Are you Inspired?

What's a better way to start of your week than a little motivation?  The link below is a motivational video that touches on more than just working out and becoming stronger. This video is about bettering yourself and makes the most out of every second of every day,  enjoy and dominate your Monday!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh0a9ip5RkE



"Don't wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect" - Zoey Sayward

Do everything with a smile! Why smiling can help your performance

     What are the odds that something as little as a smile can help out an athlete?  Well, it turns out that it can help alot! Smiling has been proven to have both health and performance benefits such as:

      Lowering heart rate: By smiling your body naturally will tend to slow down and lower your heart rate (and blood pressure for the time being).  If you ever catch yourself becoming nervous and it feels like your heart is pounding, take a deep breathe and show off those pearly whites!

      Reduce stress/ Better your mood: When you smile your body releases endorphins that counteract and diminish the stress hormones known as cortisol.  Cracking a smile can help you reduce your stress levels that aren't allowing you to perform as well as you want to be!

      Encourage Trust:  This is huge especially when it comes to building good team chemistry.  Naturally people are going to want to trust someone who smiles more because it is seen as a sign of comfort and openness.  Cracking a few smiles at new teammates can make them feel less nervous and help out your team in the long run!

      Strengthens Immune System:  This may be one of those benefits that are overlooked but a healthy immune system means a healthier you.  If your body is at full strength it'll have a better chance of killing any germs that may threaten your health and overall performance!

These are just a few of the things that a smile can do for you.  Try smiling next time you are about to workout and see if you perform better!! 3


"The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection." - Thomas Paine


   

Undivided attention is key to success

Hello everyone!

            Have you ever had trouble getting focused when you’re about to do something like workout?  Sometimes the hardest part for athletes is to get their mind 100% into something.  Usually their thoughts are still racing from events earlier in the day and they aren’t giving all of their effort into the task at hand.

            This can be frustrating for the athlete because you can’t put in the work that you want to. Luckily we’re going to go over some basic techniques that you can do on your own to help you gain an undivided attention to the task at hand!

            Sometimes regaining your focus is as easy as getting away from everyone and anything around you for 15 minutes and just relaxing.  Before you’re next workout or practice try going somewhere you are comfortable, close your eyes and think and vision what your about to do and pair that with slow, steady breathing.  By doing so you’re priming yourself to think only of the task you will be facing. 

            Another technique is to use something to symbolize all the distractions you have.  For instance when you are changing out of the clothes you wore all day treat them as a symbol of your distractions.  Once your change out of them allow all of the day’s activities to leave your mind for a while and become consumed by your task at hand.  You can also do this with a single piece of clothing (headband, wristband, etc.) that, once you put it on, you are in game mode ready to give your undivided attention and dominate.

            Also try using music to get you focused or develop a routine that is easy enough to follow that will clear your mind.

Don’t be afraid to try all these techniques or even make up your own!

“Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance” – Samuel Johnson

Injury Prevention Tips!

How many of you have had an injury of any kind? How many of those injuries came at bad times? Well I use to be that athlete that claimed I never got hurt. I have never broken a bone, sprained a joint, or strained a tendon or muscle. But I have been hurt before. I was (and still am) the girl that is afraid to say that I'm hurt, so I never really go to the doctor, I just work through the pain. This is not a good thing. A couple months ago I got hurt and I never stopped practicing and working out. I did not change my life style in anyway, and that caused me to continue to have issues throughout the last couple of months. Injuries are unexpected and never come at a "good" time. But if we don't take care of ourselves those injuries will linger. Injuries happen, but there are ways to treat them and ways to prevent them. 

1. Be proactive: 

Make sure you are conditioning and pushing yourself, but do not over work. Prepare yourself prior to the start of the sports season by working out, stretching and eating right. Everyone needs a day or two completely off to let their body rest, so take a rest day. Stretch before and after exercising. Make sure you do a proper warm up prior to exercising. Fuel your body with nutritionally valuable food. And finally, STAY hydrated!

2. Be aware: 

As soon as you feel like something is not right, tell someone; a coach, a parent, or a doctor. The longer you wait to get the injury looked at, the worse it can get. Do not be afraid to admit that you are hurt. Know your body, if something feels wrong, chances are there something is not right. Know your body, know your limits.

