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.

If you’ve noticed that I haven’t been blogging as much lately, you’re right.  I’ve been busy getting ready to go to Cheer Ltd’s Cheer Conference in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  I leave this Wednesday evening and will be at Methodist University, in Fayetteville, until Sunday.

I will be one of the presenters and I’m excited about this.  My two talks are: The Mental Game of Cheerleading for Coaches   and The Mental Game of Cheerleading for Cheerleaders.  As you can see,  each talk is directed at a particular audience.  I will also have an exhibit booth where I will be offering free consultations so if you plan to be at the conference, please stop by and say hello!

The other exciting thing happening at CheerCon is that I will be launching 2 new training products!  One is called: The Mental Game of Cheerleading: Training for Competitions and the other is called The Mental Game of Cheerleading: Tryouts!

Each training program consists of a 2-CD set plus a work book or Action Guide.  The recordings are of me, teaching you everything you need to know to succeed at competitions or at tryouts. The Action Guides are meant to be used with the recordings; they contain tips and exercises and techniques  derived from sport psychology. 

I will be offering special conference pricing on these programs plus special bonuses.  If you can’t be at the conference but are interested in learning more, shoot me an email and I’ll give the first 20 people who contact me the conference pricing on these programs.

Elite athletes learn to sense how their bodies respond to all sorts of variables.  They learn this so they can then adjust their bodies’ arousal level to match the moment. If they are too revved up, they can calm themselves down; if their energy levels are low, they can rev up a bit. 

I hope you can see how useful it would be to be able to fine-tune your body to match and respond to the demands of the moment. 

To help you do this, try this:  Find a quiet place to sit and close your eyes.  Slow your breathing down by exhaling slowly through your mouth several times, inhaling through your nose. Once you are quiet, with your mind’s eye, do a body scan, beginning with the top of your head and moving down to your toes. 

Just notice if you are holding any tension anywhere in your body.  If you detect tension, try to release it with your out-breath. 

A typical body scan goes like this: 

• With your mind’s eye, “see” in slow sequence:
• The top of your head
• Your forehead, eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth, lips, and jaw
• Your neck
• Moving around to the back of your head, the back of your neck
• Moving down to your shoulders, your upper back
• Middle back, spine, lower back and seat
• Now back up to the front of your shoulders
• Your clavicle, your sternum, upper chest and rib cage
• Your upper stomach and your lower abdomen
• Now your upper arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, hands and fingers
• Move down to your pelvis
• Your upper legs, knees, calves and shins
• Now down to your ankles, the soles of your feet
• The tops of your feet and finally your toes 

The above exercise is an introduction to your body, if you will. I realize that this is impractical to do on a regular basis but if you do it a few times, you will learn how to quickly identify and release unwanted tension in your body. That way at practice or especially at high stakes events like tryouts or competitions, you’ll be able to better control your body’s response to stress.