Top 3 Things I Wish I Knew Before Auditioning for an NFL Cheer Team!

Written By Dre DiLorenzo

Coming from a ballet background, I’ll admit I was ill prepared (and honestly quite oblivious) to the pro cheer world. Even though I’ve successfully navigated auditions in the past, no two auditions are the same. While I managed to successfully make the team my first year trying out, I want to share what I learned through my audition process, and what I would change looking back to make for the most seamless and enjoyable audition process as possible!

1) Find an outfit you feel comfortable and confident in!

You’ll perform as the best version of yourself if you feel like the best version of yourself. Find colors that best suit your skintone, cuts that best fit your shape, and add rhinestones to add that wow factor!

Also decide if you’ll be auditioning in jazz shoes or sneakers. Start practicing in both shoes to determine what you feel most confident and comfortable in. Make sure you double check with the teams’ websites and follow their guidelines if they specify the type of shoe to wear - you always want to make sure you can show you know how to follow instructions, especially this early on in the process.

2) Practice dancing with your hair down!

Whether you’re a studio dancer, cheerleader, gymnast, etc. we all train with our hair up. I can tell you from experience dancing with your hair down does take some getting used to! Hair gets stuck EVERYWHERE (lashes, mouth, armpits, body from sweat!) so you want to make sure you know how to navigate these issues before auditions (you also don’t want to look like Cousin Itt when the photographer comes around!).

Pro-tip: We call this ‘hairography’ - think of the hair as an extension of your body that also has choreography. Practice moving and whipping your head in different ways and find what sticks most consistently so the judges can see your beautiful face!

3) Practice picking up 8 counts of 8 of choreography!

Once you make it past the preliminary round, you’ll be required to learn a longer piece of choroeography in semi-finals. This is usually 6 counts of 8 or 8 counts of 8. You want to make sure you feel confident picking up and remembering choreography, especially when there are a lot of potential distractions at auditions (new environment, other dancers, etc). Judges want to see how fast and how well you pick up choreography, since you’ll be learning dozens of routines once on the team!

The brain is a muscle, so you’ll need to work it just like any other muscle for you to retain choreography and familiarize yourself with the pro cheer style.

I offer private pro cheer one-on-one training sessions where we go over every element needed to succeed throughout the audition process:

  • dance technique

  • nfl cheer technique

  • posing / freestyle

  • kickline

  • flexibility / splits

  • social media

  • resume / cover letter

  • interview / interview attire

  • presentation

  • audition outfit

  • solo + costume prep

  • and more!

Fill out the form under my Training tab and I will be in touch shortly - 2024 is the year you achieve your dreams!

Dre DiLorenzo