Cheerleading squads have big expenses.  There are cheerleading uniforms, pom poms, equipment, travel costs, banners, and much more.  Well, here’s a way to earn $2000 for your school and get something for yourself, as well!

How?  Enter the Bring it on: Fight to the Finish essay contest!  All you have to do is write a 300 word essay about how your cheer program has benefited your community and school. Now 300 words isn’t much.  I bet some of you text hundreds and hundreds of words a day!  So why not take some time, gather your thoughts, and write them down.  Maybe you could enlist a group of your cheer buddies to work together on this.

All submissions will be judged on 3 dimensions: 1) Impact on your community and school; 2) grammar; and 3) clarity of thought.

In addition to the $2000 for your school, you, as the winner, will receive a $500 gift card to Pottery Barn Teen!

Go to this website for full details:  

Good luck!

An emotionally resilient cheerleader is a powerful cheerleader.  Yesterday I wrote about the US Army’s emotional resiliency program and I mentioned that much of what the Army will be learning is what I already write about in this blog. 

As I’ve said so many times, the way you think affects the way you feel and the way you perform.   One way to categorize thoughts is in terms of “hot thoughts” and “cool thoughts.” 

Hot thoughts get you into trouble because they are thoughts you have when you are upset and they usually lead you to take action you might later regret. 

Hot thoughts happen quickly; they are knee-jerk reactions to a situation.  For example, let’s say you go cheer practice one day and your best friend doesn’t give you a welcome hug like she usually does.  If you’re a hot thinker, you might think, “She doesn’t like me anymore!  I must have done something wrong!”  

Now this line of thinking might lead you to act in a certain way that you might later regret.  You might retreat from your friend or you might yell at her or you might tell someone else about the situation.  You aren’t taking the time to step back and consider what else might be going on.  

If you are a cool thinker, for the same situation, you might think, “Gee I wonder what’s going on with her?  It’s possible I upset her but maybe it has nothing to do with me.  Maybe she’s preoccupied with something.” 

In this instance, your cool thinking will allow you to respond differently to your friend. You might gently ask her if she’s ok or if she needs to talk. You won’t jump the gun and assume the worst. 

Cool thoughts mean you take a moment to pause and consider all the options before you respond.  Cool thoughts lead to a happier and healthier existence. 

So…stay cool!

You might wonder why I’m writing about the Army for a cheerleading blog!  Well, there is a connection.  The Army has begun an emotional resiliency training program to help soldiers deal with the terrible impact of combat and the interventions they are using are quite similar to what I write about on the blog.

They will be learning how to identify and change negative thinking.  They are learning how to reframe their thoughts from something that is disruptive to something that is neutral or positive.  They are learning how to identify cognitive distortions.  They are learning how to handle challenging situations.

Does this sound familiar?  Well, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, it should!  And by the way, the Army is spending $117 million dollars on this program and you get it here for free!

It’s natural that cheerleaders want to look good.  You are in the public eye after all so of course you want to look buff and toned and healthy and…tan?  Well, maybe. 

You may think it’s odd that I’m writing about this topic now – as we head into the last weeks of summer. Many of you have gotten tan while you were at camp or at the beach or just walking around.  That’s fine – so long as you did it gradually and while wearing sun block. 

The real danger is tanning beds and some cheerleaders rely on tanning beds to give them that “healthy glow” they like.  If you are one of the many young people who use a tanning bed, please read on!

A new analysis of about 20 studies concludes the risk of skin cancer jumps by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds before age 30!  

This analysis was  published online in the medical journal Lancet Oncology in July by experts at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization.

As a matter of fact, international cancer experts have moved tanning beds into the top cancer risk category, deeming them as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas. For years, scientists have described tanning beds and ultraviolet radiation as “probable carcinogens.

Most lights used in tanning beds give off mainly ultraviolet radiation, which cause skin and eye cancer, according to the International Agency for Cancer Research.

People under the age of 30 are increasingly using tanning beds and because of this doctors have seen a parallel rise in the numbers of young people with skin cancer. In Britain, melanoma, the deadliest kind of skin cancer, is now the leading cancer diagnosed in women in their 20s. Normally, skin cancer rates are highest in people over 75.

Previous studies found younger people who regularly use tanning beds are eight times more likely to get melanoma than people who have never used them. In the past,  the World Health Organization (WHO) warned people younger than 18 to stay away from tanning beds.

So the next time you are tempted to spend you time and money on a tanning bed, please think about the potential impact on your health.  You may look healthy with a tan but looks can be deceiving!

The film “Bring it on – Fight to the Finish” will be available on Blu Ray and DVD on September 1st.  Here is a video clip from You Tube where some of the performers talk admiringly about cheerleaders!

Well I’ve recently gotten back from a 2-week vacation.  Or rather, my body is back but my brain isn’t!  It can be hard to focus on work when you’ve been away from it for a while.  And what makes it harder is the temptation of summer.  We’re finally getting real summer weather here in the northeast and I confess I’d rather be on my bike than in front of my computer.

The irony is I just wrote an article on this very topic that will appear in the “back-to-school” issue of Inside Cheerleading Magazine!  Yep, that’s right…my article is all about how to refocus your attention from the fun of summer to school, study, and, of course – cheerleading practice!  I guess I’ll have to follow my own advice!

So this is just a quick hello with a promise of more substantial postings soon.