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…)

If you’ve ever been to a cheerleading competition, you may have had the pleasure of seeing a special-needs cheerleading team perform. The pleasure comes from seeing the focus and determination on the cheerleaders’ faces as they perform and the sheer joy of triumph when they finish.  All their hard work has paid off and now they want to celebrate!  And we all celebrate with them.  We salute their courage, their resilience, and their vitality.  Bravo!

I have been thinking about writing a post about this topic for a while now and lo and behold, Bill Presson provided a link on Facebook to an article that appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.  The reporter is Karen Kadilac and it appeared in Thursday’s paper. I will be borrowing from this article for my post. (more…)

There I was, sitting at my booth at Spirit Cheer’s Beast of the East Winter Nationals Cheerleading Competitions in Hartford, when a team from Valley Elite All Stars gathered in front of me, closed their eyes and visualized their performance, including their hand gestures, movements, and so forth. 

Well, I couldn’t resist adding my two cents so after they finished, I told them about power words. (more…)

This weekend I’ll be heading down to Hartford, Ct. for Spirit Cheer’s Beast of the East Winter Nationals cheerleading competitions.  Spirit Cheer gives away bids to the USASF World Championships.  This year, Spirit Cheer will be awarding 2 Paid and 6 At Large bids to the World Championships. 

What makes this event especially exciting for me is that I will be handing out some of the awards on Sunday!  What an honor! 

If you’re going to this event, please stop by my Confident Cheerleading booth and say hello! 

Don’t forget to check out my 2 Facebook Pages:  Confident Cheerleading Center and, with Debbie Love – Unlock Cheerleading Mental Blocks!

I just heard about a great service that is available from Varsity All Star.  You all know how fierce competition can be, right?  Well, wouldn’t it be helpful to get some early feedback on how your teams will score way before you actually arrive at the competition arena? 

Now you can!  Varsity All Star is offering a new service – Virtual Critique – to help you maximize your team’s potential!  This service will provide you with some insight on how your team is going to place in the rankings. (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…)

Although recognized as a decidedly American sport, cheerleading is now embraced by many countries across the world – from the Philippines to China, from Ireland to Germany, you can find cheerleaders.  Actually this weekend you can find cheerleaders from all over the world at Orlando Florida, the home of The Cheerleading Worlds. 

The International All Star Federation (IASF) and the United States All Star Federation (USASF) only host two competitions a year – The Cheerleading Worlds and The Dance Worlds. The event producers of premier national championships sponsor their best teams to compete at these competitions. In addition, International cheer and dance teams from all over the world may qualify to compete in the applicable Senior or International divisions/categories. 

As you can imagine, this will be quite an event!  I couldn’t resist so I decided to go.  If you are going, please stop by and say hello! I will be at the Inside Cheerleading Magazine booth in the Milk House.  I will also be at the VIP Party on Friday night and the special fashion party on Sunday night sponsored by GK Elite, Twisted Choreography and Cheer Coach and Advisor Magazine!  

But it’s not all about the partying!  Worlds is important because it recognizes cheerleading as a serious world-wide athletic endeavor. 

Of course I will be posting photos!

This past weekend I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia where I taught some classes at Cheer Expo.  It was fun to meet the cheerleaders, the coaches, the judges, and the other instructors.  

One of the classes I was scheduled to teach was on Mental Toughness and my travel experience provided a personal lesson for me on that very topic.  Here is what happened – what I refer to as my tutorial on the mental game of flying – in an airplane that is. 

I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning on Friday in order to catch a 6 am flight from Boston to New York (JFK airport).  Then I had to leave that terminal, walk about a mile and go to a different terminal where I had to go through security again.  So far, so good – I even got a walk in! 

The flight from New York was direct to Halifax however when we arrived in the skies above Halifax, we were told the weather had affected visibility so we would have to circle for a while until it cleared up.  Well, it didn’t clear up and the plane was running out of fuel so we had to fly to another city to refuel.  Guess where we ended up?  Boston!  (Which is closer than New York.) 

