Final Fall Performance

As our season comes to a close and we reflect on the past 5 months we are reminded of how great our kids are. It has been an incredible rebuilding season for Sparks Cheer! They have worked hard to continue the traditions that the generations before them started and start some fantastic new traditions of their own! 
Tonight the JV and Varsity cheerleaders came together for a cheer showcase and earned awards for “Commanders in Crowd Leading” and “Supreme Sportsmanship”. Both awards are a great reflection of how hard working and supportive these kids are of each other. The coaches could not be any more proud of these girls!

More than a Coach

After 23 years of coaching, I can really start to appreciate coaching for what it truly is. It has little to do with the skills and sports being taught, but so much more about showing kids that it’s ok to be teenagers and how to grow past that and be great adults. I’m proud that I’ve been privileged enough to have been a part of high school, college and military graduations, weddings, births, and some awesome moments in my kid's lives.

Tonight was no different. I have known Mike and Brandi for 15 years and watched their kids grow up. I’ve been privileged enough to coach a few of them and then have Jess come back and be an assistant coach with me. I’m proud of the wonderful young women she’s become and grateful for the help over the last three years. I’m so very glad I was able to be here tonight for her and Jacob’s wedding. It’s a good feeling to be at a wedding and look around and know that the bride and groom are surrounded by loved ones.

Jess and Jacob, you have married your best friend. Marriage is tough at times and fun at times, but remember that everything is easier when you share it with your best friend. When things are good it’s good and when one of you stumbles, pick them up and dust them off and love them anyway. Lean on each other, always hold hands, and share your love every day. Don’t linger on grudges and never take life too seriously. It’s not a race, the goal is to make to the end together with memories and a life of love. Thank you for including me in your special day. I love you guys! 

Friday Nights and Stadium Lights

‪In the fall, each long week culminates with Friday Night Lights. 
Each Friday night at some point I experience a moment of total calm. Everything gets quiet in my mind and my heart is at peace. Tonight it was during the national anthem. Standing on the sidelines between the cheerleaders and the band. Seeing the football boys stand proudly and ROTC on the field with the Stars and Stripes. ‬
I know in those moments I am home. I’m where I’m supposed to be and doing what I’m supposed to do. It’s what I never knew I wanted to be when I grew up. Sometimes the weeks are hard, the job is hard and the hours are long. But it’s always worth it. 
To the kids who’ve shared their lives with me and the kids who challenge me to be the best I can for them. 
Thank you. 
Thank you for all of it.

The best day of the year!

There is a chill in the air.
The smell of fresh cut grass.
There is an electricity with this day.

Young men all over the country wake up and take part in a tradition that spans a hundred years. They will don a jersey in their school colors, with a name on the front that is not theirs, but yet they wear it with pride.

It’s time my friends to kick-off football in America.

Today the gridiron gang will walk the halls with their shoulders a little higher and a stride in their step, for tonight they become warriors.

Tonight, they head into battle with their brothers. They have worked to learn plays, understand their opponents and begin to truly understand themselves. In 48 ticks of the scoreboard, they will learn what it really means to be a teammate, a brother and a school hero.

As they take the field emotions will run high, both with them and in the stands. This will be a night of firsts. For some will take the field for the first time ever and for others this will be their last-first game. New players, new coaches, new uniforms and a fresh start.

But together they stand. They stand for each other. They stand for their coaches and parents and school spirit. And each and every one of them will make us fall in love with this day again.

They will make us proud. Proud to be their parent, proud to be family, friends or teammates, and proud to be their coach.

Tonight is YOUR night gentlemen. Take a moment to look around.
Listen to the sounds, remember the lights and the feel of the grass in your cleats. The stadium lights and the sounds of the fans cheering for YOU.

This night is yours.
You decide how it ends and all of us will be right there with you.

Getting Your Life Back!

Getting your life back after the season

The cheer season has come to an end.

You have collected uniforms, handed out pictures and recognized everyone’s hard work at the banquet.

Now what?

Each coach plan’s his or her season differently.  I’m going to talk about what I do for my program and what needs to happen for me to decompress and recharge for next year. If it works for you, awesome! If not, hopefully, there are some things that you can use or modify for your program.

