I am taking the liberty to hoot and holler here as I announce with pride and delight that Confident Cheerleading won a SITA award this past weekend!!  (more…)

Cheerleaders – you will be happy to know that your coaches take their work seriously.  A good sized group of cheerleading coaches from across the country attended this year’s Cheer Ltd’s Cheerleading Conference held at Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC. 

The event offered abundant opportunities for coaches (and cheerleaders) to learn new skills and refine and strengthen existing ones. Some coaches attended safety certification programs which, of course, are essential for any coach. Other courses included such topics as team-building, tryouts, flexibility, tumbling, stunts and pyramids, and developing leadership skills. 

Cheerleaders were able to attend some of the same courses as coaches and also had their own courses such as a cheerleader master class, motions, jumps, how to succeed in college, and confidence.

 I was honored to offer two classes, one for coaches and one for cheerleaders on The Mental Game of Cheerleading. 

I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the other instructors and all of the participants.  It’s clear that everyone sees him/herself as life-long learners. That makes sense since excellence means that one is always open to learning! 

It wasn’t all work however!  There was a lot of fun including chatting at mealtimes, the big pep rally on Friday night, and the wonderful celebration dinner on Saturday night where coaches and cheerleaders were honored for their contribution to the spri industry. (More about that in a future blog.) 

 It was a personal pleasure for me to be so warmly welcomed into the cheerleading community by these outstanding individuals.  I learned a lot and look forward to continuing my education and deepening my relationships with my new found friends.

As you can see, I had a good time taking pictures at Cheer Ltd Nationals at CANAM! 

Here (below) is a photo of St. Anne’s Cheerleaders from Fairhaven, New Jersey.  They were outside the warm-up arena chanting and cheering and getting themselves revved up for the competition. They agreed to take a moment from their fun to pose for me.

 And here (below) are the Twisters from Richmond, VA, also awaiting their turn for the warm-up arena.

And now for something completely different…meet Shane Robbins (below) who is coach for the Elite Cheer and Dance cheerleaders of Raleigh, N.C.  Shane told me that, for fun, they decided to all dress up for “80’s Day” and he is dressed as an 80’s rocker. And yes, he is wearing a wig.

And last, but certainly not least, here are Kim and Chris, also with that “80’s” look, who are parents of Kiana with Elite Cheer and Dance of Raleigh, NC.  They told me that Kiana is on 6 teams with Elite including 5 cheer teams and one dance team! That must be some kind of record!

Here you see one of the Northeast Elite teams, from Rochester New York, showing good form while warming up before their performance on Saturday, March 21st.  Northeast Elite has a devoted parent team that travels with the cheerleaders and coaches to many of their competitions.  In the photo below, one of the parents shows her support and her sense of humor!

And here are (below) Joanna Borelli (on the left), who is co-founder of Northeast Elite, with her daughter, Janice next to her and another cheerleader and coach (sorry…didn’t get their names). This was taken immediately after their excellent Saturday performance.  The team went on to win the championship in their level on Sunday. 

 And because their love, emotional and financial support are so essential to the success of cheerleaders everywhere,  I just had to add a few more photos of some of the parents who attended Nationals.  As you can see, some go through extraordinary efforts to come up with just the right “look.”  Below you will meet some fathers of cheerleaders from the Wildcats of PennDel, a rec team.  The parents refer to themselves as members of Wildcat Nation.  And they do look…uh..rather wild, don’t you think?

 And one more from the world of Wildcat Nation, here are some dads and a few of the coaches from the PennDel Wildcats. 

 As you can see, Nationals was great fun.  Don’t miss it next year!

Cheerleading success depends on many factors but what was clear at Cheer Ltd Nationals at CANAM was that a huge part of the success achieved by cheerleaders is due to the ongoing financial and emotional support delivered by their parents.  Nationals was filled with parents who demonstrated their pride and love for their offspring by many means including wearing all sorts of costumes and attire.

Below is Jerry Thomas, proud father of Jenna who cheers for the Angel Sharks of World Cup Ocean in New Jersey.

And here is Beth Whitman who has three kids in cheerleading; two are with the Greensboro All Stars and one with the Cheer Exreme.  Beth’s shirt caught my eye for its philosophical  message.  I think she is right on in her thinking!

More to come…stay tuned!

What do coaches tell their squad before they perform?  Here (above) is Dee Haase giving her girls encouragement and direction.  Dee is coach of the UItimate Athletics of Ohio in North Royalton. And here are her girls (below) stretching before their warm-up.  Oh, to be young and limber! 

