Objective of the study was to form a cheerleading picked team in the "Performance Cheer" discipline based on control over the basic elements. Methods and structure of the study. Sampled for the study were the first-year female students of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (all faculties). The study objective was to form a cheerleading picked team in the discipline "Performance Cheer" based on control over the basic elements, for which purpose a questionnaire survey was conducted among the female students who had entered the first year of study. Those girls, who had indicated that they were professionally engaged in either gymnastics or dancing, were invited to practicals. Further on, based on the analysis of scientific and methodological literature and evaluation of the basic elements used in the competitive compositions in the "Performance Cheer" discipline, we singled out seven control tests, which execution was assessed on a 5-point scale. Results of the study. The control tests made it possible to form the picked team and proved that the female students qualified for the picked team had different levels of technical fitness due to various sports and dance activities they had been engaged in before entering the university. Conclusion. The use of control tests in the training process enabled to plan and control individual and team technical fitness, which resulted in the statistically significant changes in all the test rates. © 2020, Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul'tury i sporta. All rights reserved.