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Ever wondered what it takes to be a professional cheerleader? Before you think, “Oh, professional cheerleading is not for high school or All Star cheerleaders, it’s mostly for dancers,” wait! My guest on The Cheer Mom Podcast has some things to say about that.
Nicolette Peloquin is a former Miss Rhode Island, a veteran Patriots Cheerleader, and the proud co-owner and founder of The Prep Talk: a personal development and branding company that helps aspiring pro cheerleaders and college cheerleaders with their interview and audition process. Nicolette was also an All Star cheerleader and a high school cheerleader, and she shares how that experience helped her to become a professional cheerleader. She shares a lot about opportunities in professional cheerleading that we may not even know about!
We really dig into how to position and promote yourself on social media. If you’re looking to take your brand or your influencer status to the next level as a cheerleader of any age, there are three social media tips for you in this episode!
All Star and High School Cheer Can Prepare You for Professional Cheerleading
All of cheerleading, at every level, allows you to be part of something. It teaches discipline, builds confidence, and helps athletes to learn new things. Professional cheerleading is no exception!
Nicolette recounts her time as a cheer athlete in High School, and how she thought that she would be able to translate all of those skills directly into professional cheerleading. She quickly discovered that she did not have the dance skills required to be a professional cheerleader. Her personal obstacle was that she didn’t have the ability to retain choreography in the way that a dancer can. But what a lot of people don’t know is that in the world of professional cheerleading and dance, many professional teams now have tumbling and stunting teams. It’s a myth that you have to be a dancer and there are only dance teams in the professional cheerleading space.
It’s possible to live your dream of being a professional cheerleader, even if you don’t have dance training.
Nicolette has seen many cheerleaders that only have a cheer background go to make dance teams, so that is certainly possible, too!
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A PROFESSIONAL CHEERLEADER?
Nicolette and Alicia at The PrepTalk always say, “You need to be able to walk the walk and talk the talk.” Cheerleading in All Star and in high school is mainly skill-based, and you don’t necessarily have to showcase your personality. But for anybody who’s interested in cheering in college for a really big program like Kentucky or Louisville, they have the same expectation as a pro cheer team. You need to find a way to brand and market yourself outside of just having all of the physical skills and the physical appearance that you need to be a strong contender for those teams. You need to be able to represent a brand and carry yourself well.
HOW TO HAVE A SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE AS A CHEERLEADER
Many cheerleaders are trying to build a brand and have more influence on social media. Whether they want to be a model, a college cheerleader, a professional cheerleader or other profession, social media can be a powerful marketing tool that cheerleaders should utilize. Age needs to be taken into consideration here, and you get to decide what’s best for your child and when, but here are some tips for cheerleaders who want to promote themselves on social media:
- Put yourself in a positive light. Stay appropriate, and be mindful of things that could look bad or cast you in a negative light, like Red Solo cups. Your social media is not a place that just your friends and family see.
- Be versatile and diverse in what you post. Showcase your range of cheer skills, but also post about experiences you’ve had outside of cheer.
- Humanize yourself. Post about who you are as a person.
COMPONENTS THAT SHOULD MAKE UP EVERY CHEERLEADER’S SOCIAL MEDIA PAGE
In the interest of diversity and versatility in your social media posts as a cheerleader, Nicolette says there are three components that should make up every single social media page:
- Your Skills
- Something happening in your personal life
- What’s happening with you professionally, academically, or in your community (this may vary based on your age)
Feel free to show off your cheer skills, but also show that you are a real human who has a life outside of cheer, even when it doesn’t feel like it! People who are scouting your social media profiles want to see that you’re confident and growing as an individual.
There are lots of opportunities for cheerleaders on social media, and it’s a great way to get connected with people. I hope that this was able to give you some ideas about how your athlete might be able to market themselves on social media and encourage you to pursue the cheerleading profession.