Soon, thousands of cheerleaders, coaches,  cheer parents and fans from all over the world will be pouring into Orlando Florida for the annual Worlds Cheerleading and Dance Competition.   This weekend marks the end or near end of the cheerleading competition season. 

In reflecting on this past competition season, I recall someone asking me what words of wisdom or what inspirational talk could a cheerleading coach offer to his or her team right before  they go on stage. (more…)

It’s a long flight from Boston to Seattle but it will be worth it!  This Friday I leave bright and early for my trek to Everett, Washington (north of Seattle) for the annual conference for cheerleading coaches.  

It will be a jam-packed weekend with lots of class options for the coaches.  I will be teaching 3 different classes: How to Bring out the Leader in your Cheerleader; How to Enhance Motivation and Improve Performance; and How to Identify and Change Negative Thinking.

All of these classes are based on best practices from sport psychology and all are evidence-based.  This means that there is scientific proof that these techniques really work – if – if they are actually put into practice! (more…)

What are you doing to observe National Cheerleading Safety Month?  For some of the best ideas, visit the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators (AACCA) website – http://aacca.org/safetymonth .

No one wants to see a cheerleader get hurt and yet in the busyness of the season it can be easy to forget some simple guidelines. Of course all coaches should be trained in risk management and basic first aid.  Additionally, all gyms should have an emergency response plan. Again, the AACCA website offers a wealth of valuable information. (more…)

If you are a cheerleading coach and one of your cheerleaders develops a mental block, it is your job to try to figure out what happened.  Sometimes it’s clear and the solution is easy.  This is especially true when it is a technical issue and the fix is a matter of tweaking something the athlete is doing. 

Of course there are the other times when the cause and the fix are not clear. As I mentioned yesterday, high stress families, especially families where feelings are not expressed or allowed or where conflict is not addressed in a healthy way, can be breeding grounds for all sorts of medical and psychological symptoms including mental blocks. (And by the way – high stress is a significant factor associated with sport injuries.)  

You will have your own way of working with blocks and it’s good to follow through with what you usually do – especially if you have had success with other cheerleaders.  But if you find the problem is not resolving or if the athlete is especially emotional, then you might want to consider assessing for family stress. So how do you do this?   (more…)

One of my readers recently asked me if I knew of any training programs for newly minted cheerleading coaches.  I confessed I did not although I told her I am working on a program for coaches that will certify them as mental game coaches. 

Do any of you know of any training programs for new cheer coaches?  If you do, please let me know and I will write about it here. 

There are some books and websites that provide excellent information and education and although these are not only for new coaches, they will be helpful to anyone who is new to cheer coaching. (more…)

Last week you saw how an unpleasant interaction between a cheerleading coach and a cheerleader could be diffused using the Transactional Analysis (TA) paradigm. 

To refresh your memory, the series of interactions (or transactions as they are called in TA) were as follows: (more…)

Yesterday, you saw how a seemingly innocent question from a cheerleading coach led to a nasty interaction with a cheerleader (all hypothetical, of course). 

According to Transactional Analysis (TA), the way your Parent, Adult, and Child ego states or personality parts are constructed depends on your own history – the way you were treated by parents, siblings, and other people in your life plus your own life experiences. (more…)

Yesterday I showed a simple transaction between c cheerleading coach and a cheerleader.  The coach reminded the athlete about cheerleading practice time and the response was neutral. 

Today, as promised, I will show how a simple interaction can result in conflict. (more…)

The format I introduced yesterday can be helpful to cheerleading coaches and cheerleaders in understanding and resolving conflict which may pop up on a team.  Today’s post builds on that. (more…)