The word “routine” here refers to the specific steps you take to prepare yourself for actually performing a cheerleading stunt or a move.  In other words, do you just jump into it or do you take a moment to focus, visualize and then act?  You won’t be surprised to learn that I am a big fan of incorporating a mental pre-performance routine into your cheerleading practice! 

You’ve heard me say over and over how important focus is in any kind of performance.  (It’s also a key in reducing accidents and injuries.) So, ask yourself, what do you do to enhance your focus at cheerleading practice?  And by the way, this isn’t just about practice; remember what you do at practice will show up at performance so you’re wise to take this seriously. 

The best athletes believe that good practice and performance (mental) routines get you where you need to be when you need to be there. In other words, in pressure filled moments, it’s good to have a mental routine to rely on to get you focused  and back on track. 

Here’s a simple pre-practice routine that you can try:  Before you jump into anything, pause, exhale slowly three times, and say “focus” to yourself. Then take a moment and visualize with your mind’s eye what you want your body to do.  Once the scene is clear to you, exhale slowly once more and proceed. 

If you do this often enough, you will have created a simple but powerful routine to get yourself focused and mentally prepared for performance.

Thousands of people have seen this video. It’s a stunning display of athletic expertise but it’s also more than that.

Notice several things: First, safety is considered (they are on a nice large mat and there are two spotters). Second, there is implicit trust between the young woman (Katie?) and the young man – the base.  They communicate silently and seamlessly but we know it didn’t just happen over night.  They undoubtedly worked hard to develop that trust which can only happen with honest open communication over time.

She knows at this point that his focus is totally on her and that he will not falter in his handling of her.  He knows that she is strong and steady (and graceful) and courageous so he doesn’t have to worry about taking care of her in that regard.

They have obviously gone through this routine often but that is the only way you can succeed – by dedicating yourself to achieving excellence by committing yourself to hard work which includes repetition of drills. The mental work is key, too.  They are focused on each other and aren’t distracted by other things going on around them.

These videos can be instructive in so many ways and being a sports psychology coach, my focus will be on the mental game of cheerleading.

This video demonstrates how to do a back handspring. Viewing it has been helpful to some cheerleaders. Here’s a technique from sports psychology to make it even more helpful! (But please…if you’ve never done this before, be safe and work with a coach and a spotter!)

Step 1: As you watch the video, observe the cheerleader intensely and begin to imagine how her body feels as she moves through the routine. Also, imagine how she feels emotionally and how focused she is. Notice every detail. Repeat this several times.

Step 2: View the video again and this time, as you observe the cheerleader carefully, imagine that you are feeling what the cheerleader is feeling (body and mind). Repeat several times.

Step 3: Now, with your mind’s eye, see yourself and feel yourself performing the back handspring. Really feel every detail.

Step 4: Making sure you are using a mat, get in position to begin the back handspring. Take a moment, exhale slowly to get focused and with your mind’s eye, see yourself performing the back handspring perfectly. Now you’re ready to do it!

By doing the above you will have enhanced the learning process by creating connections in your brain. Yep, that’s right. Your brain doesn’t know the difference between visualizing a routine and actually performing it! To your brain, it is one and the same therefore; you can begin to build those important brain maps just by visualizing whatever new stunt or routine you want to learn!

Great athletes learn how to control their thinking because they know it affects their performance. Cheerleaders can benefit from this strategy especially in preparation for competitions. 

My last blog outlined the importance of categorizing thoughts as good for you or bad for you.  Also, I suggested noting where your time-focus was: past, present, or future. 

Good performance depends on a present focus and positive thinking. 

Once you have identified and categorized your thoughts, the next steps are: 

1. Change the time-focus first by telling yourself, “I am here now; I am present in the here and now.”

2. Change the harmful thoughts to another thought using any of the following:

a. simply choose to focus on something positive in the moment (there is almost always a positive aspect to any situation; it’s your job to find it!)

b. ask  yourself if the negative thought you are having represents the truth or is it a distortion (such as, “I’m terrible at this…I’ll never be a good cheerleader…everyone thinks I stink at this.”) 

