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

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. 

Do I Need Mental Game Coaching? (Assessment Included!)

The truth is every athlete from beginner to professional can benefit from working on their mental game. If an athlete wants to be the best they can possibly be they must not only train their physical game but their mental game as well.

Mental Game Assessment

Here is a list of statements, put a check next to all that apply to you.

~You do not have well-defined goals or goal specificity. You lack direction.

~You perform better in practice than during competition.

~You are so self-conscious; you worry about what others think about your game.

~You maintain many self-doubts about your sport before or during competitions.

~You worry about letting others down by not performing up to others expectations.

~You are too self-conscious and worried about how others may perceive you.

~You suffer from anxiety, worry, or excess tension when in competition.

~Pre-game jitters do not go away after the first few minutes into the competition.

~You are motivated by fear of failure and it affects your performance in competition.

~You have a fear of success and sabotage yourself when you are winning.

~You are not sure why you play your sport or let others be your source of motivation.

~You are motivated by external rewards, recognition, or praise.

~You attach your self-worth to how well you perform in sports.

~You lose focus or have mental lapses during critical times of the game.

~You go through the motions physically without mental focus or intensity.

~You are not excited enough or are too excited to perform your best in competition.

~You are distracted by things that go on around you in your environment.

~You have doubts or negative thoughts before, during, or after competition.

~Post-injury you cannot perform the way you did pre-injury even when 100% physically. When performing well you may sabotage your performance with a comfort zone (protect your lead) or expectations that limit your ability to press forward.

~You become easily frustrated because of high expectations.

~You cannot perform with freedom or trust in times of adversity or pressure.

~You focus too much on your mechanics or technique when competing.

~You do not concentrate in the here and now or focus only on execution.

~You think of too much about consequences of your performance, good or bad.

~You over analyze mistakes (technique) and thus think too much about technique.

~You suffer from low self-confidence or self-esteem.

~You limit your performance with negative self-labels such as “I am a choker” or “I can’t do this skill.”

~You have trouble forgetting or letting go of bad past performances.

~Your anger or frustration gets in the way of peak performance.

~You are frequently disappointed with your performance and wish it was better.

~You have a burning desire to be the best ever at your sport or just want to know how to improve your mental game.

If you have checked off 3 or more of the boxes above you are a good candidate for Mental Game Coaching.

Just like your physical skills take the time to acknowledge the mental skills that you are weak in and create a plan with your Mental Game Coach to help take your performance to the next level. 

*Are you interested in working on your mental game one-on-one? Did you know Cheer360 offers individual mental game coaching which can be done at the Cheer360 facility OR by Skype in the comfort of your own home! Contact us for more information.*

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. 

Why "can't" is a curse word!

As athletes we all experience self doubt at times but have you ever counted up how many times you say “can’t” at a practice?  Chances are it’s more than you think and this one small word could be hurting your performance!

Self-talk is the dialogue that we have with ourselves all the time.  Whether we choose to be positive or negative our self-talk will impact us either way by directly affecting our attitude which will than directly affect our behaviors.  Saying words like “can’t” negatively affect us which is why we should become aware of how much we say this word and take steps to replace it with a more positive word or statement. 

While this may seem easy to do its harder than you may think!  The next time you are at practice be consciously aware of how many times you say “can’t’ or a negative word/statement, write that number down.  Then spend time developing positive words and statement to replace the negative ones.  Every time you practice and you think or say “can’t” correct yourself by using a positive word or statement. 

Over time your self-talk will lean more towards positive than negative, which will change your attitude and ultimately change your behavior.  Take the time to work on your self-talk to give yourself the optimal environment to succeed.

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. 

Visualization: If You Can See It You Can Do It!

Did you know that your brain cannot tell the difference between an imagined and a real action? That’s right! With this being said, as an athlete visualization is a very important and useful skill.  They say practice makes perfect so when your body is tired from physically practicing a skill use some visualization to continue working on your game!

