who passed the required tumbling certification and participated in tryouts onto the Colleyville Heritage High School cheer squad for 2012-2013,” the district’s statement said. “The administration’s decision allows for more student participation at both the freshman and junior varsity levels, and provides the ability to field three squads at CHHS as we traditionally have offered.”