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.

Behind the judges table: 3 tips to get you ready for tryouts

Cheerleading tryouts for some athletes can be an intimidating and nerve-wracking experience.  Many cheerleaders tend to focus their energy on major skills that coaches often look for (stunts and tumbling) but forget about the basic components that can improve your score tremendously. 

Tip 1: Show up to tryouts with a competitive mindset.  Showing a tremendous amount of spirit, no matter what you’re doing, can set you apart from your competitors.  This begins by arriving to tryouts every day at least ten minutes before the practice is set to begin.  This will allow you time to put your stuff away, put your sneakers on, and begin to mentally prepare for what the day is about to bring.  “Looking the part” is extremely important as well.  Make sure you are wearing the designated clothing required for tryouts, your hair is pulled back neatly with a bow, you have removed all jewelry from your body, and your nails are cut short.  All of this shows the coaches and the judges that you are invested in becoming a part of their team and ready to meet any challenges that await you.

Tip 2: Work on improving basic technique and skill level during your off-season.  As a coach at the high school level, I expect all cheerleaders to show up to try-outs with perfect jumps.  This does not mean that you have to have the highest jumps, but what it does imply is that you should have perfect technique in your approach to your jumps and throughout the skill.  As a cheerleader, the only way to improve on this fundamental skill is by practicing them every day on your own!  Setting aside at least 30 minutes a day to work on stretching and your jumps in front of a mirror can help you obtain the flawless jumps that you have been working towards, impressing everyone that is watching you.

Tip 3: Take care of your body when you are away from the mat.  Make sure you’re eating a well-balanced diet to ensure you are gaining proper nutrition.  This will allow you to have enough energy to get through anything that tryouts may bring.  Getting enough rest each night is equally important because it helps your mind and body recover from all the stressors that tryouts brings, helping you to prepare for the upcoming days.  Lastly, make sure that your aerobic and anaerobic endurance is at its peak performance.  This comes from implementing an aerobic and anaerobic training program at least 6 weeks prior to tryouts.

 

 

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.