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…)

As the author of 2 mental game training programs for cheerleaders, I am always eager to get feedback about the programs.  So, I am thrilled that Valerie Ninemire, one of the cheerleading industry’s most respected experts, wrote a review about my competition program. 

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

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!

It seems like cheerleading competitions are happening everywhere!  But then, this is the big season. 

My new training program – The Mental Game of Cheerleading: Training for Competitions will be available very soon but until then, here’s a visualization that can be very powerful to do just prior to your performance. 

Follow these steps: 

• If possible, find a quiet spot where you can sit upright with your eyes closed.  If this is impossible, simply close your eyes to block out all the distractions around you.
• With your eyes closed, exhale slowly three times.
• Repeat and say to yourself, with each out-breath I am relaxing more and more.
• Now, with your mind’s eye, see yourself sitting alone in the audience, looking at the empty stage or performance space.
• As you look at the empty performance space, you see someone you admire, someone who has been very important to your development as a cheerleader, come on the stage. This person stands on the stage.
• Now someone else who has been important to you, a person who has been supportive of your desire to be a fantastic cheerleader, also comes on the stage and stands next to the first person.
• And now a third person, also someone who you know cares about you and is rooting for your success, enters the performance area and stands next to the other people.
• If there are more people you can think of who have helped you or whom you admire and respect for their competence and expertise (even if you don’t know them), visualize them coming on the stage, too.
• Once everyone is on the stage, see them smiling with encouragement at you.
• Now you come onto the performance space and embrace everyone there, taking in their good wishes and support.
• After you have done this, the people leave the stage and leave you there alone but you know you are really not alone since you have taken in their support, their wisdom, and their expertise; you have soaked it up and you feel great!
• You see yourself standing tall on the stage, confident, poised, and eager to perform. 

I hope you will give this a try.  And if you do, please let me know how it works. 

Are you on Facebook?  Please look me up and “friend”me.  Also, please join my group –  Confident Cheerleading – http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=33441578364

Many cheerleaders are getting ready for Nationals which means Christmas break is not much of a break for some of you!  It’s tempting to devote every waking moment to practice but that would be a mistake!  Just like the puppy in the photo, it’s important to take time to rest to allow your body and brain to rejuvenate.  So, be sure to set aside time for those naps (but not on a coffee table like our furry friend).

The better you get at changing your thinking from negative to neutral or positive, (which is part of the mental game of cheerleading), the better you will perform at Nationals. 

When you are at the competition itself, you may get caught up in the excitement and the intensity of it all. You will be hyper aware, hyper alert and you will notice the brilliance of some of the other teams.  Watch out for your reactions! 

For example, let’s say you happen to see another team’s performance that is superb. What do you think? Many cheerleaders might think “Gee, they’re so good…we will never be as good as they are. They’ll probably win and we won’t come in first.”   

Are these thoughts good for you or bad for you?  Of course they are bad for you and if you hold on to them, they will adversely affect your performance.  But if you have practiced how to identify and change your thinking  and you can change your time focus, you will not be affected by this!  You will be able to quickly change your thinking and refocus on your own performance in the present. 

See why mental prep is so important?  When you go on stage you have to have a clear head and a positive outlook.

Great athletes learn how to control their thinking because they know it affects their performance. Cheerleaders can benefit from this strategy especially in preparation for competitions. 

My last blog outlined the importance of categorizing thoughts as good for you or bad for you.  Also, I suggested noting where your time-focus was: past, present, or future. 

Good performance depends on a present focus and positive thinking. 

Once you have identified and categorized your thoughts, the next steps are: 

1. Change the time-focus first by telling yourself, “I am here now; I am present in the here and now.”

2. Change the harmful thoughts to another thought using any of the following:

a. simply choose to focus on something positive in the moment (there is almost always a positive aspect to any situation; it’s your job to find it!)

b. ask  yourself if the negative thought you are having represents the truth or is it a distortion (such as, “I’m terrible at this…I’ll never be a good cheerleader…everyone thinks I stink at this.”) 

1. if it’s a distortion, change it into a more realistic thought. And you can tell it’s a distortion if you’re using absolute terms like “never” or “always.”

c. if the thought reflects reality and is not a distortion, identify the problem and discover a solution. 

Here are some examples of how this system works: 

Let’s say that a recent practice didn’t go well…nothing seemed to work.  What were your thoughts? 

Perhaps you thought, “Coach will kick me off the squad…no one thinks I deserve to be on the team…I’m the worst one in the group.” 

Okay, it’s obvious that these thoughts are not good for you and there’s a bit of future-focus negative predicting going on (“Coach will kick me off the squad.”) 

So, first bring yourself into the present and remind yourself that no one can predict the future and it’s a waste of time to worry about something that hasn’t and probably won’t happen anyway! 