After the banquet, I meet up with the Bookkeeper and make sure that all invoices have been paid and our account is balanced. During the year, I keep an extremely tight hold on our finances in a 6-part file folder.  There is a section for my account balance sheet, the school's balance sheet, Fundraisers and Income, purchases, spirit pack info (the kid's order forms and master checklist), and the individual account balances.  I gather up all lose accounting paperwork and put it in its place so that I can file this away for reference.

My Coaches Bag

I take a quick look through my coach’s bag for any items that need to be returned. (Click Here to see/purchase mine.)  
This can include items cheerleaders have lost, a medical kit that goes back to the trainer, or any random snacks or water bottles left over from games.  Once I have done a quick check, I put gather all cheer related items that have scattered to my desk, table, car, etc. and put them back in my coach’s bag. I take the bag and set it out of sight for TWO WEEKS!  This step is very important to my mental recharge and albeit hard is necessary. This gives me time to let the dust settle and any feelings about the year to fall into their true meaning.  
Here’s what I mean by that:

Each year is different. Some years are wonderful and some years, not so much.  At the end of the season, you can be ready to turn in your keys and call it quits, or you can be so excited that you forget that cheer is actually over.  Sometimes you are so emotional about the class that is graduating you can forget about those upcoming kids that want to be equally successful.  The other thing I need to let settle is my family life.  My husband and I both coach year around so our lives are dictated by our coaching schedule.  He coaches Girls Golf in the fall, Wrestling in the Winter and Boys Golf in the Spring.  I coach two separate seasons of Cheer, Fall and Winter, and then if his Golf team is big enough, I am his assistant Golf Coach.  This two weeks off allows us to switch sports, reconnect our lives with our six-year-old, and plan the next season and then summer. During my two weeks “Vacation” I don’t check my Coaching Email, check my box at the school, or take any cheer-related phone calls. My coaching email gets a vacation signature and If I get a phone call I send an email or text (if appropriate) letting them know when I will return. During my vacation, if I have any thoughts or notes that pop into my head I write myself a quick note to be addressed later.  This helps keep me organized and not forget some of those great ideas.

Ok, it’s been two weeks! Remember that bag you stuffed in a closet? Yeah, now it’s time to take it out and clean it up.

Start by removing everything from it. All pockets, pens, notebooks, rule books, scraps of paper… everything!

Sort it all into piles. 

Throw out the trash and scraps of paper that you don’t need (now’s not the time to be a hoarder.)

You’ll probably have a pile of pens, pencils, markers, etc.  Check to see if they still work and place them in a pocket. 

Next, you need to dissect your clipboard and binders. 

Make a pile that includes flyers, event requests, charity information, tournament brackets or any information that was specific to this season.  Put these in a file folder along with the attendance sheet, team calendar, workouts and any notes regarding that season that I want to remember to refer to.

There should be a pile of chant lists and game plans and material notes – save these to file into a master folder.  I refer to this year after year. 

Sort all cheerleader specific paperwork.  All Emergency / School paperwork should be filed and saved until the cheerleader is 20 years old.  This includes and doctor’s notes and injury or discipline reports.  The scary thing about coaching is that we are responsible for these kids and anything that happened to them while on our watch until they are 20 years old.  18 plus two years is the statute of limitations on all injuries and issues that can come up.

As scary as it sounds, it can come up.  I had a girl come to me 7 years after I coached her on a youth team that had back issues and wanted to discuss my treatment.  Because I had a copy of her doctors note and release back to cheer, I was not at fault.

Once everything is sorted out start dissecting your year to see what worked and what didn’t.

Here’s my list with notes on what to look for:

Program

Is the program where you want it?

Is there a good balance between competition and school support?

Was the administration happy with the program, and does it fit in their vision?

Where do you want the program to go? More athletic, more school spirit, more community involvement?

Budget

Spirit Pack, contents and costs.

Did we need/use everything that we purchased?

What can we do without to save money?

What should we add to make life easier?

Plan around what you need, what the kids want and what is cost-effective for your program. Know your families.

Fundraisers

What Fundraisers we successful?

