As we round down another season, I’m sure many of you are looking ahead to the next already. This sport inevitably doesn’t offer us much of a break. Not only has the need to “prepare for the upcoming season” hit many of us more than ever before, but the excitement of those end of season events will fade in a few days, and the excitement of something new will ensue.

Today, I want to encourage you to take a few minutes to answer the following questions for yourself. Ultimately, our goals should be to be a better program year after year. 

  • Our athletes should get stronger mentally and physically.
  • Our staff should have more knowledge, training and resources than they have previously.
  • Our gyms should be more organized with smoother processes. 
  • We, as owners, should feel calmer as things that used to be new become systemized and comfortable. 

If you’re like me, then you know the items above are what would happen in a perfect world. In the real world though, we will often take two steps forward and one step back. Sometimes this is the result of good things like huge growth in a program that requires you to shift the way you’re doing things – making those old systems out of date and irrelevant. Other times, it’s disappointing things like losing a director or your whole senior team graduating.

We need to spend a little time – even if just a day – reflecting on the great things we’ve accomplished and set forth our goals for the next season. So, today – take a moment to ask yourself the following: 

  1. What did we do really well this season? 
  2. What did we do poorly this season that needs to improve? 
  3. What does our competitor(s) do better? Yes…I’m telling you to spend 5 MINUTES ONLY thinking about your competitor. 
  4. What will happen to our program if we maintain the current processes?
  5. What is the #1 thing I need to do to improve my program for next season?

I urge you to think beyond skills alone. Yes, learning more tumbling drills and perfecting that full-twisting tick tock technique will help you….temporarily. But, I want you to look at the program as a whole. 

  • If you can win Worlds, but your communication with gym families is poor, then your systems and processes need to be a focus.
  • If you have an amazing group of athletes who get near-perfect stunt technique, but the coaches are belittling and lose their voices from yelling every practice, staff training and culture needs to be a focus.
  • If you are a team that bases the success of a whole season on where you placed at Summit or Worlds, then athlete culture needs to be a focus.

So, before you dive headfirst into tryouts (I know…you’ve already started this…) take just a few minutes to assess your program and see where you can make minor changes for major improvements.