What an 8-count sheet is for
A count sheet turns a routine into something the whole team can read. Choreography is taught on counts, not seconds, because the music is built in phrases of eight beats and every athlete can count to eight under pressure. The sheet is the single source of truth: when a coach says "stunt group two, you are late on the 5 of row 14", everyone can find the same box.
The steps
- Find the first 1. Listen to the start of the mix and count along until the music settles into eights. The first count the choreography starts on is the 1 of row one; everything before it is intro.
- Number the rows. Write one row for every 8-count, numbered from 1, with the time each row starts in the mix. At 144 beats per minute a row lasts 3.33 seconds.
- Block out the sections. Mark which rows are stunts, tumbling, jumps, dance, pyramid and the transitions between them, and shade or label each block so the sheet reads at a glance.
- Write a cue on the counts that matter. Put one short cue on each count where something happens: load, hit, toe touch. Keep it to 3 words or fewer and leave empty counts empty.
- Add who and where. Note who does each cue (a stunt group, the flyers, All) and sketch the formation for any row where athletes move.
- Check it against the music. Play the mix and follow the sheet row by row. If a cue lands off the count you meant, fix the sheet before anyone learns it.
How many rows your routine needs
The number of rows depends on the length of the routine and the tempo of the mix. Cheer mixes usually sit between 120 and 170 beats per minute. At 144:
| Routine length | Full 8-counts |
|---|---|
| 1:30 | 27 |
| 2:00 | 36 |
| 2:30 | 45 |
A partial row at the end still gets a line on the sheet; the last pose often lands on it. If your mix changes tempo, count each part at its own tempo, which is what the sheet editor does when you drop a tempo anchor.
Worked example: the first rows of a sheet
Worked example. A mix at 144 BPM has a two bar voiceover, and the first 1 of the choreography falls at 0:04.2. Each row then starts 3.33 seconds after the one before. These times are computed by the same grid the sheet uses:
- Row 1 starts at 0:04.2
- Row 2 starts at 0:07.5
- Row 3 starts at 0:10.9
- Row 4 starts at 0:14.2
- Row 27 starts at 1:30.9
The opening stunt might read: row 1, count 1 "load", count 3 "dip", count 5 "hit"; row 2, count 1 "prep", count 3 "cradle". Seven words across sixteen boxes, and every athlete knows where the hit is.
Writing cues people can read
A cue is a label, not an instruction. "Hit" is better than "everyone extends to the top of the stunt", because the sheet is read at a glance, often from across the mat. The editor allows 24 characters per box and warns at more than 3 words. Use the same word for the same move every time: if the load is "load" on row 1 it should not become "load in" on row 12. Put names or groups in the Who field instead of the cue, so each athlete's card can be printed from it.
Common mistakes
- Counting from the first sound instead of the first 1, which pushes every row off by the length of the intro.
- Letting a cue spill across two boxes. If it needs two counts, write the start on one and the end on the other.
- Forgetting that a tempo change moves every later row. A sheet timed at one tempo will drift after the change.
- Keeping two versions. When the choreography changes, change the sheet, print it again and throw the old one out.
- Filling empty counts with dashes or arrows. Blank boxes make the busy counts easier to see.
Doing it over the music
Writing a sheet from memory is where most counting errors start. The count sheet editor loads your mix in the browser, lays the rows over the waveform from your tapped first 1, and prints the sheet landscape with the times and sections on it. If the grid is off by half or double, read finding the 1 in a cheer mix.
Sources
Checked on 27 September 2026. Count sheets have no single governing standard; what is written here is common practice in our own words, and every number in a worked example is computed by Cheersheet's own engine when the page is built. Where your gym, choreographer or ruleset does it differently, follow them.
- Cheersheet's own engine and its tests. Every worked number on these pages (tempos, 8-count lengths, how long a routine takes at a practice speed, what the detector found on the test tracks) is computed by the same code the sheet runs, when the page is built.
- MDN Web Docs, BaseAudioContext: decodeAudioData. How a browser turns an MP3, M4A or WAV file into samples in the page, with no upload. Formats depend on the browser's own decoders.