I would like you all to meet a cheerleader who really defines what mental toughness is all about.  Her name is Lexus Kline and she cheers for the Wheeling All Stars in Follansbee, West Virginia. Her birthday is coming up soon; she will turn 11 on July 7^th. 

If you read my blog you know that I write a lot about persistence, courage, commitment, and dedication.  Well, Lexus has it all! Here is her story:

 Lexus has struggled with many medical problems since birth. She spent her first days at Columbus Children’s Hospital because she would just stop breathing. The first year of her life, her parents had to carry an alarmed monitor to alert them if her breathing stopped. 

In addition to this, Lexus has had multiple surgeries for a submucous cleft palate. One surgery resulted in a horrible allergic reaction which put Lexus on a breathing machine for 3 days. Her terrified parents were worried she wouldn’t make it. 

Lexus is tiny (She is 4’2” and weighs 51 lbs) because she has an insulin growth factor deficiency which requires her to give herself 2 shots a day of Increlex. Her tiny size sometimes makes her the target for taunts and teasing, with some kids calling her anorexic. (Bully-free zone anyone?) 

When Lexus reads, the letters jump around making it difficult to stay focused (and she also has ADHD).  It turns out that she has dyslexia and other learning challenges.  Still, Lexus maintains A’s and B’s in school which is a testimony to her intelligence and her drive and motivation!  Her parents said that she would have to give up cheerleading if her grades dipped and that is what motivates her – her love of cheerleading! 

Lexus is a flyer with he Wheeling All Stars and she is a good one. Cheerleading is her passion and you can see how devoted she is to the sport. (Oh – she also is on the swim team and began her first year on the softball team with hopes of being a pitcher!) 

I think Lexus is an inspiration for all of us.  Just look at the obstacles she has had to overcome!  Look at her drive and motivation! Look at her commitment to excellence!  Look at her courage! 

So the next time you start whining about how tired you are or how you don’t feel like studying, remember the little girl with the big heart – Lexus! 

Let’s all honor Lexus on her 11^th birthday (July 7^th) by making a commitment to strive for excellence and never, never give up.

I invite you to think about how you assess a bad day or good day.  Do you tend to allow a rough practice ruin your whole day or even your week?  Do you float on cloud 9 if you have a great practice? What is the conversation you have with yourself about this? 

 What’s interesting is that people vary a lot in how they assess their performances.  Some cheerleaders who are consistently successful in executing their skills do not automatically feel confident.  And other cheerleaders who may struggle with execution do not necessarily feel unconfident. 

So – what’s the difference?  Athletes are always constructing ways to explain their performance outcomes. 

For example, if you and your team performed well at a competition, you and your teammates might explain the success in any of the following ways: 

            Explaining success

1. We got some lucky breaks
2. The other teams weren’t that good
3. We trained harder and longer than anyone else
4. We’re really good at what we do 

If you and your team didn’t perform well, you might explain it this way: 

            Explaining failure

1. The judges played favorites and weren’t fair
2. The other teams were just better and more experienced
3. We didn’t train long or hard enough
4. We just aren’t good enough 

If you look closely at the possible responses you’ll notice some distinct differences.  The first and second responses for success and failure attribute outcome to forces outside of the control of the team. The cheer squad succeeded or failed because the judges were either kind or unfair.  There is nothing said about the team’s efforts.  It’s all external. 

The third responses refer to effort and is clearly under the cheer team’s control.  Whether the team practiced hard and put in the time and effort is under the team’s control, right?  So if the team won or lost, there is a direct connection to behavior that is internally controlled.  There is no success or blame attributed to outside forces. 

The fourth responses say nothing about effort but rather it’s about the value of the squad in and of itself..  To say, “Darn, we’re good!” might feel great but it’s too easy then to fall into the opposite – to say, “We stink!” when it doesn’t go well.  In this case, success or failure is not tied to effort, it just is. This can lead to feelings of helplessness.  Remember – success is always tied to effort. 

Which response do you think inspires confidence, motivation and hard work?

Want to succeed at competitions?  Please check out my program – The Mental Game of Cheerleading: Training for Competiitons.  Scroll up to the “Cheer Tools” tab to learn more or click on this.

“As players, when we are having a bad day, we tend to think in melodramatic terms, that we’ve lost it, that everything’s gone wrong, but usually all you have to do is correct one small element of your game and everything else will fall into place.”

