I had the pleasure of observing the Boston University cheerleading team practice the other night.  Coach Tarryn Walsh, herself a BU grad and former cheerleader,  has put together a compelling group of 21 spirited cheerleaders – 2 men and 19 women – who cheer at BU’s men’s and women’s home basketball games. 

Cheerleading is a club sport at Boston University and this is the first time the team has men on board.  The team will be competing at NCA’s nationals in April, Coach Walsh said, and so the team is spending time now getting their routine down in preparation for the big event. 

Boston University is known for its academic rigor and cheerleaders must find time to keep up with their academics and devote time to cheer practice. We’re talking big time dedication here! 

Being a club team, the level of expertise and experience varies among the cheerleaders but everyone seemed to be having a good time and the more experienced cheerleaders were generous and respectful in offering helpful tips to those who were less experienced. Even when a routine was less than perfect, there was a great deal of laughter and camaraderie and – importantly – there was continued effort to do it again and again and again until they got it right!  I never saw anyone look disgruntled or disheartened.  It seems the team has the right attitude: it’s about fun, it’s about learning, and it’s about connection.  It’s also about taking on the challenge of moving out of your comfort zone to take a risk and work towards success. Yep – that’s the right stuff!

An article in the recent Cheer Coach & Advisor magazine, written by Jonathan Wood, offers an inside glimpse into what goes on with cheer judges. 

Mr. Wood often overhears remarks such as, “The judges at last week’s competition were terrible.”  Or – comments which suggest that their team lost because of poor judging. Such remarks are upsetting because of all the effort put forth by judges and competition organizers to create a fair system that assesses performances according to clearly defined guidelines. 

Mr. Wood makes the point that blaming the judges reflects poor sportsmanship and fails to place the responsibility where it belongs – with the cheer team itself.  He refers to Vince Lombardi’s statement, “If you can’t accept losing, then you can’t win.”  He then says, “If the judging is good enough to accept the glory of a win, then it should be good enough to accept responsibility for the loss. I never hear “those judges were terrible, we should have lost.”" 

The posting I wrote on the championship mindset speaks to this also.  A true champion views a set-back or a loss as the opportunity to learn a valuable lesson.

In my quest to meet cheer coaches and learn more about the sport, I have discovered that finding money to pay for everything from uniforms and equipment to camps and competitions is a huge challenge.

Some schools pay very little to their cheer teams (and coaches!) and so it’s up to the team to dream up ways to raise funds.

I have teamed up with an expert fundraiser to begin to address these problems.  This expert, who works exclusively with small non-profit organizations, met with me to record an information-packed interview that provides all sorts of tips on ways to raise money.

The interview will be available within the next week or so, so be sure to stay tuned!  In the meantime, feel free to post your questions about fund-raising and I’ll pass them on to get you answers!

Since I’ve been writing about the world of cheerleading, I’ve signed up for Google alerts on the topic of cheerleading.  Yesterday, my Google alerts led me to a Canadian cheerleader named Erika Tucker who writes for cbasports.ca.   She writes about the world of cheerleading in a witty and engaging way.  Her topics have included:fund-raising; almuni networking events; pain; stereotypes, and more.

Check her out!

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak with an advisor to one of the nation’s top cheerleading teams.  He said that the cheerleaders in his school attend numerous alumni functions throughout the school year.  Their role isn’t to perform, although they might, but rather, they are to mingle and meet alumni at these events. The cheerleaders are clearly ambassadors for the school and so must conduct themselves with grace and poise. 

The advisor said that initially, some cheerleaders dread these events.  After all, what do 20 year olds have in common with 50-year olds? What do you talk about?  This school’s cheerleaders are instructed to be prepared to report on their networking results.  After the event, they are asked to name 3 people they met, what their names are, where they live, and what they do.  In other words, these cheerleaders are taught how to network! 

Over time, these cheerleaders recognize and appreciate the value of this.  One said that this prepared her well to handle any business or social event after she left school.  She feels comfortable talking to anyone, anywhere, about anything! 

Sounds like a win-win-win.  The school wins because the poise and grace of the cheerleaders encourage the alumni to donate to the school; the alumni win because they get to meet these young people and they can feel pride in their school; and the cheerleaders win because it’s excellent training for the real world!