3. Be smart with treatment:

Listen to your doctor or athletic trainer. If they say not to do something, do not do it. Do exactly what they say. Ice is your best friend immediately after certain injuries to control swelling. Swelling can be a cause of pain so if you limit the swelling, you might limit the pain as well. Rest. Just rest. Continue to eat well and stay hydrated.

4. Other tips:

Don't go half on anything. If you aren't going 100% and completely committing, you are putting yourself at risk for injury. Don't do anything you are not ready for. Use technique when you are tired; you do not want to put more stress on your body in a wrong way. If you do get hurt, stay POSITIVE! You will get better.

Injuries stink, but they happen to everyone. These are just a few ways to prevent injuries from getting worse, or happening all together. 

Mental Strength: An Introduction!

Hello to everyone reading this!

First off I’d like to say thank you for taking time out of your day to read these blog posts.  My name is Chris Cannizzaro and I’ll be interning at Cheer360 this summer.  My internship focuses on mental strength. 

For those of you who aren’t familiar with what mental strength is let me give you a quick synopsis.  Mental strength is being able to maintain your focus towards a goal set in front of you.  It allows you to block out distractions, regain your focus if you lost it momentarily, and to overall perform better at any task you do. 

           Throughout my blog posts I’m going to identify and discuss some specific techniques used by professional athletes such as the use of imagery and goal setting to mention a few.

Before we go into any of those the one thing you must have for any of those techniques to work is a positive attitude.  Without a positive attitude you can be handed the world on a silver platter and you still won’t be successful.

            Each of my blogposts are going to have a quote at the bottom, I want everyone to think about the quote and how you can apply it to your everyday life!

“Always do your best.  What you plant now, you will harvest later.” – Og Mandino

What’s On Your Team's iPod?

We all know the importance of music considering it is the component that puts together the routine! The type of music and the lyrics you listen to can have a direct effect on how you perform. 

So what’s your tradition? Do you listen to a certain song while getting ready the morning of competition or with your team before you begin practice? Is there one song in your routine that really pumps you up and helps you finish you compete? 

Feel free to share and think about finding your song for next season! Having that team song can really form a bond between you and your teammates and create contagious positive energy!! 

Here’s a link to SWVC’s team song this past season, "It’s My Time"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqlbqIw-v90

Musical Fun Facts: 

*Some studies suggest listening to classical music while studying and doing homework can increase brain activity and intelligence for a short period of time

*Termites work quicker and more efficiently when listening to Heavy Metal/Rock Music

Jessica, CLB

Team Mottos

This past season, my team practiced and competed by a motto we liked to call “212 Degrees”. It helped to keep us focused and motivated. What will your motto be for this off-season?

The Extra Degree 

At 211 Degrees Water is Hot

At 212 Degrees Water Boils

And With Boiling Waters Comes Steam

And Steam Can Power a Locomotive

One Extra Degree Makes All the Difference

And The One Extra Degree of Effort

Separates the Good from the Great

This is Your Time, Turn up the Heat!

Jessica, CLB

#TheCheerMom Motivational Monday

                        Staying positive is key...                            Every Monday I will be posting motivational quotes to get us through the week on a positive note.... 

Tara

#TheCheerMom, CheerLEADER Advocate

2014 Varsity Spirit Fashion Show Recap!

     The 2014 Varsity Spirit Fashion Show took place in Nashville, Tennessee, and featured many different styles, fits, and athletic wear for all different types of cheerleaders. The fashion show displays styles for camp wear and uniforms for both the collegiate and high school levels.

     This year’s trends in campwear include bright neon and pops of color. Have you noticed the increasing bursts of color, not only in cheerleading, but in all athletic wear and on athletes everywhere? Most of the tee shirts feature many graphics and fun text fonts pleasing to the i (get it?)

     This season in cheerleading uniforms, grey is the new black! As a fashion enthusiast, black will never be out of style, so I don’t know what Varsity is trying to do here.

     Uniforms have evolved over the many existing years of cheerleading. In 2014, it appears that uniforms are all about geometrical lines while still maintaining cleanliness. (So my thing) However, there is also the opposite side of the spectrum, where uniforms are metallic or have a one shoulder detailing.

     Some uniform materials incorporate special motion flex, body hugging, and performance-driven technologies, so that cheerleaders are stylish without compromising comfort. Personally, I love these features because I can actually breathe when I have my uniform on instead of thinking about how great it will feel when I take it off!

