Cheerleaders – are you missing out?
Cheerleaders are always interested in improving their performance. Typically, this involves practice and repetition of skills and this can definitely help – a lot! But, you are missing out on improving even more if you neglect the mental game of cheerleading.
A number of years ago a fellow named Tim Gallwey wrote a book called The Inner Game of Tennis. It has become a classic – even for people who don’t play tennis! And the reason is that Gallwey clearly outlines what interferes with performance and how to change this.
Here is Gallwey’s famous formula: P = p – i.
What does this mean, you might ask? It means that P refers to Performance or the end result. The small p stands for potential or what you are capable of and small i refers to interference or what gets in your way from realizing your true potential.
The key to improving your Performance is to reduce the interference and train your potential. You must, of course, figure out what is interfering with your performance. Some times it is a technical problem in which case a good coach will help you to correct that. More often, the interference is mental or the conversation you are having with yourself. You know, that internal voice that says, “You’re lousy at this,” or “You’ll never get it.” Sound familiar?
What kind of impact do you think this has on your performance? Yep, you’re right…it hinders your performance significantly.
To rectify this situation, the first step is to become aware of your thoughts (I have other posts on this) and the second step is to challenge them – are they accurate or a distortion? Often they will be a distortion of the truth but even so they wield tremendous power over you.
More on this tomorrow…
Tags: cheerleader, cheerleaders, Cheerleading, mental game of cheerleading, Tim Gallwey