Does this happen to you?  If you have a cheerleading practice session where you just aren’t hitting it, do you get discouraged and start thinking that it’s all over? 

 If so, it’s time to step back, get a grip, and remember that even the most expert and famous athletes have bad days.  This does NOT mean that you have “lost” a skill or that you have regressed as a cheerleader. 

There are many reasons why a cheerleader or any athlete has a lousy practice or competition and these can include things such as just not feeling well, being distracted by other things going on in your life, menstrual woes (feeling bloated or crampy),  fatigue, or not having put sufficient effort into your workout. 

Olympic and pro athletes keep track of their progress all season long and so they learn what factors contribute to good or sub-par performances. They take responsibility for their practices and don’t allow themselves to over-react. Managing your reactions to disappointment is a key component of mental toughness. 

So, have a lousy day?  Try to see it as a learning opportunity! 

Please “like” my Facebook Page – Confident Cheerleading Center and you can get some free goodies!

The quote is attributed to Bud Winter who was a famous and hugely successful track and field coach and a member of the USA Track and Field (USATF) Hall of Fame. 

I like this quote because it’s so rich with content.  Let’s look at it more closely, ok? 

The first sentence = “If you demand perfection of yourself you’ll seldom achieve it,” does not mean you shouldn’t work hard and strive for excellence; rather, it reflects the reality of  success in sports (or any endeavor). As any athlete knows, there are so many variables that affect performance.  And, as I’ve said many times, there are those things that you CAN control and then many things you CANNOT control! 

 If you’re a base, you may have practiced your skills countless times; you may have endured hours of strength training; you may have done everything you can to ensure “perfection,” but you cannot control what the other bases do or what the flyer does or…so many other things!  So if perfection was your goal, you will be disappointed.  If however, your goal was to perform at your personal optimal level, you will be pleased. 

The second sentence = “Fear of making a mistake is the biggest cause of making one,” reflects the reality of how our brains work.  The body does what the brain thinks.  If you are thinking, “I can’t fall,” or “I cannot let go,” the brain experiences those words as instructions!  Plus, if you are afraid of making a mistake during an athletic performance, your body will respond by being tight and tense which adversely affect performance. 

It’s much better to train yourself to think along these lines: “I will hold myself strong and steady;” or “I am as solid as a rock:” or “I am as light as a cloud” – depending on what position you play. 

The third part of the quote = “Instead of pushing for perfection, relax and pursue excellence,” combines all of what I just said. Your body should be relaxed enough to allow you to be flexible yet strong and your focus should be on the process of your personal performance, not necessarily the ultimate outcome since you have limited control over the outcome. 

Getting ready for tryouts?  Check out my special program – The Mental Game of Cheerleading: Tryouts!  It’s a 2-CD audio package with a 50 + page workbook!  Invest in the digital version (immediate download) for less! Look for it in “Cheer Tools” a the top of this site.

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? 

These athletes didn’t miss a beat.  They (most of them anyway) let it go, re-focused, and got back on track and acted as if the problem never happened.  That is a perfect example of mental toughness which includes the ability to let go of mistakes and move on – especially in the heat of the moment. 

As you all know, a cheer routine is only 2 ½ minutes and it moves fast!  Each team member has to be focused and in synch with everyone else. There is no time to pout or feel sorry for yourself. The time to think about the mistake is after the performance.  Then it’s good to reflect on what happened with the intention of identifying what went wrong and creating a plan to fix it. 

Mentally tough athletes are experts at being in the moment. They do not hold on to mistakes because that takes them out of the “now” and puts them “back then” which will undermine any performance. 

It was clear to me that these cheerleaders were trained to know what to do if a mistake was made.  That’s good coaching.  That’s good teamwork!

Congratulations to all of the superb athletes who performed at Worlds! 

Want free Peak Performance Tips?  Look at the upper right side of this blog and insert your full name and email and you will automatically receive (within a few minutes) 10 annotated performance tips!

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!

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.

Valerie is well known for her website – About.com. Cheerleading – which is loaded with all sorts of valuable information for cheerleaders, cheer coaches, and everyone in the cheer industry. Also, Valerie is the editor of the highly esteemed Cheer Coach & Advisor Magazine.

