What Is Difficulty in Cheer Scoring?

Quick answer: difficulty is the judged value of how technically demanding the skills in a routine are - harder stunts, tumbling, pyramids and jumps generally earn a higher difficulty score, separate from how cleanly they're performed.

What the Term Means

Every skill a team chooses to include in their routine - a stunt, a tumbling pass, a pyramid connection, a jump combination - carries an inherent difficulty value based on its technical demands. Choosing harder skills raises a routine's difficulty ceiling.

How It Affects a Routine

Because difficulty is scored separately from execution, teams face a real strategic choice: attempt harder skills for a higher difficulty score, or choose a slightly easier routine that the team can perform more consistently. Many coaches deliberately choose the hardest routine the team can perform cleanly, rather than the hardest routine possible.

What Judges Evaluate

Judges typically assess difficulty across each skill category separately - stunts, pyramids, tumbling and jumps - rather than as one single combined number, so a team can be strong in one area and weaker in another.

Difficulty vs Execution

Difficulty and execution work together: a high-difficulty skill performed poorly may score similarly to, or worse than, a lower-difficulty skill performed cleanly, once deductions are factored in.

Scoring-System Differences

Exactly how difficulty is calculated and weighted varies between governing bodies and competition providers, and can change between seasons. This page explains the general concept - always check the score sheet used at your specific event for exact criteria.

Related Terms

See Execution for the other half of this trade-off, and the scoring overview for how it all fits together.