     What's YOUR favorite style?! What do you think about these trends for the year of 2014? Watch the video or look at the catalog if you’re interested in finding out more of this years’ cheerleading trends! Comment below and let us know!

Xoxo,

Ally, Senior CLB Fashion and Beauty

http://varsity.com/event/1682/art/1753/varsity-spirit-fashion-show

http://www.varsity.com/event/1686/2014-varsity-spirit-fashion-catalog  
 

How to Handle School, Varsity and All-Star Cheer

School is hard enough as it is, but adding two or more different cheerleading teams is even harder! Here’s three easy ways we handle it.

Always make sure your homework is done first: school should always come before cheer, so we make sure all of our homework is done before our first practice of the day. For us, we have about two hours before Varsity practice to do homework and go to review sessions with our teachers.

Eat healthy and make sure you get enough sleep every night: eating healthy will give you more energy and make it much easier to get through your long days. We always bring fruits and healthy snacks to practices and eat healthy throughout the day. Getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night will keep you focused and alert so you can give 110% in practice. We try to get to sleep at nine every night so we can be ready for the next day.

Manage your time and don’t overwork yourself: even if that means having to leave your school team’s practice early and going late to all star! Always make sure you have at least 30mins of down time to just relax and unwind from school. Work out a schedule with your coaches that will give you enough practice time without pushing yourself too hard.

With these three things in mind, handling school, all star and varsity cheerleading will become much easier and less stressful! How do you juggle your grades and cheer teams? 

Comment below or tell us on twitter at @Cheer360 !!

Thanks,

Dana and Angie, CLBs

The True Cheer Mom Profile

#TheCheerMom

Wow so this is quite a little adventure my daughter has put me on! What adventure you might be asking? Well that would be being a Cheer Mom.  

So here I am wondering what is a Cheer Mom? Well, “A cheer mom is the mother of a cheerleader who is very involved and supportive of her child's sport.” Simple enough right? 

Well nothing is that simple!

Do you know how many times I have heard the definitions of what others think of "cheer moms?" Let me give you some examples.

• Cheer Moms are mom's who are living vicariously through their child/children.
• Cheer Moms were a cheerleader in high school or college.
• Cheer Moms always wanted to be a cheerleader and never pursued it so now they are "making" their child/children do cheer.
• Cheer Moms are single minded, overpowering, loud, obnoxious, snotty, ‘clicky’, mean and oh, my favorite…..
• Crazy with a capital C!  

Now that you have heard what everyone else thinks a Cheer Mom is, let me provide you with my definition.

• First, the above statements are NOT ONLY FALSE but not how I feel. 
• Second, a Cheer Mom to me is a parent who is just like any other sports parent. We are the same as your typical "soccer mom", "baseball, football, lacrosse, track.. and so on mom",  a person who helps their child focus, who is supportive, understanding, trusting, and a team player. 
• Yes we are loud. Yes we can be crazy....but more with a lowercase 'c. 

I know what you are thinking, "Some of these sound like my own personalbeliefs!" Wellgues what? Then it seems like you might be a cheer mom too!

Just remember one last thing. No matter what you are, know I'm proud to be "that mom." The mom who will help their child. The mom who will hug and kiss, listen, then tell them to go back in the gym and never give up.The trust your coaches and teammates mom. The mom that also has to trust in the same people her child has too. 

To me being all this, goes far beyond being labeled Cheer Mom.

Tara 

CheerLEADER Advocate, #CheerMom

#CheerFaceFriday

With UCA Nationals coming up, it is very important to have the proper #CheerFace when competing on that magical blue mat.

Which face is the "right" competition face? 

1) The Cheer Professional 

2) Hey Cutie 

3) The Miley  

4) OMG

Let us know! Send us a picture of your or your teammates best facial expression during a competition! Tag us and use the hashtag #CheerFaceFriday

Thanks,

Dani

Senior CLB, Cheer Humor  

MyPlate

What is MyPlate: This is a graphic that aims to help anyone, especially younger children to build a meal that contains the proper amounts of certain foods.  The plate is meant to be a 9” in diameter plate.  This is important because if people are using plates that are too large, the ratio of foods can get skewed.

Components of MyPlate: MyPlate contains 5 different groups (ask the kids to give examples of something you could eat in each group)

Vegetables—The largest group. Make sure you are eating from the rainbow including a lot of colors (don’t forget white!)  The more colors that you eat, the more nutrients you will get.