Now ask if your beliefs are true or a distortion.  They are at least exaggerated.  So now look for the problem tht needs to be solved.  And that is, you had a less than stellar practice.  Ok.  Not the end of the world, right? 

But you have still identified a problem that needs fizing.  But you have now opened up the possibility of a solution rather than limiting yourself to feeling miserable. 

What might some solutions be?  You could ask Coach or your captain for extra help.  You could try a different approach.  Perhaps you need to find a different way of focusing.  Maybe you could review some videos.  See?  You’re a problem solver now rather than a whiner! 

So, if you detect that your thinking is negative and limiting, ask yourself how you can open up your thinking…how can you change it from destructive to constructive.  And constructive thinking always opens up the possibility of a solution, of a constructive action.

If you want to improve your cheerleading performance at competitions, try changing the way you think!  Successful Olympic athletes recognize that their performances are affected by the way they think and they work hard to manage their thought processes. 

We are always engaging in silent conversations with ourselves but usually this process is so automatic that we’re not aware of it and yet these internal conversations have a powerful impact on the way you feel and the way you perform. 

Remember you are what you think – so, if your thoughts are negative, how do you imagine this will affect your performance?  

So right now, in this moment, where are your thoughts? Are they negative? Are they positive?  Are they neutral? 

The other thing is to consider the time-focus: are your thoughts focused on something that happened in the past?  Or are you worrying about the future?  Or are you focused on the present moment.  Good performance requires focus in the present, in the here and now.

There are so many ways your thinking can be affected at competitions. You might see another team who really nails a complex routine and get jealous or nervous. You might end up comparing your self to that team. Or maybe you and your stunting partner aren’t getting along lately. Maybe you you’re feeling under the weather a bit. Who knows? But if you’re not careful this line of thinking can undermine your performance. 

What to do? Well, here’s a quick and simple technique to try: 

1. Recognize the thoughts you are having.

2. Categorize them quickly as either good for you or bad for you or having no effect – neutral.

3. Then categorize them in terms of time-focus: past, present, or future.

4. Ask yourself if these thoughts help you to perform better.

5. If not, decide to change the harmful thoughts to another thought (this is hard at first!) 

At first I’d recommend just getting into the habit of noticing  and categorizing your thoughts.  So periodically throughout the day, ask yourself, “What am I thinking?”  Remember to put them into a category of positive, negative, or neutral. 

Winners believe in the old adage – “Know thyself,” and this is a first step in the right direction. 

In future posts I will tell you how to change your negative thoughts into ones that are positive or neutral, but for now, focus on identifying how you think!

Cheerleading competitions are high stakes, high pressure events. Competitions – especially Nationals –  are exciting, exhilarating, and for some of you – terrifying! Who can deny the thrill of performing in front of hundreds or thousands of screaming fans? 

Who would want to miss the opportunity to show the world the fruits of your months of hard work? The skills and hard work in your routine weren’t just given to you like free stuff on Gumtree or a present when it’s not your birthday.  And it has been hard work – creating your routine, revising it, and practicing it over and over again until you’ve nailed it! 

But rehearsing the routine repeatedly is only part of being a winner.  What is equally if not more important is the mental game of preparation for cheerleading competitions.  As I mentioned before, most pro athletes and virtually all Olympic athletes work with sports psychologists, so why not cheerleaders? 

Winning is the science of being totally prepared and being mentally prepared is essential.  

So what do I mean by mental preparation?  Mental preparation refers to learning how to control your body and control your thinking. It means training your body and your mind to do what you want them to do at the time of your performance to ensure you perform at an optimal level. 

You know, everything you do is dependent on your brain. You become what you think. Let me explain this a bit more so you have a good framework to help guide you as we proceed. 

A competition, although wonderful and exciting, may be perceived as a threatening event. Why threatening? Well there is risk involved. There is uncertainty involved (you may not win, you may not nail your routine, someone may get dropped, and so forth). Plus you are being observed by judges and a huge crowd; your every move is going to be scrutinized. 

In such situations you naturally get at least a bit anxious. Anxiety is your mind’s response to real or imagined danger. 

In such situations certain physical things happen. The grand control center in your brain, the prefrontal cortex which is located just behind the forehead, alerts certain other structures in the brain to flood your prefrontal cortex with stress hormones and neurotransmitters that short circuit brain functioning.  As a result, your attention narrows and your thinking becomes less flexible. Jumping to conclusions and acting precipitously or freezing are common at this point. 

In other words fear and stress can make you stupid! No offense – it happens to all of us. 

If an event is seen as positive or neutral, the prefrontal cortex will release a different chemical cocktail than if it is seen as negative.  In other words, depending on how you perceive a given situation, you will either perform well or poorly. So if you perceive a competition as a positive event and if you have control over your thoughts, your brain will release a slew of chemicals that will help you perform better.  

So, doesn’t it make sense to control your thoughts to make sure they are neutral or positive?  You’ll hear a lot more about this is future posts, so come back for more!