1. if it’s a distortion, change it into a more realistic thought. And you can tell it’s a distortion if you’re using absolute terms like “never” or “always.”

c. if the thought reflects reality and is not a distortion, identify the problem and discover a solution. 

Here are some examples of how this system works: 

Let’s say that a recent practice didn’t go well…nothing seemed to work.  What were your thoughts? 

Perhaps you thought, “Coach will kick me off the squad…no one thinks I deserve to be on the team…I’m the worst one in the group.” 

Okay, it’s obvious that these thoughts are not good for you and there’s a bit of future-focus negative predicting going on (“Coach will kick me off the squad.”) 

So, first bring yourself into the present and remind yourself that no one can predict the future and it’s a waste of time to worry about something that hasn’t and probably won’t happen anyway! 

Now ask if your beliefs are true or a distortion.  They are at least exaggerated.  So now look for the problem tht needs to be solved.  And that is, you had a less than stellar practice.  Ok.  Not the end of the world, right? 

But you have still identified a problem that needs fizing.  But you have now opened up the possibility of a solution rather than limiting yourself to feeling miserable. 

What might some solutions be?  You could ask Coach or your captain for extra help.  You could try a different approach.  Perhaps you need to find a different way of focusing.  Maybe you could review some videos.  See?  You’re a problem solver now rather than a whiner! 

So, if you detect that your thinking is negative and limiting, ask yourself how you can open up your thinking…how can you change it from destructive to constructive.  And constructive thinking always opens up the possibility of a solution, of a constructive action.

Cheerleading competitions are high stakes, high pressure events. Competitions – especially Nationals –  are exciting, exhilarating, and for some of you – terrifying! Who can deny the thrill of performing in front of hundreds or thousands of screaming fans? 

Who would want to miss the opportunity to show the world the fruits of your months of hard work? The skills and hard work in your routine weren’t just given to you like free stuff on Gumtree or a present when it’s not your birthday.  And it has been hard work – creating your routine, revising it, and practicing it over and over again until you’ve nailed it! 

But rehearsing the routine repeatedly is only part of being a winner.  What is equally if not more important is the mental game of preparation for cheerleading competitions.  As I mentioned before, most pro athletes and virtually all Olympic athletes work with sports psychologists, so why not cheerleaders? 

Winning is the science of being totally prepared and being mentally prepared is essential.  

So what do I mean by mental preparation?  Mental preparation refers to learning how to control your body and control your thinking. It means training your body and your mind to do what you want them to do at the time of your performance to ensure you perform at an optimal level. 

You know, everything you do is dependent on your brain. You become what you think. Let me explain this a bit more so you have a good framework to help guide you as we proceed. 

A competition, although wonderful and exciting, may be perceived as a threatening event. Why threatening? Well there is risk involved. There is uncertainty involved (you may not win, you may not nail your routine, someone may get dropped, and so forth). Plus you are being observed by judges and a huge crowd; your every move is going to be scrutinized. 

In such situations you naturally get at least a bit anxious. Anxiety is your mind’s response to real or imagined danger. 

In such situations certain physical things happen. The grand control center in your brain, the prefrontal cortex which is located just behind the forehead, alerts certain other structures in the brain to flood your prefrontal cortex with stress hormones and neurotransmitters that short circuit brain functioning.  As a result, your attention narrows and your thinking becomes less flexible. Jumping to conclusions and acting precipitously or freezing are common at this point. 

In other words fear and stress can make you stupid! No offense – it happens to all of us. 

If an event is seen as positive or neutral, the prefrontal cortex will release a different chemical cocktail than if it is seen as negative.  In other words, depending on how you perceive a given situation, you will either perform well or poorly. So if you perceive a competition as a positive event and if you have control over your thoughts, your brain will release a slew of chemicals that will help you perform better.  

So, doesn’t it make sense to control your thoughts to make sure they are neutral or positive?  You’ll hear a lot more about this is future posts, so come back for more!