Fruit- It may not seem like the easiest thing to eat at a meal like dinner, but fruit is naturally sweet and it can be delicious mixed into vegetables.

Whole Grains- Make sure starchy sides you have with dinner like pasta and rice are whole grain varieties.  Try grains you never have like quinoa, bulgur and couscous.

Lean Protein- This one is important because it is usually the one that people make too big.  We think that meat has to be the biggest part of our meal, but that actually is not the case.  Keep your meat serving the size of a deck of cards.

Low-fat dairy- Whether it is a glass of low-fat milk on the side of any meal, some low-fat yogurt with fruit as your after dinner dessert, or a piece of low-fat cheese in your sandwich, dairy gives you calcium which you need for strong bones.

A parents guide to tryouts and what to do if your child doesn't make the team.

If your child has not already went through the tryout process for this years team I am sure it is quickly approaching. With this impending loom of “will I” or “won’t I” make this team there are some important guidelines to follow as the parent of an aspiring athlete.

When your child decides he or she wants to tryout for a team the biggest thing to remember is that ENCOURAGEMENT is key! You want your athlete to know that you support them in whatever they choose to do. Support them by being their biggest fan, not a second coach. The last thing your athlete wants or needs is someone to tell them that they are doing things wrong. Don’t be a PUSHER- a pusher parent makes their child feel like that have to tryout for a particular sport because the parent loves it or played it at some point in their life. Just because you loved participating in a sport does not mean that your child will as well.

So now your child going into tryouts confident and eager to please the coach. They put in 100% of their energy and effort, give it all that they have got and they don’t make the team. What now? What do you do as a parent in this situation? The way that you react is crucial so be sure to remember the following.

1. Let your child EXPERIENCE THEIR FEELINGS- While I know you want to take the pain and hurt away from your child at that exact moment that they tell you, let them have their feelings. In order to grow from this experience they must work through how they are feeling to move past it.
2. LISTEN DON’T SPEAK when your child wants to talk about what happened- Let your child explain how they are feelings and how tryouts went from their perspective. You do not want to put words in their mouth by letting your feelings about tryouts overshadow theirs.
3. BE EMPATHETIC- Telling your child that you are sorry that they are feeling sad and disappointed and that you are there for them if they want to talk is the best thing to do. This is not the time to give advice on what they should have or could have done.
4. TURN A NEGATIVE INTO A POSITIVE- While your child may not have received the news that they wanted to hear, it is your job to help them understand that not making a team does not make him or her a failure. Everyone fails, it is a large part of the learning process. Use this negative experience to form a positive one. When your child is ready find out what skills they need to work on to improve their chances of making the team next year, or maybe this allows an opportunity to explore a different sport that they may have never tried.

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

Heart of a Champion

You hear it from your coaches, choreographers, and your teammates but do you really have the heart of a true champion? “Heart” is a quality that you either have or you don’t, there is no in-between. So how do you define “heart”? I like to think of it being directly connected to your motivation. Because motivation is really at the center of everything in athletics.

Motivation is the drive that we have to achieve our goals and it has two different forms, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is motivation that you have from within you. It is your drive and desire to succeed and perform well. Extrinsic motivation is motivation that you get from an outside source. These outside sources could be tangible rewards (medal, trophy, money) or intangible rewards (praise or recognition by a coach, parent, or organization).

While extrinsic motivation is a nice drive your intrinsic motivation is where your true heart shines. When you enjoy and find satisfaction in playing your sport you focus more on your improvement and growth. Athletes who are intrinsically motivated have better focus, have less ups and downs in their motivation, they are less stressed when things do not go exactly how they had planned, they are less distracted, and they have greater satisfaction when they achieve their goals.

Take a close look at what motivates you, are you more intrinsically or extrinsically motivated? Do you think you have the heart of a champion?

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

Cheer360 Holiday Week

This week Cheer360 staff will be taking time off from blogging, as we will be out of the office. Our normal blogging schedule will resume on Monday, July 8th with our usual line up of mental fitness, nutrition, cheer lifestyle, fitness tips and Cheer360 happenings.

Have a happy, healthy and safe holiday week ahead!

-Cheer360 Staff

Cheer360 Summer Fun: #Cheer360Flexercise Competition!

