D is for Dedication

Dedication (noun) – adherence to something to which one is bound by a pledge or duty.

Today’s students are from the “Now” ideal. 

They have knowledge and information instantly at their fingertips. 

They can chat with friends and family right now.

They have television DVR so they don’t have to watch commercials. 

This generation has not been forced to understand patience.  They do not know what it is like to have to sit and wait through three and a half minutes of commercials or wait to speak to the friends they just saw until they get home.

How do we teach this new generation about working hard for results when they are so used to instant gratification?  When pride of performance and long term goals are not as important as “What’s in it for me now?”  I’m sorry to say that I don’t have a firm answer to that, but I do have some ideas and I know what I’ve tried and what works for the Title 1 city students that I coach.

In order to be dedicated, one must see and understand the goal in front of them.  They need to understand the path to achieve it.  One great way to do this is to create a road map of the goal.  An actual poster with a road.  Think the “Game of Life” game that we played as kids.  The end game is the goal for the season.  Along the road (in order) put the smaller goals that they need to see and accomplish.  They cannot move forward until they have done the time at each stop along the road.  If your end of season goal is to perform at a competition, they break all the pieces they will need to know along the road.  Get creative with this and add in fun things too.  Bonding, parties, dress up days, assemblies, etc.

Dedication is also to a family.  Turn them into a family.  Support each other.  Build the honor and duty to their family and teach them how to rely on each other.  Many of my kids do not come from supporting families.  They look to the athletic teams and coaches that they play for as leaders and an outlet from their everyday lives.  We have found a balance between love and friendship with the team and hard work and dedication.  It takes practice and patience to make it all work.  Find what works for your kids and go with it.

Every team must – Dream. Believe. Achieve.

Cheers!

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CW3

I Survived!

The A to Z Challenge is over!  
It was a super fun month of writing and learning and getting to know some wonderful people.  The challenge for me is making sure that I set aside time to write.  The topics are not usually hard and often I have to edit out the content so that the posts are not too long.  For those that know me, know I can be a smidge-bit long winded [insert eye rolling here].

For me, the hardest part is writing for the rest of the year.  I would LOVE to be able to write every day or at the very least every week, but for some reason I struggle with content and topics. 

So, here I am putting my goal in writing!  

My goal is to submit at least one post per week.  

That breaks down to 45 posts from now until the next blogging challenge!

Ready? Set?... YOU BET!

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CW3

I Spy - Someone being good!

Rewarding good behavior and performance

In a sport were we can not judge our wins and losses by the scoreboard each week, how do we define success?  A cheerleader’s success comes in many forms.  If a team makes it through a week and accomplishes goals, has no drama and performs to the best of their ability we are successful.  We see success when we come together as a team to support and lead our fans.  As a coach, we need to recognize those successes to help our squads know when they are successful.  

I have many ways of acknowledging my cheerleaders.  Some of these things I do each year and some come in and out of the program depending on what motivates them. 

Star Awards

A few years ago, I found some star shaped cutouts at the dollar store.  At the end of each practice I would write something good that happened on the star along with who did it.  For example, if I saw Sally make an awesome save in a stunt, Sally would get a star.  If Jennifer improved her jumps, Jennifer would get a star.  If I caught someone being nice or supportive without being asked too, they would get a star.  Stars would go for anything and everything that was positive at practice.  They would look forward to star time and to this day I have former cheerleaders with their stars saved in their cheer stuff and memory books.

Pin It Forward

UCA Spirit Camps had a summer where they handed out Spirit Stick pins to cheerleaders that showed excellent skills, leadership or enthusiasm for a whole day at camp.  Each pin came with a second pin that they in turn shared with another cheerleader that they saw with these qualities.  I adapted this practice for my own squad.  Instead of pins we earned stars (like the star awards).  I would award as super star to a cheerleader and they would choose another super star for that day.  It was nice to see that other team members recognized hard work and dedication to the team.

Cheerleader of the Week

One year I found a cute stuffed cow in a cheer uniform.  I purchased it and had it in my car when I went to cheer practice that day.  While getting practice stuff from my car, one of the cheerleaders saw it and loved it!  She wanted to take the cow home with her.  On the spot, I told her she could earn it.  I took the cow into practice and told the girls that the cheerleader that displayed the traits of cheerleaders the best that week could ‘earn’ the cow for a week.  At the end of the week, we would vote on who represented our school and cheerleaders the best.  The girls worked extra hard and really took pride in taking care of the cow when they earned it.  Each girl got to sign her name on the uniform and at the end of the season the cheerleader that had earned the cow the most times became the cheerleader of the year and got to keep the cow. 

Goal Sheets

Back in elementary school I always had teachers that had the dreaded homework charts.  They had the homework written across the top and our names listed along the side.  Each day when homework was turned in a star was earned.  As a terrible student, I was always missing stars, but seeing this again as an adult I decided to bring it in to my practices.  When we sit down as a team and create personal and team goals they are written on the chart.  When someone accomplishes a goal, they earn a sticker.  When the team earns enough stickers they get a reward.  Sometimes the reward is food, sometimes less conditioning, early out, their choice on uniforms, etc.  This was probably THE most successful motivating tool in recognizing good behavior and performance.  The cheerleaders worked extra hard and made it into a competition to see who could accomplish goals the fastest.  It still use goal charts each year and each.  This year I will be doing goal charts for all of our skills and at the end of the season when we have out banquet, I will be displaying the charts and rewarding the girls again in front of their friends and families. 

