List of cheerleading jumps

This is a list of cheerleading jumps.

X Jump/Spread Eagle 

You simply prep, swing, and jump with your arms in a high V and your legs spread apart. Just jump off the ground and it will look like an X. This jump is generally used to practice group timing and snapping legs down from a jump.

Pencil/T/Straight Jump 

This jump is probably the most simple jump. It involves jumping completely straight with your arms in T-motion or in a point above your head. This jump is usually the first you would learn. Mainly used for correcting the body position for the main jumps.

Toe-Touch 

In this jump, the legs are straddled and straight, parallel to the ground, toes pointed, knees are back, and your hands are in fists or blades and arms in a "T" motion. Despite its name, you do not touch your toes during a toe touch, you reach out farther in front of your legs. keep your back straight and bring your legs up to you. This is the most common cheer jump.

Tuck 

A jump in which the cheerleader uses stomach muscles to pull the legs up with thighs as close to the chest as possible, knees facing upward as if in a tucked position.

Hurdler 

The straight leg is either forward (a front hurdler) with arms in candlesticks, or out to the side (a side hurdler) with arms in a T. The bent knee faces the crowd in a side hurdler and the ground in a front hurdler.

Right hurdler

a right hurdler is basically the same as a hurdler you're just facing the right, and the same with left side.

Pike 

This jump is among the most difficult of jumps. Both legs are straight out, knees locked. Arms are in a touchdown motion out in front to create a folded position in the air, this motion is also called "candlesticks". This is often performed at a ninety-degree angle to the audience in order to show off the air position.

Around the World 

The Around the World, or the pike-out, is a jump where the performer hits a pike and then whips his or her legs quickly back around into a toe touch. This jump is regarded as difficult to accomplish, because two positions must be reached in the very short time while the jumper is in the air. Not commonly used.

Herkie 

Named for Lawrence R. Herkimer, the founder of the National Cheerleaders Association, this jump is similar to a side-hurdler, except that instead of both arms being in a "T" shaped motion, both arms are opposite of what the leg beneath them is doing. Example of this would be the straight arm would be on the side of the bent leg, and the bent arm is on the side of the straight leg. One other variation of this includes the bent leg is pointing straight down, instead of out like the side-hurdler. The jump is speculated to have been invented because Herkie was not able to do an actual side-hurdler.

Left Side

the leg to the audience is tucked in while the other is out.

Right side

same as left also turn the left/right while approaching the jump

Cheer leader jump

This jump is commonly used in cheer leading and on a dance team, you typically will have your arms up in a "V" above your head and then rotate one of your arms backwards and right after kick one of your legs up and pointed straight in the direction of your face.

Double Hook 

A jump where the legs are in the "cheer sit" position.

Double Jump 

This is the name for when one performs any jump twice in a row.

Triple Jump

This is the name for any jump with three jumps in a row connected by the "swing". This is most commonly used among the elite divisions.

Jump combination

The official name for a series of jumps.

Power Jump 

A jump where there is no swinging of the arms in preparation for the jump. All the power for the jump comes from the legs. This jump is also known as a "Dip Jump."

Jump Tumbling

Depending on the level is how to determine the difficulty of the tumbling element out of the jump. Toe-touch to back handspring, back tuck, standing full. Or to front walkover, front handspring, aerial, etc. There are multiple elements to be chosen out of a jump. Level 4 from USASF is the first level that includes a jump to back tuck.

See also

• List of cheerleading stunts
• Cheerleading