Follow these tips when working on visualization:

1. Practice, Practice, Practice!- spend 10-15 minutes each day working on your visualization.  I suggest using the time right before you go to sleep to focus on your mental training.  Make sure its quiet and you have little to no distractions.  Also, do not get discouraged if you loose focus or become distracted.  Visualization just like anything you do takes time and practice.

2.  Use All of Your Senses- The best visualization is very detailed and feels as if it is really happening.  Take the time to set the stage for the skill you are visualizing.  What do you see?, what sounds do you hear?, how do you feel?, are there any distinct smells? 

3. Change Your Perspective- Visualization can be done in two different ways (associated and disassociated).  Associated is when you are looking out from your body, this is the most common way to visualize.  Disassociated is when you are watching yourself complete a skill.  By watching yourself you can see how a movement should be broken down.  This can be helpful if you are struggling with a particular skill.  To get the full benefit from your visualization be sure to use both associated and disassociated.

Start a visualization routine today to optimize your performance!

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. 

Fun Friday: Putting Cheer360 Core Values to Use!

For their entire lives, the owners of Cheer360 have used their collective set of core values as their moral compass for their everyday decision making. These core values are what make each of us ourselves, and Cheer360 the premier strength, nutrition and mental coaching program for cheerleaders. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Cheer360 core values, I am going to utilize this as an opportunity to showcase through our actions, how we roll up our sleeves, influence and empower our athletes, and lead by example.

Excellence: in all we do directs our Cheer360 team to develop a sustained passion for continuous improvement and innovation that will propel Cheer360 athletes into a long term, upward spiral of accomplishment and performance.

• Cheer360 has not only worked hard to achieve success, but we hold ourselves accountable in doing so. It is often said that hard work and achieving excellence in all that we do, will not go unnoticed. This was the case this past week as one of the top division I NCAA Cheer programs, The University of Central Florida, recognized our work by "liking" our motivational images and commenting back on our Cheer360 Instagram as seen here. This was a big boost of motivation to not only our team but our athletes as well. 

Persistence: We require that the Cheer360 team possesses the inner drive necessary to position oneself to overachieve daily. The majority of successes happen just after overcoming the most difficult. This is where the personal development comes in. Remember, just keep going!

• Cheer360 helps our athletes map out nutritional, mental and physical plans. This balanced approach will lead to an overall improved healthy lifestyle that will last a lifetime. Who knew that boxes were not just meant to be jumped on? 

Respect and Humility: We value the strengths, experiences and perspectives of others, and we recognize our own limitations. Cheer360 places value in those around us as they are not only a source, but a beneficiary of our success. 

• One of our smallest, yet hardest working athletes, Crista embodies the famous Mark Twain quote, "It is not the size of the dog in the fight, it is the size of the fight in the dog." Crista's hard work, has been an inspiration to us all, as seen by her quick rise to Instagram fame, notice the comments of support! 

Team: We value and care about each other, operate with a generosity of spirit, and have fun in the process of working together. To maximize our collective impact, we inspire, challenge and support each other to be our best and sustain our efforts. 

• Cheer360 has the benefit of seeing our hard work blossom into greatness right before our eyes. To ensure our success continues, we as a team work really hard to challenge one another to put forth creative, challenging and fun ideas. This is most evident in a recent team push up session!

Community:  We are committed to the cultivation of positive relationships between, and common experiences among, athletes, parents and staff. We instill a strong sense of self recognition and purpose with our athletes. These skills empower our athletes to serve as leaders in their communities. 

• Cheer360 has begun establishing the framework for a Cheerleader mentoring program. This mentoring program model will be implemented in communities that have youth cheer teams/leagues. Cheer360 will mentor current Cheer360 athletes to become coaches and mentors themselves for youth cheer programs. This program will develop future leaders and be a tremendous investment in the communities overall future.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how we practice what we preach. With being open for just under a month, Cheer360 has been to able to inspire and put smiles on the faces of many. We are thrilled and excited about all the support we have received and look forward to the bright future ahead. Remember, it is more than just cheerleading for us, it is a balanced healthy lifestyle that will last a lifetime. 

