Team sports are one of the best ways for youth to learn the value of hard work, athleticism, and good sportsmanship. The teammates on teams and squads must know how to work together both during competition and practices. It helps if the members of the team are also friends outside of the sporting boundaries too.

The sport of cheerleading is no exception. Team work is perhaps even more important in cheerleading as each member of the squad often must rely on the other members in order to pull off difficult stunts and other tricks.

Here are four tips for fostering friendship and creating a more unified cheerleading squad.

1. Plan non-cheer activities. Every so often, plan an event for the squad that does not involve any actual cheer practice. Plan a movie night or a cook-out where members of the squad can socialize and get to know about each other outside the realms of cheerleading.
2. Look united. In addition to traditional cheerleading uniforms, pick out cheer clothes that the squad can wear on school days or for school events where they are not cheering. This can be something as simple as matching Nike cheerleading shoes or fun cheerleading warm ups, to something as customized as spirit T-shirts with nicknames printed on the back. The squad does not have to look alike all of the time, but find fun ways to show unity through clothing outside of traditional cheer apparel.
3. Foster diversity. Recruit as many different types of students to be on your squad as possible in order to make it a place where everyone feels welcome. Having a variety of personalities will not only fill out the squad, but will also give everyone one thing to focus on together–cheerleading.
4. Ask for input. If you are a coach or team captain, it is your job to lead the squad. This does not mean that you should never take suggestions from anyone else, however. Regularly seek out the opinions of others and delegate tasks to other members of the squad in order to make everyone feel included. You may also find that some of your best ideas for the squad are born of ideas from other people. Cheerleaders will perform on a higher level and will feel more like a part of something meaningful if they a part of at least some of the decisions.