Cheer Count Sheet Template (with a 2:30 Routine Worked Out)

A cheer count sheet is the one page your whole team reads from: one row per eight, one box per count, and a note in every box. This template gives you the layout, the maths for a 2:30 routine, and a filled example you can copy.

What is a cheer count sheet, and how many eights are in 2:30?

A cheer count sheet is a grid with eight boxes per row, numbered "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8", where each row is one eight of the music and each box holds what happens on that count. A 2:30 routine at 144 BPM is 360 beats, which is exactly 45 eights.

The USASF describes an all-star routine as 2.5 minutes of tumbling, stunting, pyramids, dance and cheer segments. That is 150 seconds, or 360 beats at 144 BPM, so 45 rows of eight cover the whole routine. Your music sits somewhere in a range, and the tempo moves the total:

Tempo is typically measured in beats per minute, so the sums are BPM times 2.5 minutes, divided by 8. Our Cheer 8-count page lists the same 136 to 152 BPM range.

The template

Copy this layout into a document or a spreadsheet and repeat the row until you reach your last eight. Each eight gets its own row.

Keep three habits. Write the move in the box where it lands, not where it starts. Put the section name in the last column so a coach can scan down the page. Add a notes column on the right for formations and music cues if your team uses them.

How to fill it in

All-star squads perform for up to 2½ minutes and build their routines to an eight-count system, so the sheet follows the music and not the other way round. Work in this order:

1. Set the tempo of your cut and work out the total number of eights, as in the table above.
2. Mark the lead-in row: "5, 6, 7, 8" leads into the first 1. If you are new to this, read what an 8-count is first.
3. Give each section its rows: stunts, tumbling, jumps and dance.
4. Write one note per box. "Base prep", "flyer up", "round-off" and "hit" are all fine, as long as everyone reads them the same way.
5. Add your eights up. If the total is more than the music allows, something has to shrink.

Run the last check on paper before the first practice. It's much cheaper to move a section on the page than to move a stunt group in the gym.

Three mistakes show up again and again. First, a sheet that starts at 1 and forgets the lead-in, so the team enters a count late. Second, the half-eight: a section that ends on count 4 and leaves the next one starting mid-row. If you need one, mark it clearly and let the next row begin on a 5. Third, a new music cut with the old sheet. Every edit to the music means a fresh total.

Example: a 2:30 routine at 144 BPM

One eight at 144 BPM lasts 3.33 seconds (8 beats times 60, divided by 144). That makes the whole routine 45 eights. This is one way to split them, not a rule, so change it to fit your team and the age and level you compete at:

Read the table as a budget. Stunts and the pyramid take 16 eights between them, about 53 seconds, and the dance takes 10 eights, about a third of a minute. If a coach wants a longer pyramid, those eights have to come from somewhere else, and the sheet shows exactly where. The seconds are rounded, so they add up to within a second. The eights add up exactly: 3 + 4 + 8 + 4 + 8 + 10 + 4 + 4 = 45. If your music is slower or faster, check the tempo chart and redo the sum with your own BPM.

Print or share it

Print the sheet and tape it to the gym wall, or send it to the team as a PDF. Print it in a large size, because athletes read it from across the floor, and keep one spare copy in the coach's bag. Every athlete should hold the same version, so put a date at the top and replace old copies when a section changes.

Count Studio is built for this. Mark the sections of your song, and it makes count sheets as rows of 8 with a note on each count, exported as a PDF you can print. Set the tempo, count in "5, 6, 7, 8" before the 1, and the phrase counter always shows which eight you are on. Count Studio is coming November 27 to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

Bottom line

One row per eight, eight boxes per row, and a section name on every row. At 144 BPM a 2:30 routine is 45 eights, so check your total against your own tempo before you write a single move. For the rest of our cheer writing, see cheer counts.