As school has ended and the summer has finally set upon us, we here at Cheer360 decided to have a summer long, friendly and fun competition. Cheer360 builds smarter, stronger and better cheerleaders. To do that, it is important that we exercise, maintain a well balanced diet, mentally prepare and most of all, have fun while doing so.

To make sure we continue to smile both on and off the competition mat, Cheer360 is having a summer long, #Cheer360Flexercise competition. So what does that exactly entail you ask? Here are the details:

1. First and foremost, while this is a competition, it is important that we have fun! Cheer360 promotes healthy lifestyles, self awareness, confidence and lifelong learning. The competition's goal is to reinforce these ideas and help the community 'find their personal greatness.'

2. So what is a #Cheer360Flexercise competition? Cheer360 asks that you tag or upload as many pictures or videos of you, your friends, family, pets or team doing your favorite flex or exercise or both! Perhaps, your favorite exercise is burpees (everyone's favorite exercise) or box jumps into a needle (see our Long Island Cheer athletes below) or tuck jumps. If that is the case, take a picture or video and send it to us!

3. How can you send us your videos and pictures? While using the #Cheer360Flexercise hashtag, you can tweet us on Twitter, tag us on Facebook or Instagram at Cheer_360 or upload a video to our YouTube page.  Remember, it is important that you use the #Cheer360Flexercise hashtag!

4. See rule 1.

5. So how do I win? Cheer360 staff and social media likes, shares, favorites, retweets etc. will determine the winners. Creativity, fun and the proper execution of the exercise are equally important. Yes, there will be multiple winners.

6. Can you submit more than one photo or video. Yes! You can submit as many as you like, but don't forget to use the #Cheer360Flexercise hashtag!

7. So what do I win? Winners will receive prizes that range from, exercise equipment, Cheer360 training sessions, workout gear and gift cards.The prizes will be posted on our website in August.  

8. Remember, all videos and photos will be posted for everyone to see. As rule number 1 states, this is meant to let people know that fitness and healthy living are not only important but fun. Good sportsmanship is important to this competition and Cheer360 has the right to disqualify any participants if their entry is inappropriate or done in poor taste.

9. Who can submit photos? Anyone can! Friends, family, Cheer360 athletes, staff, teams, pets. As long as they are following our rules, anything is possible!

10. Lastly, have fun, be creative and show us what great things you are all capable of achieving!

Continue to follow our blog and website as we will compile an album that will showcase all our #Cheer360Flexercise participants!

If you have any questions about our competition or would love to learn more about Cheer360 and our program, feel free to register at www.cheer-360.com for updates or email Coach Kristen at Kristen@cheer-360.com

Coach Mike says, "Let the #Cheer360Flexercise begin!!!"

As a Cheer360 Co-Founder, Arthur's young, energetic and ambitious career has prepared him for his exciting role as the Director of Operations and Business Development. Here he manages business operations and establishes strategic partnerships that will bring the latest equipment, guest speakers, food and nutrition and educational programming directly to the athletes, families and communities served by Cheer360. For more information visit: www.cheer-360.com

We all fall down sometimes, it's what happens next that matters

We have all been there, you practice everyday to perfect the smallest of details in a routine and in the blink of an eye a stunt can fall, a tumbling pass can land on your knees, or a move can be slightly off beat. After you step off the mat its easy to start blaming yourself for things that went wrong but its important to change your negative thoughts and look for a positive in your performance.

As a competitive athlete you need to understand that failure is a normal and regular process, especially in the sport of cheerleading. The skills that you perform are difficult without a doubt, and with difficulty comes the real possibility of failure. But if you never take a risk you will never improve. Failure is a great form of feedback to help an athlete understand what they need to work on for future performances.

After a poor performance it is OK to be upset, that is natural. However what you do next can determine whether your future performances will be the same or better. Take the time to evaluate everything that you did on the mat, both the negatives and the positives (yes, I said positives. I strongly believe that there is always at least one positive in every performance but it is your job to find it). After you self evaluate it is time to put together a plan for how you will work towards improving the negatives.

Answer the following questions when putting together your action plan:

1. What skill do I need to improve on?

2. What are the steps I need to take to improve this skill?

3. What will I do every week to work towards improving this skill?

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program. 

