In my last post, I said that sometimes a cheer coach can unwittingly cause mental blocks. This can be due to the pressure to win and/or the lack of experience on the part of the coach.
So how can you know if a coach is the right one? Here are some things to look for. (more…)
Do you want to do a good deed today? Well you can by going to this site - woodhouse.com, clicking on the “Making a difference together” link and then click on “Vote the for the May winner” and vote for Candidate # 1 – Heidi Frye. (Steve Wedge, President and CEO of COA Cheer and Dance informed me about this situation.)
Here is her story: (more…)
The short answer is – yes! The longer answer has to do with the pressure coaches feel to “win” plus the fact that some cheer coaches may be overstepping their reach. (more…)
Tomorrow morning I will be catching a plane to go to Columbus Ohio. From there I will drive to Mansfield for the Ohio Association of Cheerleading Coaches annual conference. I am pleased to be the keynote speaker for the event (filling in for but not replacing the irreplaceable Valerie Ninemire!). (more…)
At a recent cheerleading coaches event, I posed the following question: What percentage of athletic success do you think can be attributed to physical/technical attributes and how much to mental/emotional factors? (more…)
Tomorrow morning I will be flying out west to be part of Pac West Spirit Group’s Annual Champagne Brunch and Coaches Conference. This event will be held at the beautiful Hilton hotel in historic downtown Vancouver, Washington on Friday April 30th 6-9pm, and Saturday May 1st 10am-5pm.
This event was nominated Best Coaches Conference for SITA and Inside Cheerleading Magazine Reader’s Choice Awards!
I am pleased to be this year’s keynote presenter for this award nominated conference. Of course I won’t be alone! The other esteemed presenters and the schedule are listed below. (more…)
Cheerleaders from all over the globe competed at last weekend’s Cheerleading Worlds competition. What an exciting event!
What impressed me, as a sport psychology coach, was the mental toughness I witnessed. Imagine what it is like to perform in front of thousands of people (plus a huge television audience). Then imagine what it is like to be in a collapsed pyramid in the first moments of a routine or to fall or to land on your face when you are throwing a full. What would you do? (more…)
Most cheerleading coaches know the importance of establishing goals for their cheerleaders as individuals and as a team. Typically these goals focus on improving cheerleading skills or physical conditioning. These are certainly important but I encourage you to include mental game goals as well.
Part of the joy of coaching is seeing your cheerleaders grow as athletes and as individuals. You can enhance this process by teaching your squad some simple mental game techniques. These techniques are valuable not only for cheerleading, but for life!
Here are a few you can easily incorporate:
This is how it could work.
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Fear of failure is not uncommon in cheerleaders, as I mentioned in my previous posting. Excessive concern about making mistakes and perceived pressure to be perfect are associated with fear of failure. It can be a problem in that it may lead to sub-optimal performance, avoidance behavior and mental blocks.
What contributes to this dilemma?
Well first is the cheerleader’s basic temperament and personality style but then we need to consider the coach and the parents. A good coach wants his or her athletes to excel. A good parent wants his or her child to succeed. But how this is communicated can make all the difference between a cheerleader who has fun while learning and one who agonizes over every mishap.
A sport environment is an evaluative environment. The athlete is a learner who must be open to instruction and coaching. Ideally a cheerleader has or develops what I call a championship mind-set which means being open to learning, eager for feedback, and maintaining a perspective that every set-back and mistake is a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow and improve. (This is a life skill, too!)
Coaches and parents can nurture a championship mind-set or they can interfere with it. If the egos of the coach and/or parent are too closely intertwined with the success of the cheerleader, objectivity can suffer and emotions may run high.
If a coach/parent gets unduly upset when an cheerleader makes a mistake, this communicates to the athlete that mistakes are not ok, that they are a problem and are to be avoided. Patience and a sense of humor plus a championship mind-set on the part of the parents/coaches go a long way toward creating a healthy learning atmosphere.
Let’s not forget that this sport of cheerleading is supposed to be fun!
It is good to set high standards and strive for excellence in sport performance and it is imperative that coaches and parents never put down the cheerleader’s efforts, performance, and self worth when the results are imperfect.
To an athlete, the reactions and words of a parent and/or coach carry enormous weight. If coaches/parents pressure athletes (especially young beginners) to perform perfectly, to avoid mistakes, and to meet high (perhaps unrealistic) expectations, and if they criticize the athlete when he or she fails to meet those expectations, all this contributes to the athletes’ fear of failure.
Fostering a good work ethic with clearly defined and realistically high expectations, encouraging healthy team relationships, nurturing a spirit of curiosity and openness to learning where mistakes are gifts and not demons are all ways to contribute to the development of a happy, healthy cheerleader.
I’ve heard many cheerleading coaches use the term “perfectionist” when describing a (usually anxious) cheerleader. And just the other day a cheerleader wrote to me and said she was a perfectionist. Before that, a cheer mom told me her daughter was a perfectionist.
Ok, so what exactly is a perfectionist and is it really a problem? Turns out this is a more complex dilemma than you would think!
Now I admit that psychologists can be good at making things more complicated than they need to be but in this case, the research makes sense. Please bear with me and read on…
First, sport psychologists make the distinction between perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns. There is an important difference!
Perfectionistic Concerns are preoccupations with making mistakes, parental expectations, parental criticism, and coach’s expectations and criticisms. As might be expected, athletes who score high on this dimension have a high fear of failure. These athletes also tend to have problems with depression, anxiety and avoidance.
Coaches and parents communicate the standards of what is acceptable in performance situations. They provide feedback and evaluation to the athletes about their abilities and performances. Because of this, their criticisms and expectations are a source of pressure and concern for athletes.
For the athlete who has Perfectionistic Concerns, the words and behaviors of parents and coaches are weighed heavily. It’s important to note that these athletes might PERCEIVE criticisms and feedback as being harsher than it is objectively communicated.
Perfectionistic Strivings relate to a desire to excel and are accompanied by high personal standards of success. These athletes tend to be more self confident and have a positive approach to practice and goal-setting as long as they have some capacity to accept minor imperfections. When they demand perfection in all things, they fare less well.
Stay tuned for more on this topic…
By the way…it’s competition season! Learn all about the Mental Game of Competitions here! Don’t miss out!