It’s inevitable that sometime during your cheerleading career, you will meet another cheerleader who is more talented, more agile, and generally more competent at cheerleading than you are. 

What do you do when this happens to you?  How you manage this situation can result in your feeling fine or feeling miserable. 

For example, if you say to yourself, “I’ll never be that good…I’ll never be able to do what she does…” then you will likely feel discouraged.  But notice that you are the one who is discouraging you!  No one else is telling you you’ll never be that good. 

The way you think affects the way you feel and you have control over the way you think! 

Here’s another option.  What if you were to say to yourself, “Wow! She (or he) is really good.  I wonder how she does it?  What can I learn from observing him?”  This line of thinking is constructive and is likely to result in your feeling energized, not defeated. 

So, try it!  Next time you see an exceptional talent, instead of focusing on you and what you may lack (real or imagined), focus on the other person and observe with the goal of learning from that person.

Elissa Stein has written a fun book called: Cheerleader – Ready? Okay?

It’s an attractive book filled with colorful illustrations and photos of cheerleaders over the years. The book contains sections on the History of Cheerleading, Cheerleading Fashion, What it Takes, and Beyond Pom-poms. 

In the section on the history of cheerleading, Stein reminds us that in the beginning, cheerleading “belonged to the boys” who wore white slacks and coordinated sweaters. Princeton created the country’s first cheer in the 1860’s at a football game (“Hooray, hooray, hooray! Tiger, sis, boom, aah…Princeton!”).  Princeton grad, Thomas Peebles, brought the cheer concept to the University of Minnesota.  

The “girls” joined the “boys” in the 1920’s and were eventually fully integrated into the cheerleading scene. The Ohio State coach was quoted as saying, “…they are fine looking, bobbed-haired, rhythmic, well-formed individuals who are just outstanding girls.” 

This book would make a fine present for your favorite cheerleader or cheer coach. The photos on cheerleading fashion is a fascinating peek at the evolution of a wonderful American sport.

You can just focus for so long until your brain gets tired and when your brain gets tired, your performance will falter.  It’s similar to what happens when you’re working at your computer for too long – your computer freezes up and no matter what you do, nothing happens.  The only solution is to reboot your computer and then -magically – everything works again!

Well, the same concept works for your very personal computer – your brain.  Here’s what you can do so you can resume practice feeling refreshed: 

• Close your eyes and exhale slowly 2 – 3 times.
• Say to yourself, “I’m going to turn my mind off.” 
• With your mind’s eye, see a blank computer screen. 
• Unhinge your jaw. 
• Relax your tongue.
• Be still for 10 – 20 seconds. 
• Then open your eyes.
• Raise your chin above parallel.
• Start sending energy to your next objective or target. 
• Direct your full focus to the task at hand.
• Repeat as necessary 

This technique can come in handy when you become aware that things aren’t going well, when you find yourself going off track or – in the middle of a performance when everything is going south – fast!  In the latter case, you would need to alter the technique since it won’t do for you to close your eyes in front of an audience!  Try this instead: Exhale and say to yourself, “I’m going to turn my mind off,” and then, very briefly, envision a blank computer screen and then say to yourself, “Re-group and re-focus,” and resume your performance.

I read the following quote in the About.com Cheerleading Guide: “The difference in (sic) a good cheer and a great cheerleader is… a good cheerleader stops at the sight of pain and a great cheerleader pushes through the pain.”   

Hmmm…is this true?  Should it be true?  I doubt it.  Sounds like youthful enthusiasm gone awry.  There is nothing meritorious or even smart about pushing through pain.  If pain exists, it should be investigated.  What is causing the pain?  Is it due to an injury?  If so, pushing forward will only exacerbate that injury. 

There are too many aging athletes out there hobbling around with arthritic knees and bum shoulders because they played through the pain.  In some instances they were given a shot of cortisone and told to go back out and play even though doing so ensured that they would likely injure themselves further. 

 Pain is the body’s way of signaling that something is wrong.  A smart cheerleader will respect that signal and ask for an assessment.