Spotlight: Cheer360 Athlete Meghan Ruggiero Receives "Find Your Greatness Scholarship"

Recently, we celebrated the accomplishment of Cheer360 athlete, Meghan Ruggiero on her acceptance into Western Kentucky University and her placement on the Cheerleading squad. Cheer360 awarded Meghan with a $100, 'Find Your Greatness Scholarship.' The newly established scholarship is meant to support Cheerleaders who pursue their dreams of furthering their Cheerleading career at the Collegiate level. 

The newly established scholarship program was created to meet the financial needs of the traditionally under-served scholarship population found within the sport of Cheerleading. Scholarship money goes towards covering any incurred costs related to serving on a Collegiate Cheerleading team. 

Cheer360 was able to speak to Meghan and ask her some questions and celebrate this special accomplishment. 

Bio

Athlete Name: Meghan Ruggiero

Team and Position: Smithtown East, Flyer

College: Western Kentucky University, Class of 2018

Cheer360: Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you decided that you wanted to be a Cheerleader?

Meghan: As a young girl, I always looked up to and found inspiration from my sister, Ashley. When my sister joined cheerleading, I was able to see how it positively challenged her while at the same time, how much fun the sport was as well. In seeing this, I decided I must become a Cheerleader! 

Cheer360: What is that you like most about the sport of Cheerleading?

Meghan:  I really like the family aspect of Cheerleading, you spend so much time with your team they quickly become your family. It is really nice to have made so many memories with my team and know that should anyone need something, we are all there for each other. 

Cheer360: How has Cheer360 helped you achieve your goals and find your greatness?

Meghan: Cheer360 has made me a stronger cheerleader overall. It has given me all the skills I will need to be the best possible athlete. I only wish Cheer360 was around when I first starting cheering! 

Cheer360: What are you looking forward to most about Western Kentucky University and their Cheerleading program?

Meghan: I am looking forward to all the new challenges WKU Cheerleading will put before me. I like being challenged and I believe being part of this team will push me to my full potential and help me reach greatness!

Cheer360: Meghan, before you go, do you have any words of advice for other Cheerleaders who want to follow in your footsteps?

Meghan: I would give young Cheerleaders the advice to work hard, even when times get tough, you must stick with it and work harder. The success you achieve will all be worth it! Also, never say I can't!

Cheer360: Thank you for your time and answers. We want to wish Meghan much luck and success in her pursuits. We are confident that she will succeed and continue to make her family, friends, teammates and Cheer360 very proud.

Cheer360 is always looking to support our athletes by helping them find their own personal greatness. If you are a college bound cheerleader and wish to apply, please contact Coach Kristen (Kristen@cheer-360.com) for more details. 

Big Smiles with Meghan and Coach Kristen

Thumbs up for Success! Western Kentucky University look out! 

How to Create Effective Personal Goals

With a new season quickly approaching your head is filled with big hopes and dreams of what you want to personally accomplish. The skies the limit for your goals and you are giddy with the idea of being the best you have ever been. This excitement of all the possibilities that could be is great, however if you do not follow a few simple steps for setting goals you may find yourself loosing steam mid-season.  Here are Coach Kristen’s suggestions to help keep your eye on the prize throughout the entire season.

1. Break your goals down into three categories:
1. Dream Goals: long term goal, 2-4 years from now.
2. Individual Season Goals: personal goals to accomplish by the end of the season.
3. Short Term Goals: something you want to accomplish within the next few weeks.

2. When you write down your goals answer the following questions:
1. How long will it take to reach this goal?
2. What is my first step in achieving this goal?
3. What results may or may not occur due to this goal?
4. What are the steps that are required to meet this goal?

3. Your goals should be “SMART”:
1. S- Specific
2. M- Meaningful
3. A- Attainable
4. R- Rewarding
5. T- Trackable

4. Evaluate your goals often: goal setting is only effective if you constantly evaluate where you are in relation to achieving your goal. Setting goals at the beginning of the season and then never looking at them again is as ineffective as never creating goals in the first place. Every week you should go over your goals, what you are doing to achieve your goals and altering your plan of action to achieve your goals as necessary.

Kristen Perri is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Mental Fitness.  She holds a masters degree in Sport Psychology, is a certified Mental Game Coach, Sport Hypnotist and Personal Trainer.  With over 8 years of cheer coaching experience, Kristen has coached all skill levels including middle school and junior varsity. Currently, Kristen is the Head Varsity Coach of a major Long Island Cheerleading Program.