Mental Toughness at Worlds Cheerleading Event
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?
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!
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Tags: cheerleader, cheerleaders, Cheerleading, cheerleading competitions, Cheerleading Worlds, Mental Toughness