Tips for Understanding Your Coach

High school cheerleading can be beneficial beyond just keeping you in shape and offering you something to do after school.  Many life skills are taught through athletics, including dedication, commitment, teamwork, leadership, goal setting, responsibility, and communication.  Having a positive role model, such as your coach, helps aid in building these valuable traits that carry with you your entire life.

Having a positive relationship and a mutual respect with your coach can make any season successful.  The most important thing a coach can do is give constructive feedback.  Many athletes look for their coach’s expertise to help improve their performance.  A good coach can help psych a team up before a game or competition and can help a team handle both successes and failures throughout a season.

Relationships with your coach, for many athletes, are different than the relationships you may have with your parents or your teachers.  A coach tends to be a partner in your sport, helping you and your teammates obtain a common goal.  Understanding this can help you feel more comfortable with your coach and respect their guidance and knowledge.

Tip 1: Trust your coach.  Having faith that your coach has the best interest of your team at heart is extremely important.  Your coach is the one setting the schedule, and if you want to become a better athlete, you need to respect your coach’s decisions.  Sometimes athletes might resent their coaches for pushing them and motivating them to become better.  Try to understand that in the long run, the hard work will pay off.

Tip 2: Make sure that you are contributing an honest effort.  Come to every practice, game, and/or competition ready to give your best.  To help build respect with your coach, you need to do more than just go through the motions.  Even if you may not agree with your coach’s opinion or decision, push yourself to show your coach and your teammates that you trust them.

Tip 3: Take the initiative to work on your skills without being told to do so.  Whether you are a captain or not, make the first move when you walk into practice.  Get your team up and moving before your coach asks you to do so.  This shows your coach that you are invested and are ready to start whatever they have planned for the day.

 

Shari Tarburton is Cheer360’s Co-Founder and Director of Educational Programming.  She is a New York State Certified Health and Physical Education Teacher, a certified Personal Trainer and Mental Game Coach, and a Varsity cheerleading coach.