Which were not?

Are there other fundraisers that we didn’t use or haven’t done in a while that can come back?

Again, understand what the needs of the program are and know your families.  This is different each year.

Team Rules

What were our biggest issues this year/season?

Is there a part of the team constitution that covers this already?

Does it need written in or re-written for clarity?

Are there rules or items that are no longer valid or school rules that need to be adjusted?

Tryouts

Were tryouts effective in choosing the best kids for the team?

Were they too strict and there were kids that missed out unnecessarily?

Were they to laid-back and there were kids that were chosen that were not a good fit for the program.

Based on where you would like your program to be going, what changes do you need to make to the tryout process?

Practices

Were practices organized and effective?

Were the practices adequate to prepare for games and events? 

Did you have to add or remove practices during the season?

Was the team meeting its goals and progressing?

Planning the whole year is key!

Schedule

How did the schedule (the part you can control) work? (practices, events, fundraisers, community service, etc.)

When planning the next year, sit down with a blank calendar, last year’s calendar, the new school calendar, and your personal calendar.  Start filling in dates and events that you know.  If you have a family vacation planned or school functions that always happen at a certain time, put those in first.  Add in school vacations, days, off, holidays, finals and graduation. If there is an event or fundraiser that coincides with a community event, add it.

Look at the best times for open gyms and tryouts, and pencil those in.

Practice

If you practice in the summer, look at your schedule and put those down.  Please remember that the kids need a break. They need to recharge and get excited too.  I have found that If I keep them away for at least a month they will be excited to return and typically work on skills on their own. Decide on a camp date and practices to prepare for camp and the welcome back festivities.

Fundraisers, Payments, and Team Meetings. 

Schedule these and get them on the calendar ASAP.  Give the parents time to plan their summer too.  If you have a plan, they will trust in the process.  Don’t wing it.  It causes stress for you and the kids can feel it and parents will be frustrated.  Let them know ahead of time what the fundraisers are, when they will run and when money is due.  Try to work it out so that fundraisers end at the same time a spirit pack payment is due. They should understand that you provide the fundraisers as a courtesy and if they choose not to participate then the money is still due. 

At your team meetings, update cheerleaders and parents on the upcoming events and any changes.  Thank them for the previous participation and events and be their cheerleader for the next ones.  If you are excited, they will be excited.  Learn how to sell it. 

Games

You should have an idea of when games are, pencil those in.  You don’t have to put the specifics in, but you can write JV Game – 4:30. Time/Location TBA. If you plan on cheering at Soccer or Volleyball once a week, then put that in.  We cheer for other sports on Tuesdays (home only). If soccer has a game, we go to that. If its Volleyball, we go to that.  If there are multiple sports playing we divide and conquer.  Sometimes there is no game so we spend that time making signs or goodie bags for the sports we don’t physically attend (Golf, Cross-Country, and Tennis).  There have even been times when we were all caught up with our own school sports that we write out encouragement cards for other school’s cheerleaders in the area.

Community Events, School Functions, and Assemblies

These are events that tend to get scheduled at the last minute.  As soon as I know these I add them and send out an updated calendar.  The communication of the changes is KEY!

Keep yourself organized and always refer to your “Year of Cheer” schedule to stay focused.  Write notes and reminders to yourself to order awards and contact certain vendors.  Google calendar can be a lifesaver!

Once you have the paperwork updated, tryout process planned, and your calendar started the rest falls into place. 

Now that your season is outlined, you can take a break (If the schedule allows), or you can get started putting the season plan into motion!

I will now begin my time off.  My bag is in the closet, them vacation email response set up, and my cheer box at the school is empty! 

See you mid-March!

-CW3

Keeping The Spirit ALL YEAR!

Tryouts in May, Camp and Practices in July & August, School, and Football Games run from September to November, Winter Tryouts in November, Basketball Games, and Competitions from December through March. Nine months is a LONG time to keep kids motivated.  Even longer if you don’t have the second tryout in November.  Keeping your athletes from getting bored is an art!  There are many, many ways to help them stay motivated and excited all year long.  Here are just a few.

No Cheering Allowed!