The most important thing to take away from this post is that we all want to be recognized when we do something right.  We are almost always recognized for doing something incorrectly.  It helps so much with confidence and self esteem to know when we are doing something right! 

I have a few more ideas that I have for recognizing good, but if you would like to share something that you do, I would LOVE to hear it!

CHEERS
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CW3

Eye On The Prize

Determining team goals and how you can reach them

One of the most important things for a team to do is setgoals.  They need to have something that they are working toward collectively. Working together for a common goal will bring them together as a team and a family and it may just teach them the importance of helping each other.  As a long time coach, I have seen teams work hard and reach goals and I have seen them fall short.  At the end of the day the important piece was how hard they worked and what they learned.  Here are a list of team goals that my teams have worked toward in the last few years:

• Recruit more cheerleaders to the program
• Do well at competition
• Don’t drop any stunts during games
• Know ALL game/performance material two weeks before the game/performance
• Don’t lose any team members to grades or injury
• Cheer for more sports than just Football and Basketball
• No team drama
• Full squad tumbling
• Elite stunts before the first game

Some of the goals they accomplished and some they did not.  Some stay on the list year afteryear and some come and go based on the team. Each team is different and each team member should be directly involved in determining that seasons goals.  In order to accomplish a team goal, everyone on the team needs to agree on it. 

One question that I am asked by newer coaches is how to determine realistic team goals.  Most everyone can come up with a list of things we would “like” to accomplish in a set amount oftime, but determining which goals will be accomplished is more difficult.

At one of the earliest practices or summer meetings, I sit down with the team and discuss the previous year.  Get their opinions on what worked and what didn't.  Talk about everything from cheers and chants, stunts and performances, study hall, practice times, team rule expectations, everything.  Make lists or divide things into good and bad columns. For some of the things that they liked or felt that were good, see if there is something that you could do better. For instance, if your team accomplished not losing any team members the year before to poor grades, can we make it a goal this year that not only do wenot lose anyone, but that everyone on the team has a 3.0 GPA?

For the items on the bad list, determine how to move those things to the good list.  If your team was unsuccessful at promoting sporting events and games, you could make a goal that they make all signs and banners before the season starts, or get friends and family at every event they attend. If it is stunt related, determine why the stunt was not good and set a goal to work the skills and conditioning required to hit the stunt.

Other ways to find viable goals for your team is have them watch other teams or talk to other coaches and see what other schools do.  Look at the traditions of other squads.  There may be something that your team would like to incorporate.  You may see some crowd involvement cheers or dances that another school does with their crowd.  They might also have fundraisers or community service projects that your team would like to try. 

For performance-based goals, assign homework to the squad that they have to go online and find at least one new skill, dance or chant to try to incorporate into their skill set. As a coach, determine the skill level, and as they progress through the season have them attempt the skills they are ready for.

Once you have your list of 5-10 team goals (depending on season length).  Write them down andgive team members a copy.  Make a poster for your practice area so that they can see the goals at all times.  Once you have this list discuss with the team the steps you need to accomplish each goal.  Map it out and break it into smaller chunks.  This will help them to see progress and determine what they need to do individually to help the team achieve itsgoal.  Track your progress EVERYDAY.  Take time at the beginning and end of practice to discuss goal progress. Use a check list or make notes on your master sign.  Make sure that you acknowledge all progress in favor of a goal.  If a goal is completed, make a huge deal about it! Reward them with something fun and praise them for their hard work.  If the coach, the athletes and the families get involved then everyone is rewarded when a goal is completed.  Make the goal fun and make the reward worth earning and you will have great success.

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CW3

Zen by Completion

This post is really more about my coaching journey. I want to reflect on what it has meant to me to go through the A to Z Challenge.  Over the past 30 days, I have learned a lot about my coaching and myself.  I have learned what is important to me and how I want to treat my athletes.  I have been coaching a long time and have never been able to put into words my coaching philosophy. 

Coaching to me is more than just a job.  It is my passion and my life’s work.  I have spent more time in my life coaching other people’s children that anything else.  There have been some rough years and some rough times, but in the end, it is always worth it.  When we focus on touching the lives of our students and making memories that can last for a lifetime, we have done our job. 

At the end of the day, it is not about how many trophies you brought home or how many games are won.  It is about the friendships you have made and the smiles on the cheerleader’s faces.  In the last month I have listened to former students talk about what it meant to cheer for me and be on my team.  I have seen pictures of cheerleader’s rooms with papers and what I thought were silly awards hanging on the walls.  I gained some friends and lost some friends.  I watched two incredible former cheerleaders tryout for college teams and make it.  I helped two girls from my team get onto the high school team where they are moving.  I helped reassure a fellow coach that she is not alone in her endeavors as a coach and always has help if she needs it.  I continued to grow my camp staff and reach out to coaches and friends to help them make their programs better.

These things cannot be taken away from me.  They have helped me grow as a person and a coach and for that I am grateful!  If you have been following my posts over the last month, I thank you too.  I have received good and bad feedback from what I was doing. Everything was helpful.  Thank you to the founders of the A to Z blogging challenge!  This journey has been wonderful!  It has reinforced my love of writing and given me the opportunity to share my knowledge to those who want it.

Thank you,

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CW3