The EDE Practice Schedule – Open to the public! Okay, it's never really been super secret, but here it is in the open anyway:
I’m often asked about the EDE Red Squad’s practice schedule. Do we practice hours and hours every week? Have whole weekends devoted to cheer? Practice through every school break? Nope…we go for efficiency over quantity. So here it is, for the first time, out in the open—the practice schedule:
Nothing over the summer. That’s right—nothing. We offer one session , but none of these are required to be on our competition team.
We start our fall practices in mid-September. Cheerleaders who want to be on Red Squad sign up for Power Squad (where we practice stunts) and Dream Team or Dance/Drill Team (where we practice basics, jumps, dance, and a little tumbling). Each of these practices is 1½ hours each, once a week.
Then beginning in mid-October, we add in Red Squad practice for 1½ hours a week until the State Championships (end of January).
We have one Saturday workshop where we focus on crowd leading. And the week before the State Championships we usually try to squeeze in one extra practice if possible.
So that’s it! No practices over Thanksgiving. None over Winter Break. And as you may have seen in the Extensive Resources post, we’re not working with much in the way of equipment either. We just do the best with what we have!