No Cheering Allowed

For one practice each month, have a team outing or gathering that has nothing to do with cheerleading.  Go bowling, roller skating, or have a team dinner and watch funny movies.  Have a rule that they are not to talk about cheerleading or wear anything cheerleading related.  It will be a bonding experience for them.  Play a game that is a variation on the baby/wedding shower game.  Give each girl a necklace or a pin and if anyone is caught saying the word Cheer, they lose their item.  The cheerleader with the most collected items wins.

Themed Practices

Have dress-up days.  One day we had a day where the cheerleaders had to wear the t-shirt of a different school to practice.  It could be any school, but they were not allowed to wear our school colors!  You can have superhero days, idol days, color days, etc.  The limits are endless.  Just make sure that they are safe for practice.

Team Bonding 

Have team bonding activities at least once a week at practice or instead of practice.  There are a million different bonding activities that range from mushy to sappy.  You can play games that force them to work together.  Sit in a circle and talk about things, such as; Why are you here? Why do you appreciate the person next to you? What is your favorite commercial? Etc?

Community Service & Volunteering

If they can work together off the field they will be amazing on it.  Taking time away from cheer to help others and spread kindness can really help to motivate a stagnant team.  It gives them goals to work toward that are not skill based and are very attainable.  This section is brought to you by the letter C.

Weekly Praise

Weekly Praise

Choose a stuffed animal or a trophy to give out to a cheerleader each week.  This traveling trophy can be a source of motivation.  Give it out to the best all around cheerleader from the week.  They take turns with it and on Friday when the new winner is announced they can ceremoniously hand it over.  Take a picture of each week's winner and make a collage at the end of the year.  If your mascot doesn’t lend to a good animal or trophy you could use a stuffed COW.  For Cheerleader of the Week!

Rotating Captains

Until your team votes or your captains are chosen you could have a captain for a day.  The daily choice can lead stretches, take turns calling chants, choose the dance or material to work on that day.  They could even take turns teaching the team material or bringing the team a snack.  You may like this setup so much you will keep it all year long!

Team Journal

Each week, sit down with a notebook and your team and have them contribute comments, notes, anecdotes, and stories from the week.  Have someone write them all down and then journal them.  At the end of the season put them together and give a copy to team members to remember the season.  You could also do this with a Video Journal.  You could film throughout the week and at the end, they could each take turns talking about the week.

Material Update
Take a look at your chant lists for both Football and Basketball.  Are you in need up updating them? Take some time in between seasons to review and remove any that are no longer effective, or simply not fun.  You may have some football chants that you can change up the words to and carry into basketball.  You could break your team into small groups and have them come up with one revision and one new chant. Then they all could take turns teaching their chants.

When trying to motivate your cheerleaders, make sure you stay motivated too.  Your enthusiasm for the sport carries through to your team.

Cheers!

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CW3

Surviving Cheer Tryouts as a Coach

How to survive cheer tryouts as a coach.

Tryouts are an exciting, albeit stressful time of the year.  The athletes are excited, worried, and nervous.  For the coaches, it is all of those things plus the stress and pressure of assembling a team.  It is not easy to stand in front of someone or a group of new people and perform material that you are not familiar with.  If you are a coach, it is not easy to judge people on their abilities without hurting feelings.  Unfortunately, it is unavoidable.  The best way to get through the process is to remember the feelings of the tryout candidates and make it as easy on them as possible.  Make it easy on yourself by getting organized, writing out a checklist and staying on top of it. 

There are many ways to run your tryout.  Here are some ideas.

DVD-Tryout-Judges

Many cheer companies send try out material on a DVD and include music each year.  If you are not receiving these, you can go on to www.varsity.com and request them.  On these DVD’s are dances, cheers, and chants.  You can make copies of these and distribute them 1-2 weeks in advance of the tryouts.  Have the tryout packets available, when the candidate turns in their tryout packet they receive a DVD.  The sooner they get the packet, the more time they have to work on the material.  For the actual tryout, it can be 1 or 2 days depending on how much time you want to review with them.  Teach motions, jumps, tumbling, and review the material from the DVD.  At the end, of the 2^nd day have the cheerleaders perform for judges. 

