Mental Filtering: Cheerleaders – Do You Make this Common Mistake?
Let’s say you’re a cheerleader and you just heard this feedback from your coach: “You’re getting better and better with your toe touch jump. I’m happy to see the improvement. It will be even better if you can keep your arms level in a T position and bring your feet closer to your hands.”
Ok, now what did you hear? Did you hear it all? Would you rate it a favorable critique?
If yes, you’re on the right track and you have no need to read further. If you saw it as a negative critique, please read on!
As I mentioned in a previous post, cheerleaders and cheer coaches can benefit from knowing about cognitive distortions which can adversely affect the overall performances of cheerleaders.
Overgeneralization is the most common cognitive distortion and Mental Filtering is one type of Overgeneralization. Using the example from above, the cheerleader who saw this as a negative critique filtered out the positive and only focused on what was wrong with the toe touch jump. Do you see how the filtering can work to the cheerleader’s disadvantage? The cheerleader might spend the next several hours feeling bad because he or she is convinced that the coach disapproves of the toe touch jump!
Lesson: If you filter out all the positive and focus only on the negative, your performance will suffer.
Coaches! Knowing that this scenario is possible, be on the lookout for your cheerleaders using Mental Filtering and engage them in a conversation that might sound like this” “It might be useful for me to hear what you think I just told you so we can be clear we’re on the same page.” Then, if the cheerleader has seemed to focus on what was wrong with the stunt, you can gently help them see the whole picture.
Tags: cheerleader, cheerleaders, Cheerleading, cheerleading coach, cheers, coach, focus, mental filtering, overgeneralization