Yesterday I told you three things that shouldn’t be done in a warm up room. If you’ve coached a long time, I’m sure you think those were common sense. However, I have coached more than 20 years. The first time I coached an all star team and went to a competition though was the most intimidating experience in all star cheer. I made a lot of mistakes over the years. I let my ego get the best of me and have had my fair share of letting my competitive emotions take over. So, if those were common sense to you, you’re probably a pretty wise coach. However, today, I’ll tell you three things I ALWAYS do at competitions!! 

  1. I always play “mom” for a second before they hit the floor. Every gym seems to have a different philosophy about this. Some are very particular with hair pieces and identical make up. Some don’t seem to care a lot how their athletes look when they take the floor. I get this too. After all, I don’t think basketball coaches care HOW their athletes wear their hair as long as they can get the job done. However, if you’ve ever been a parent and got your child’s school pictures just to find out they unbuttoned their shirt halfway down, wore their favorite Pokemon necklace and traded their milk for a Kool-aid mustache at lunch…then you know it’s disappointing to get that school picture. (His name is Conner and he was 7. We HAVE that picture, and TODAY, I’m seriously so glad I bought it.) Ok, rabbit trail…Parents spend hours on their kids hair and make up. If their child’s bow is upside down and backwards after warm ups, spend a second to fix it. If you have uniforms that tuck in, remind the kids while they’re waiting to hit the floor. Check their shoes. Tighten their pony tails. I don’t do this because I want my kids to look a certain way. I do this because moms invest all that time to make their child feel like a million bucks and a quick little adjustment of the bow between warm ups and competition will show them you recognize and appreciate their effort. Playing “mom” also means you’re hugging the most nervous kids and telling them you believe in them and you love them. It means you’re telling them you’re proud of them no matter what. It goes a long way with kids. They need to feel that validation even if they mess up in the routine. They need to know you won’t be mad, but that you’ll be there for them.
  2. When watching a video replay, I make sure 90% of my comments are highlighting the things we had worked on. If it’s the last day of their last event of the year, I usually don’t even make corrections. By that time, a correction doesn’t change anything in the future, so we celebrate the best, most difficult routine we’ve ever done. Did your team have a deduction? You probably don’t need to mention it. They know. Work even harder to highlight the great things they did in the parts of the routine they may have worked the hardest on. (This is another reason to make sure you’re working dance and jumps at EVERY practice. When we neglect those parts of the routine, which is easy, it’s hard to praise the improvements we’ve made. Yet, those parts are the least likely to see deductions. If we drop a stunt, I like to be able to highlight our great pointed toes in jumps and clean formations in dance!)
  3. OK…this last one is hard for me, but I TRY. When it’s about time for awards, and the music comes on and the kids are dancing on the floor – go out there with them. This is NOT MY PERSONALITY. Ten years ago, I showed them how to do the Cupid Shuffle. Today, I’d truly prefer to stand on the side and enjoy watching them have fun. However, I recently forced myself to go out to the floor and have fun with one of our prep teams I didn’t even coach. My 15 year old once said she wishes she was young again so she didn’t feel silly dancing. I want these athletes to know that it’s OK to be a big kid. It’s OK to be 15 and forget you might have DM’s on your phone. I want them to forget that they might walk off the floor with a first-place banner or in last place. I need competition to be about more than just where you place. I need it to be about memories. So, go out to the floor. Dance, be silly and have fun with your athletes. 

As we finish up this season, if you’ve never done these things – try it for your last event. There is so much more to your job than training athletes and competing. When you’re at a competition, you’re their coach, their mom (for awhile), their best friend when they’re upset and their biggest cheerleader. Good luck at your events!

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