Have you ever noticed that you can perform a cheer stunt better after watching an expert do it?  Well, there’s a reason for that. When you observe another cheerleader perform a stunt or a full routine, your brain is processing what you are observing and is creating new connections or neural pathways.  So, in essence, you are actively changing your brain!  Cool, right? 

Now this is true for all mammals – even rats!  Yep…scientists note that laboratory rats who observe other rats perform a  task such as walk across an elevated bar, are able to learn how to do this much faster and more efficiently than lab rats that do not observe such behavior.  

So what does this mean for you?  Well, if you want to improve your performance, take time to observe the best cheerleaders you know.  But don’t just look, be interactive in your observation.  By this I mean as you observe, imagine how it would feel for you if you were doing the routine the way the expert is doing it.  Really focus on what you are observing and how you are experiencing it. Feel it in your body and feel it in your heart.  With your mind’s eye, see yourself performing like the person you are observing. By taking the interactive approach you will enhance the creation of new neural pathways.  In other words you will be creating performance maps in your motor cortex, the part of your brain that is responsible for movement. 

 There are many fascinating studies that demonstrate the validity of what I’m talking about here.  Here’s one for you.  Scientists at Harvard University wanted to assess the power of visualization so they studied 2 groups of students.  One group came in every day for 2 hours over 2 weeks time.  They were taught how to do a simple 5-finger exercise on a piano keyboard and each day after they practiced, the scientists measured the growth of their motor cortex (the part of the brain responsible for movement). 

The other group was also taught the 5-finger exercise but they were not given a keyboard and were told not to move a muscle but to just imagine they were moving their fingers.  In other words, to visualize themselves dong it without actually doing it!  They measured the growth in their motor cortices also.  Well, both groups showed a growth in their motor cortices! 

What this study demonstrates is that it is possible to change your brain, to build new motor pathways that will improve your performance by thinking about it! Of course the thinking has to be focused, deliberate, and repeated with an emphasis on feeling and seeing yourself performing brilliantly! 

I recommend devoting time studying videos using this interactive observation approach.

You might be wondering about this title – why do cheerleaders need to learn how to breathe?  Don’t they do fine already?

Well, of course, everyone breathes – it’s natural.  We generally don’t think twice about it which is miraculous in itself.  The wisdom of the body is such that we breathe constantly day and night, asleep and awake, without much conscious awareness of it. 

But -there are times when it’s wise to pay attention to your breathing such as when you engaging in strenuous physical activity or when you are anxious or when you need to communicate in a strong voice.  All of these relate to cheerleading! 

First, let me dispel a myth.  It is not wise to “take a deep breath” when you are stressed.  As a matter of fact, this is hard to do if you are in a stressful situation because your body is in a fight-flight mode and hence you are breathing shallowly and quickly.  So, what to do?  Exhale!  Yes, that’s right, rather than taking a deep breath in, exhale as slowly and as long as you can. 

Go ahead, try it!  As you exhale, slowly now, you will notice your shoulders relaxing first, then the rest of your body.  You will also be able to take in a nice deep breath because you have relaxed enough to do so and you will have created sufficient space in your lungs. 

If you practice focusing on your exhale, you will get to the point when one slow exhale can get you in the right mental and physical spot for practice or performance or competition. 

And a positive side effect of profound breathing is that it will deepen and strengthen your voice.  A deeper voice carries better than a high voice so before you lead a cheer – exhale!

It’s part of any cheerleading practice: the team gathers together on the mat to stretch to get those muscles warmed up and loose before they move into tumbling practice.  Of course this is necessary to prevent injury but warm-ups also provide a time for the team to chat and laugh and catch up with each other.  It’s the more laid back part of practice with less need for intense focus so cheerleaders are free to interact and connect. 

A wise cheerleading coach will recognize the team-building value of warm-up sessions and not try to interfere too much with the easy-going chatter that occurs.   Yes, the muscles are getting warmed up but so are the connections among team members!

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!

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.