Keller ISD high school cheerleading programs are proud to lead the charge in bridging the gap from being viewed as a spirit organization to a recognized sport. Our process of team selection by coaches rather than judges has put KISD in the forefront of how to build a championship caliber athletic cheer program. The results and impact of our process can be seen by the level of success the KISD cheer programs have experienced at the state and national levels, and by the growing numbers of participants in each of the high school programs.

For the past seven years, cheer coaches at the four high schools in Keller have taken team selection out of the hands of hired, outside judges by evaluating the athletes themselves during tryouts, just as a football, volleyball, or basketball coach would do. Student-athletes actually prefer their coach over an outside evaluator or judge. Stephanie Hinchey, Keller HS alumni, had this to say about the change, "…the new tryout process for cheerleading has affected incoming athletes by creating the ultimate chance to prove their skills…this helped a lot of athletes have a successful tryout because it was a more comfortable setting and they were more relaxed."

During the tryout week, athletes are evaluated on their execution of skills in six categories: cheer, dance, advanced jumps, stunting, standing tumbling, and running tumbling. Team selection is determined by positions in stunting and the level of execution of skills aforementioned skills, just as any athlete is evaluated in their sport. Announcement of teams are posted the day after the tryout week has ended. Until the 2013-2014 school year, mobility throughout the season (which is March to March) was not considered.

Looking at how other athletic teams utilize and benefit from athlete mobility throughout the season, KISD cheer coaches implemented a change in the team selection process to more resemble the look of a high school athletic team. Instead of determining an athlete's placement based on the skills they showed for four days in March, the decision was made to divide up the cheer year by creating seasons: Spring training, football, basketball, and competition. Beginning in the 2015-2016 school year, cheer team selection will be re-aligned each season. This change allows athletes more of an opportunity to display their skills and increase their level of cheer ability by being able to move up throughout the year based on skills necessary for the season at hand.

In addition to coaches selecting their teams and utilizing athlete mobility, each cheer coach in KISD (middle school and high school) receives extensive training and certification that qualifies them to be a cheer coach. Every cheer coach must be certified through USA Cheer Safety and Risk Management, UIL CCP training, concussion training, CPR training and certification through the American Red Cross.

Unlike most athletic teams, cheerleading is a year-round sport. Our year begins in March after tryouts and ends the following March. A general timeline of events is according to the cheer seasons (but cheer teams support all athletic teams when possible):

March-May: Spring Training, Baseball, Softball, Track Season

June-August: Summer practices and camp

August-November: Football, Volleyball, Cross Country Season

November-February: Basketball, Soccer Season; Cheer Competition Season

January: Mandatory tryout meeting is usually held the last week in January. Candidates and one parent MUST attend in order to tryout

March: Tryouts are always held the week prior to Spring Break