What Is a Deduction in Cheerleading?

Quick answer: a deduction is a fixed points penalty subtracted from a routine's score for a specific, clearly defined error - such as an athlete falling, a stunt bobbling or falling, an illegal skill, stepping out of bounds or running over time.

What the Term Means

Deductions are separate from the difficulty and execution scores a routine earns. Rather than judging the quality of a skill, deductions subtract set amounts for specific events that can be clearly identified, like a fall or a rule violation. Smaller imperfections - a jump that's slightly out of sync, a shaky landing, a formation that isn't quite clean - lower the execution score instead of being deducted.

How It Affects a Routine

Every deduction lowers a team's overall score, regardless of how well the rest of the routine was performed. This is why consistency matters as much as difficulty - a harder routine with several deductions can easily score lower than a simpler routine performed cleanly.

Common Examples

Most All Star event producers use a shared deduction system. The categories are broadly:

• Athlete fall - for example a fall during tumbling or a jump, with a larger "major" fall deduction when more of the body hits the floor;
• Building bobble - a stunt, pyramid or toss that almost falls but is saved;
• Building fall and major building fall - a stunt, pyramid or toss that falls, with the larger deduction for more serious falls;
• Safety and legality violations - performing a skill that isn't allowed at the team's level, or breaking a safety rule;
• Boundary violations - stepping outside the performance area;
• Time limit violations - a routine that runs over the time limit;
• Image or uniform violations, at some events.

Scoring-System Differences

The exact list of deduction categories and how many points each one costs varies between event producers and governing bodies, and changes between seasons - for example, recent school and college rule sets have used larger values than All Star events for the same kind of fall. Always check the deduction document used at your specific event.

Related Terms

See Hit Zero for what it means to have no deductions at all, and the scoring overview for how deductions fit alongside difficulty and execution.