Once in Boston we refueled but we were not allowed to leave the plane.  We were then told the plane would NOT return to Halifax but instead go back to New York!  Of course by the time we got to New York (around 4:30 pm) there were no more flights out to Halifax that day.  We were re-booked for the next day and told we were on our own in terms of getting a hotel and meals. 

I was asked if I wanted to return to Boston for the night and leave the next morning on a direct flight to Halifax.  I agreed.  The flight to Boston was leaving at 6:30 pm but it was at New York’s other airport – La Guardia!  So I had to take a cab and pray that I would get there in time to make the shuttle back to Boston.  I did make it and met a very nice cab driver in the process. My confused husband graciously picked me up at the airport and took me home where I essentially fell asleep while I ate supper. The next morning I flew out of Boston again – but this time arrived in Halifax on schedule. 

Now, what does this have to do with mental toughness?  Well, mental toughness has to do with maintaining a positive attitude in the face of discomfort or adversity. At any time during my adventure, I could have whined and griped or bemoaned my fate or fretted about the situation.  When I found myself beginning to go there, I reminded myself that this was out of my control and a key tenet of mental toughness is – control the controllables!  The only thing I could control was my attitude so I proceeded to view the experience as an interesting adventure and used the time to read and listen to my i-pod. 

For cheerleading, there is so much that is out of your control – especially at a competition! Still, the most important elements are under your control: your poise, your attitude, your desire to perform well, and your commitment to your mental game. 

Oh – my return flight was delayed due to weather…but that’s another story!

Are any of you heading to Cheer Expo this weekend?  If you are, please stop by and say hello! 

Cheer Expo takes place this coming Saturday and Sunday in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  It sounds like it will be a grand time and a busy weekend.  Not only are there the National Cheerleading and Dance Championship Competitions but there is also an Expo/Trade Show for cheerleaders, dancers, gymnasts and of course…their coaches!

It is also a conference for coaches, the athletes and their parents

I will be teaching 9 different workshops over 2 days so I’ll be plenty busy! Here is the line-up of my workshops:

Saturday 10:05

Mental Toughness: The key ingredient to athletic success 

Saturday 12:05

Unlock the Block: How to resolve mental blocks in tumbling 

Saturday 2:05

Sport Psychology: How to use sport psychology techniques to make the most of practice 

Saturday 3:05

The Mental Game of training for competitions 

Saturday 4:05

How to create and use winning visualizations 

Sunday 9:05

Stress Reduction Techniques 

Sunday 11:05

The Mental Game of Safety: How mental game coaching can improve safety 

Sunday 1:05

How to train your brain to get your body to do what you want 

Sunday 3:05

How to identify and change negative thinking

By the way, one of the things I love to do is teach so if you run events like this, please keep me in mind for a keynote speech or a series of workshops.

Anyone who has been to a cheerleading competition knows that sometimes it’s the little things that count.  Very small differences can make the BIG difference between coming in first and placing second. 

Focus is the granddaddy of the small differences. It is the most important mental skill that is associated with winning performances.  Developing this skill is essential – not only for cheerleading, but for any endeavor. That’s why I recommend training for focus at all practice sessions way before the actual competition. 

Here are some reasons why focus is so critical: 

• Focus allows you to connect totally with what you are experiencing
• Focus frees you to perform without being disturbed by distracting thoughts
• You will learn better and faster when you are focused
• Where your focus goes, everything else follows

 If a cheerleader is proficient in his or her skills (technically and physically) and makes a mistake in execution, it is likely due to a focus problem.  Either the cheerleader is focusing inward (with thoughts such as “I hope I can do this…”) which happens with anxiety or is distracted by external factors. 

Managing distraction is a skill that can be developed and that should be developed.  More on that soon! 

Speaking of competitions, have you seen my training program?  It’s called The Mental Game of Cheerleading: Training for Competitions.  It’s a 2-CD audio program with a 40 page workbook.  You can order the digital version for less.  Order either one and I’ll give you a free one-hour consultation!