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

IS CHEER360 JUST FOR CHEERLEADERS?

Cheer360 was founded on the belief that all athletes should receive a well balanced, personalized, proper strength, nutrition and mental coaching program. Cheer360 has focused its coaching efforts on athletes who traditionally, have been misunderstood  or underestimated and have not participated in a year round training regiment. Consequentially, it is these athletes who are highest at risk to injuries, confidence issues and unhealthy eating habits.

Cheer360 knows that cheerleaders, have to possess the strength of a football player, coordination of a dancer, flexibility of a gymnast, mental toughness of a wrestler and proper diet of a swimmer. Understanding this, Cheer360 has developed a  program that incorporates exercises that ensure our athletes are working on strength, conditioning, speed and agility, mobility and flexibility, mental training and nutritional planning. The Cheer360 staff has taken this philosophy seriously and has emerged our athletes in purpose driven, functional and fun exercises, as exhibited by some of our team workout videos posted on the Cheer360 youtube page.

So is Cheer360 only for cheerleaders? The answer is a resounding no. The Cheer360 founders know what it takes to be not only a successful cheerleader, but a successful athlete as well. Currently, Cheer360 serves dancers, gymnasts, baton twirlers and cheerleaders. All of these athletes are receiving the comprehensive, personalized fitness programming that they themselves and their respective sports desire.

It is important to remember that the "Cheer" in Cheer360 represents not only a sport, but an emotion that if embraced, will add unlimited positive benefits for a lifetime.

If you are an athlete and are unsure if you are the right fit for Cheer360, contact us to set up a free workout at our facility or call us for a phone consultation.

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

CONFIDENCE IS KEY!

You hear your coach screaming from across the room “Be Confident” and you look at him/her and think, well I’m smiling… am I not being confident? Confidence is a hard skill to master and being able to show your confidence when you perform can be even harder.  I’m here to help teach you how you can become a more confident cheerleader with the 3 R’s to self-confidence.

Lets first get a good understanding of what self-confidence really is.  Confidence is the relationship you have between what you think and what you do.  Your confidence in yourself will impact your performance 100% so its important to understand what your self-confidence is made up of.  You need to practice hard and feel prepared to compete.  The person who practices hard will no doubt be more prepared.  Also, you need to believe and trust in your abilities and all the practicing and preparing you have done up until this point. 

When working at practice to improving your confidence it is best to follow the 3 R’s.

1. REPEAT- Start by picking a few of your personal cheerleading strengths and repeat them to yourself a few times in a row.
2. RATIONALIZE- Many thoughts run through our heads, some positive and some negative.  Any thoughts that you have will need to be rationalized.  For example, if you start to think “my jumps are awful” you need to breakdown why you are thinking this (rationalize your thought). Maybe you do not think your jumps are the best because you could stretch more at home or you need to focus on pointing your toes.  Instead of losing confidence in yourself because of your jumps you now have concrete skills to work on to make your jumps better.
3. REPLACE- Replace any negative thought or statement with a positive one.  Just because a situation you are in is not ideal does not mean that it is negative.  Every situation that presents itself as harder then what you expected is a challenge for you to work on and overcome.  Always look for the positive in a negative. 

Building up your confidence can be difficult but just like any other skill, you need to work on it daily and you will slowly have and show more confidence.  Start working on the 3 R’s now in the off-season to help make yourself  a more confident cheerleader by the time tryouts are upon you!  Show the judges and your coach that you believe in yourself and your skills.

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. 

www.Cheer-360.com

Progress NOT Perfection

“Perfect” is an unrealistic word used commonly by athletes when explaining what they want.  The word “Perfect” is as much of a curse word in sports as “I Can’t!”  Stop searching for perfection and start moving towards personal progress. 