Here is some of what Valerie said: 

The Bottom Line 

I believe that the key to using “The Mental Game of Cheerleading: Training for Competitions” is to realize that our mind controls a lot of what happens with our bodies. Whether it’s fear or anxiety; mental blocks or low self confidence; what we think affects how we act and more importantly how we perform. If your goal is to be successful in the sport of cheerleading, you have to understand how much the mental aspect contributes to the outcome. And these are the reasons I highly recommend this program to all cheerleaders and coaches. 

I was totally impressed with this 2-CD program which provides you “with everything you need to break through barriers, immediately improve concentration, eliminate distractions, and transform your performance.” 

Written and presented by Pamela Enders, PhD., a peak performance psychologist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, these CDs help you learn to make your body do what you want it to do, relieve tension, reach your potential and break through fears and negative thinking. 

Keeping in mind that some say 50-90% of success in high level sports is attributed to mental factors, the importance of winning the mental game in cheerleading can not be stressed enough. Whether you’re a coach or a cheerleader, I strongly believe this program will help you reach your peak performance level. Available either as an instant download (MP3) or as a mailed CD program, “The Mental Game of Cheerleading: Training for Competitions” is an investment in yourself. 

To read the full review, please go to this link: http://cheerleading.about.com/od/cheershopping/gr/Mental_Game_Competitions.htm

Entirely Cheer is the name of the new online cheerleading magazine produced by cheerleading experts Debbie Bracewell and Anne Gorman.  It is free! 

The magazine is produced in a very cool format which appears right on your computer screen and which allows you to flip the pages like a book as you read the articles. Debbie and Anne plan to reach all areas of cheerleading – nationally and internationally! 

Their goal is to bring in-depth training material that will help coaches and cheerleaders. Because it’s online, articles can be lengthier than they would be in a print publication plus it is possible to add hyperlinks, videos and audios for a more interactive experience. 

I am pleased to be part of the inaugural issue.  I wrote two articles for this issue – one is an introduction to sport psychology for cheerleading and the other is about the mid-year slump and how to get refreshed and revitalized for the new year. 

I encourage you to subscribe to the magazine which will come out every two months. Remember – it costs you nothing! 

Go to http://www.entirelycheer.com

Cheerleaders, like all athletes, need mental toughness to succeed. The phrase “mental toughness” however, seems to lack precision and clarity.  I have written about mental toughness many times in this blog and I recently came across an article in Coach and Athletic Director Magazine (May 2006) which I thought you might find interesting.

The article offers a definition of mental toughness: “Mental toughness is having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to:

• Generally cope better than your opponents with the many demands (competition, training, and lifestyle) that sport places on a performer.

• Specifically, be more consistent and better than your opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident, and in control under pressure.

(This is from an article from the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, written by G. Jones, S. Hanton, and D. Connaughton.)

In 2006 two other  researchers conducted a study among 22 NCAA coaches. The data showed that the following components were fundamental to the definition of mental toughness:

1. Having an unshakable self-belief in the unique qualities and abilities that make you better than your opponents.

2. Strength: You have to be in good physical and mental condition.  You must be psychologically and emotionally prepared.

3. Having an unshakable self-belief in your ability to achieve your competition goals.

4. Have conviction: You have to be a little bit stubborn.

5. Regaining psychological control following unexpected, uncontrollable events (competition specific).

6. Have a strong will to succeed: Don’t let setbacks stop you from achieving your goal.

7. Remaining fully focused on the task at hand in the face of competition-specific distractions.

8. Be consistent: Recognize and adjust to change so that you are always able to make a contribution to your team.

9.  Not being adversely affected by others’ good and bad performances.

10. Be competitive: It’s not just about beating your opponent.  You have to internalize competitiveness and take pride in what you do.

11. Switching a sport focus on and off as required.

12. Personal management: Don’t duck potential problems; take on the problems directly to prevent small problems from building into bigger problems.

13. Thriving on the pressure of competition.     

14. Take the right approach: Always be ready to play.

15. Accepting that competition anxiety is inevitable and knowing that you can cope with it.

16. Have passion for what you do.

17. Having an insatiable desire and internalized motives to succeed.

18. Bouncing back from performance setbacks as a result of increased determination to succeed.

19. Remaining fully focused in the face of personal life distractions.

20. Pushing back the boundaries of physical and emotional pain, while still maintaining technique and effort under distress (in training and competition).

 What do you think?  Do you think you have these qualities?  Do you think they are relevant for cheerleading?