[CheerVeteran]

For those of us without a clue about cheerleading

Who typically judges cheerleading tryouts???

What are the judges looking for???

What percentage of a girls score is gymnastics???

Do politics play a part in who is selected???

Alot of these things depend on the school, the coach, and the talent level of the field of people trying out. But typically....

Judges: Although it is not a requirement, it seems that most coaches like to go with KAPOS certified, out of region judges for their tryouts. (This however, is most applicable @ the high school level only!) It seems like that this allows the coach to cover all of his/her bases if there were to ever be any accusations.
Looking For: Generally speaking, they are looking for a GENUINE smile, loudness of voice, sharp motions, enthusiasm, and their ability to perform the tryout material (dance, sideline, cheer, etc.) as compared to the rest of those trying out. Even those with less capacity to perform on the technical aspect can help themselves out with all of these other things on a generous enough score sheet!
Gymnastics: This depends on the school, the coach, and the talent level of those trying out. At the school I attended once upon a time, it would fluctuate from year to year. One year, in the beginning, only a standing handspring and a roundoff handspring were required. In a couple of years, a roundoff tuck was a requirement. If you have relatively few that can perform these gymnastics, then it obviously wouldn't make any sense to make these things a requirement, or anything more than "added points" on the score sheet. Otherwise, you'd end up with 2 or 3 cheerleaders! It just depends on what the coach is willing to "put up with" as far as having or not having gymnastics goes!
Politics: Oh, the dreaded word! I'm just going to leave it at that some coaches and administrations let it play a much bigger role than what it should, I would imagine, but I would also venture to say that some coaches and administrations play it pretty clean!

I don't know if that helped you at all with your questions, but hopefully it cleared some things up!