Close your eyes and imagine this scenario, I’m sure it has happened to at least a few of you out there reading. 

You have been working all season on the stunts in your routine but every competition this season you have gotten scared and the stunt has fallen.  The last competition of the season is approaching in 2 weeks and all you can think of and say to yourself is “I have to hit all my stunts perfectly!” The pressure is on to make your last performance perfect so you can prove to yourself, your team, your coach and the judges that you are an outstanding athlete.  You feel that if you do not perform perfectly at this last competition you will be a failure. 

Searching for this illusive perfect performance is only setting you up for a let down. When we will only accept perfection anything else is going to be unacceptable and disappointing.  Searching for the perfect performance is the one thing the athlete should not be focusing on. 

Now you must be wondering to yourself “well, what should I be focusing on if it’s not to be perfect?”  That answer is simple, PROGRESS! Going back to the scenario above it would be best to treat this last competition as a chance to improve from your past performances.  Always focus on having a better performance from your last, this is called progress.  When you open up your mindset from being perfect to being better you allow for a more accurate description of how you performed.  When you focus solely on being perfect you can only judge yourself as either perfect or imperfect.  But when you search for progress and strive to become better than before you open up your outcomes and will be a better athlete because of it. 

Progress not Perfection is a true champions mindset!

For more information on Mental Game Coaching visit www.cheer-360.com

A Dream Becomes a Reality: The CHEER 360 Story

On March 1st, with a newly furnished key (a zebra printed one for the record), CHEER 360 opened the doors to more than just a 2,200 square foot training facility. CHEER 360 opened the doors to a future of endless and limitless possibilities.

For the preceding 8 months that led up to March 1st, CHEER 360 was just a dream. At a beach gathering among family and friends, the eventual founders of CHEER 360 were having an in depth conversation regarding what their passions were and what they most desired. Kristen Perri and Shari Tarburton, lifelong cheerleaders and current varsity coaches, with big smiles and excitement, spoke at great length how they would love to work with young athletes by providing them with a strong foundation of strength, mental and nutritional coaching. Three key elements that are needed to not only be a successful cheerleader, but to live a well-balanced, healthy and successful life. 

This idea quickly gathered momentum as research was gathered, support was well received and the energy never lost. Co-Founders, Kristen and Shari working with their respective husbands Artie (a business development specialist) and Kent (a certified personal trainer and one time cheerleader himself) found that no such program existed for Cheerleaders on Long Island--nor throughout the entire country. 

Knowing no such program existed, Kristen and Shari suddenly felt more empowered than ever to create a program that addresses the true needs of cheerleaders. When accounting for sports related injuries, including concussions, Cheerleading ranks among the highest. Not only is this population prone to sport related injuries, but additionally, the demographics of the sport are of high risk to having eating disorders. Combining these issues with the social pressures of being a young athlete, it was clear, that a solution is needed to meet the demands of these pressing issues.

CHEER 360 is no longer just a dream, it is a reality. With teams already signing up to participate in the sport's only strength, mental and nutritional coaching program, CHEER 360 recognizes the vital role it plays in shaping the lives of the athletes but the future of the sport of Cheerleading as well.

Since the zebra printed key opened the door to the facility, paperwork has been signed, specialized programming has been planned and equipment ordered and assembled. Much time has been spent preparing CHEER 360 to meet the demands and needs of its athletes. More so, a lifetime has passed as its founders have long been ready to share their dream with the world.

CHEER 360 is officially ready to continue this exciting journey with each and every one of you. Stay tuned and follow the CHEER 360 blog as it will regularly be updated with content specific to health and wellness, proper nutrition, strength and conditioning training tips and mental exercises. 

Our Website:www.Cheer-360.com

Like Cheer360 on Facebook! 

Follow Cheer360 on Twitter!