Cheer and STUNT recruiting don’t run like football or basketball recruiting, where a national database and a wave of assistant coaches drive the process. This sport is smaller and more direct, and that’s actually an advantage for a family willing to do the legwork.

Start with the skills video. A clean video showing standing and running tumbling passes, stunting in a group, and jumps is the single most important recruiting tool. Label it clearly with the skills shown and keep it under four or five minutes. Coaches at this level are looking for specific execution, not a highlight reel with music and slow motion.

Send it directly to the coaching staff. Most STUNT programs and college cheer programs list a coach’s email on the athletics website. A short, direct email with the video linked, along with GPA, grad year, and current skill level, gets read. Keep it short. Coaches at this level are often doing recruiting on top of coaching duties, and a long email is a skipped email.

Camps and college clinics matter more here than in most sports. Many STUNT and college cheer programs run summer camps or clinics specifically so recruits can be seen in person. Attending the camp of a school you’re genuinely interested in gives a coach a live look at tumbling, stunting, and how an athlete takes coaching, which a video can’t fully show.

Timing follows a similar arc to other sports. Junior year is when real interest conversations start, and senior year is when official visits and offers get finalized. Reaching out as a sophomore or early junior with a video and a direct introduction is not too early. It puts a name on a coach’s radar before the busiest part of their recruiting calendar.

There’s no legitimate paid recruiting service worth using here. The sport is small enough, and coaches responsive enough, that a family doing direct outreach can compete with anything a paid service claims to offer.

The STUNT pathway covers what skill level and game experience actually make an athlete recruitable, which is worth reading before that first email goes out. The cheer pathway has the full skill progression if you’re mapping out how far off your kid is from that level today.