Family members and friends of the cheerleaders made up a big portion of the crowd and they certainly were a colorful and fun addition to the festivities as you can see from the photos below. Fans of the Patriots of Tennessee demonstrate that you don’t even need shirts to show your support…just paint it on!

Some heartwarming moments came with the Special Needs Competitions.  Four teams competed including the Ladybugs and Bugs, The Cobras, The Bobcats of Cumberland County, and the Rockingham Lions.  These cheerleaders had trained just as hard as anyone and they demonstrated poise and enthusiasm.  And we all cheered our hearts out for them.  Below is a photo of The Cobras getting into position to begin.

More photos from Cheer Ltd Nationals at CANAM will be posted tomorrow.  And if you have any you’d like to add, please send them to me!

Meet the Higher Ground Christian Cheerleaders from Robbinsville, North Carolina.  I asked them for a little “attitude” when I took this picture and they readily complied. They were getting ready for warm-up on Saturday when I met them.    

Although I witnessed a lot of hard work, there was plenty of fun, too, as you can see in the picure below.  Music played between performances and everyone and anyone was invited onto the mat to dance. I saw a lot of fancy footwork and big smiles. 

Speaking of fun, a new boy band, called appropriately enough – WOW – performed on Saturday night.  Five good looking guys with great voices, fantastic choreography, and snappy songs won the hearts of more than a few cheerleaders in the audience.  This photo isn’t that good but it will give you a sense of their performance.  Just imagine you can hear the squeals of delight and screams of excitement as WOW lived up to their name. 

Be sure you keep on visiting this blog because I will be showing you more photos from Cheer Ltd. Nationals at CANAM!

This sign (above) was the backdrop to the festivities this past weekend in Myrtle Beach.  Cheerleaders competed in two huge arenas and warmed up in a third. And these trophies (below) were enticingly displayed in the arenas throughout the competitions as a reminder to all exactly what the goal was!  

 Meet the World Cup All Stars (above) from Freehold New Jersey! This was taken in the warm-up arena.  They look ready, don’t they?

And here are Jasia and Trinity (below) from the Twisters of Richmond Virginia.  This was taken before they competed.  I think this photo demonstrates the kind of affection that comes from working hard with your team-mates.

 It was my pleasure to attend Cheer Ltd Nationals at CANAM.  I had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people and to see first hand all the work that goes into a major competition – work done by not only the cheerleaders but their coaches (of course) and the organizers of Cheer Ltd.  The planning that went into this is mind boggling!  I will be writing more about Nationals all week and I’ll be including photos I took so be sure to check in to see if you will appear on this blog!

 Here is one last photo for today which sums up how all the parents feel about their cheerleading sons and daughters!

It’s Sunday in MyrtleBeach (well,actually it’s Sunday most places!) and I am at the Sheraton Convention Center attending the CheerLtd Nationals Cheerleading Competition.

What an event! I’ve been told there are 5,000 cheerleaders and about 15,000 spectators.  You can imagine the excitement (not to mention the noise level) as thousands of cheerleaders chant in the hallways and parents and friends encourage them!

I have taken some photos which I will put on this blog over the next week or so.  So, stay tuned for some great photos and stories about this wonderful event.

And I promise to get back to writing about tryouts but I’ve been distracted with traveling and observing the competitions.

For those of you who have asked about my new training program -The Mental Game of Cheerleading: Training for Competitions – I can tell you that the product is ready but the web site is not.  I am waiting (patiently) for my web guru to finish it. You can still get the program if you like by writing or calling me and I will personally see that you get it!  To remind you, this is a 2-CD set plus a 40 page workbook that teaches you how to leverage the power of sport psychology to transform your performance.

Ok…back to the competitions!

I am honored and excited to be one of the featured presenters at this years CheerCon! This grand event will take place from May 14 – 17 at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Gwen Holtsclaw, founder and president of Cheer Ltd interviewed me recently about sports psychology and cheerleading and we recorded the interview so you could hear it, too! Please feel free to listen in on our conversation.  We hope it will encourage you to register for CheerCon – the largest and longest running spirit industry conference! 

CheerCon is the largest cheer conference offered to coaches, cheerleaders, vendors, and industry leaders.  Whether you are a new coach or a veteran who just can’t quit, a team captain or a cheer fanatic, a vendor with that latest and greatest…you are invited! CheerCon was awarded the SPIRIT INDUSTRY Best Coaches Conference for a second time at the SITA Awards Gala in Chicago.

You’ll hear more about CheerCon as we get closer to May but for now…here’s the recording for you!