Sports Day/Athletics Festival: Crowd-Pleasing Cheer Battle Ideas and Performances
Speaking of school sports days, there’s an event that’s almost as big as the competitions themselves: the cheer battle! Each class or team usually puts on a performance, but many people find it hard to decide what to do.
So in this article, we’ll introduce ideas for skits and performances that really hype up a cheer battle! There’s plenty to choose from—dances and songs, of course, plus cheers using props and classic ideas from sports cheering.
Be sure to showcase a unique, original performance that’s just for your class or team!
- [Sports Day Cheer Songs] A roundup of classic cheer songs and recommended tracks for parody versions
- [Dance Songs] Recommended for school sports days and athletic festivals! A curated selection of popular tracks that are fun to dance to
- Let's send our teammates a powerful cheer! A roundup of cheer calls for sports day.
- Top Songs to Hype Up Sports Day and Athletic Festivals [2026]
- Elementary schoolers can dance to it! Recommended dance songs and choreography for sports day
- Cheer songs to hype up the sports day! A collection of motivational tracks recommended for kids
- [Boost Your Energy] A Collection of Cool and Funny Team Huddles
- [Sports Day] Get Fired Up! Cool Phrases Recommended for Cheer Squads
- Get hyped! A collection of Vocaloid songs to energize your sports day and athletic festival
- Get Fired Up! A Collection of Anime Songs to Hype Up Your Sports Day and Athletic Festival
- Songs that hype up Sports Day and Athletic Festivals: Japanese Music / J-Pop Artist Rankings [2026]
- Recommended Songs for Group Gymnastics: A Collection of Tracks to Elevate Your Routine [2026]
- Songs that hype up the athlete entrance at school sports festivals
[Sports Day / Athletic Festival] Crowd-Pleasing Cheer Battle Ideas and Performances (11–20)
Give it a sense of story
When it comes to cheer battle ideas, performances and cheerleading are absolute classics! They really get the crowd going, and of course you’ll want to include them.
But you might worry about overlapping with other teams… Many people probably feel the same.
So how about weaving in a storyline between the performance and cheerleading segments? In this example, it incorporates the tale of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang (Tripitaka).
There are even battle scenes, adding a real sense of excitement.
Try adding a narrative element to your classic ideas to create a cheer battle that stands out from the rest.
Masquerade
Here’s a cheerleading concept themed around a masquerade ball.
Everyone performs synchronized moves and forms while mixing lines into the chants to create a storyline.
Call-and-response lines like “Would you dance with me?” and “Am I really good enough like this?” make it fun.
The routine includes dance-like elements such as turns, and props like masks and scarves appear mid-performance—there’s a lot of thoughtful detail.
Just by incorporating the theme, it looks like you can create a memorable cheer battle.
Bodybuilding support
If you want to hype things up in a way that fits the times, I recommend cheers like those at bodybuilding contests.
Overseas bodybuilding tends to go for big crowd roars, but in Japan’s bodybuilding scene there’s a culture of using unique shout-outs like, “You’re so shredded!” or “That glute cut is like a Baumkuchen!” How about adapting those kinds of calls for a school sports day? For example, a shout like, “Hey! The top bodyguard of XX High, protecting his beloved XX-chan!” would really get the crowd going.
death growl
@tbsnewsdig Cheer Squad Revived by Five Girls After Having “Zero Members” — What Is the Inherited Tradition of the “Death Voice”? [Geki-Oshi-san]#tbs#news on tiktok
Original music – TBS NEWS DIG Powered by JNN – TBS NEWS DIG Powered by JNN
When you think of cheer squads, you think of projecting your voice straight from the diaphragm and shouting loud and proud.
This idea takes it a step further by turning that voice into a death growl.
Death growls are a vocal technique often heard in genres like death metal and hardcore.
Some people may find them hard to understand, but they undeniably have a captivating power and intensity.
Combine that with the uniform and traditional cheer squad forms, and it could make for an incredibly cool style of cheering.
While death growls are often associated with men, we highly recommend women give it a try too!
Passionate singing of the school anthem
When it comes to energizing a sports day or athletic festival, a group sing-along is an essential element.
However, not everyone can necessarily sing the same song.
Even if you pick a well-known pop tune, if many people can’t sing it, the excitement will fall flat.
In such cases, the school anthem is a great choice.
Every student knows it, so if everyone sings together, it’s sure to liven things up.
That said, singing outdoors makes it harder to hear than usual.
So instead of a simple rendition of the school anthem, go for a full-throated, passionate performance!
Original chant
Original chants can also play a big role in energizing sports days and athletic festivals.
However, when it comes to original chants, you naturally need originality and humor.
In other words, it takes a good sense of style, and in that sense it’s a fairly high-bar performance.
If you’re unsure, why not take inspiration from YouTubers? When Shibayu from Tokai On Air was given the punishment of “walking continuously for 24 hours,” the other members created an original cheer song for him.
It’s full of humor, so I think it will inspire you!
[Sports Day / Athletic Festival] Crowd-Pleasing Cheer Battle Ideas & Performances (21–30)
performance (martial arts demonstration)
Among cheer dances, the one that really exudes a manly spirit is “Enbu.” When the traditional outfits—like school uniforms (gakuran) or hakama—that radiate masculinity, combined with taiko drum beats and rallying shouts that evoke the original cheering squads, all come together perfectly, the tension is palpable and it looks insanely cool.
Aiming for that will definitely fire you up in practice.
And it’s not just for men—when women don these outfits and join the Enbu, the cheering can become so impressive it’s downright captivating.
Some teams even get hooked on Enbu from their school days and go on to perform overseas!