Clinic-Tryout-Judges

Host a tryout clinic for 2-3 days.  During this time, teach all the material that the cheerleaders will need to know and perform on the Tryout day.  At the end of the clinic have a “mock” tryout where the cheerleaders get to practice trying out in front of their peers.  At the actual tryout, the athletes will perform in small groups in front of judges.

Coaches Evaluation

This is a lot like the Clinic-Tryout-Judge form for tryouts only at the end of the clinic the coaches make the decision on their team.  Bring in outgoing seniors or other helpers to teach the material so the coaches can watch and evaluate progress, performance, and attitude.  See how well they take direction and how quickly they learn.

Video Tryout

This is again like the Clinic-Tryout-Judge form for tryouts only at the end of the clinic the candidate’s tryout in front of a camera.  The coaches can then take the camera and review it with other coaches or by themselves to make their decision.

Clinic-Judges

A more difficult form of the tryout is one where you would host a cheer clinic for 1-2 days to teach all the skills and drills necessary to become a cheerleader.  You would also teach the candidates a dance, a few cheers, and chants.  They athletes would then have 1-2 weeks to make up their own original material to perform for judges at the tryout.  This tryout does not work well in areas where the cheer team has a high turnover rate.  It tends to scare away some newer athletes.  This works best in programs the draw quite a bit of talent each year, or in programs where the choreography is student-lead.  It does allow the coaches to test dedication and creativity. 

Once you have decided on how you want to select your team the planning starts.

About 8 weeks before set the date for the clinic and the tryouts and reserve all facilities.  Make sure that you check with your admin and the school calendar to avoid conflicts with exams, prom, spring break, etc.  Make considerations for those students who might also participate in other activities, sports, drama, and leadership.

At 6 weeks out, contact your judges.  Let them know the dates and times along with any requirements you have for them.  If you are issuing a check to them, check any requirements from your school and district.

4 weeks – publicize the dates and times for tryouts.  Post in the school newsletter, website, local paper.  Hang flyers in high traffic areas and on bulletin boards.  If it’s allowed, get the tryout information to your feeder middle schools.  Post signup sheets and packets in the office or at your classroom. 

With 2 weeks to go have a tryout meeting for anyone who is interested in trying out.  Invite parents to attend.  Review expectations, fundraising, fee requirements and what to expect at tryouts and during the season.  If you are using outgoing seniors, start assigning duties.  When delegating, be selective about the jobs you assign.  Possible jobs could be teaching the material, running warm-ups, playing music, and organizing groups.  Be aware of relationships between outgoing students and returning cheerleaders.

The week prior get all your forms in order and make copies of judging forms.  Send out copies of the forms to the judges so that they can familiarize themselves.  Give any directions or last minute requests to judges.

The week of tryouts, start gathering paperwork from the cheer candidates and verify eligibility.  Pick up the judges checks, or make final arrangements.  Check on the sound system and any other things that require set-up with the facility director.

On the first clinic day, review all requirements and expectations.  Take a picture of the candidatures to help remember them when you are reviewing your notes.  Take attendance and collect any medical releases. 

Each clinic day, take roll and monitor progress.  If you have a large group of candidates, assign numbers and take notes.  Be available to answer questions and make decisions.

On the day of tryouts, meet early with your seniors and helpers to give last minute direction.  Provide snacks and refreshments for your judges.  Meet with the judges and distribute score sheets, pencils, calculators, scratch paper, etc.

Close your tryout except for judges and helpers.  Make sure there are no distractions.  If you are videotaping, make sure that the lighting is good and your groups are all visible.  Keep your groups to 2-4.  This is easier for the judges. 

Announcing the team

Announce the results as soon as possible to help avoid any concerns of unfair scoring.  When telling the students who made the team, do it in person or with an individual phone call.  They have just worked hard and performed for your approval you should at least tell them personally how they did and what they can work on for next time. 

During the process, remember what your goal is.  You are trying to assemble a group of cheerleaders that will BEST represent your school and program.  Sometimes kids just simply do not fit.  Do your best to keep a level head.  Once you have finalized your roster, enjoy your season!

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CW3