Game Day in the Biggest Little City

One of the best parts of fall is seeing the boys wear their football jerseys to school. Every Friday they can been seen sporting their school colors with pride! Even for the team that is not the state champion this tradition is a favorite.  You must EARN the right to walk into the school wearing that jersey. Not every one has what it takes. Not everyone has the heart to put on the helmet and defend our school. As a coach (and football fan) I look to those boys with pride. They captivate an audience each week by working hard and taking hits. They condition and they train through blood sweat and sometimes tears.  The gridiron gang becomes family. They leave their heart on the field each week. And why? 

The better question is why not. Yes, there are risks involved, but the pride of a win is more enticing. Fame and glory if only for a short while. It's important now. Maybe not in ten years, but right now, this is it. This is our life. These are the boys of fall and tonight we salute you. 

Tonight is your night! 

Friday night lights are upon us...

Let the games begin!

Xerox

This is going to seem a little out of the way, but stay with me…

When I hear the word Xerox, I think of copy machines or copies.  When I apply the word copy to the cheerleading world, I think of the original “Bring it On” movie.  For those of you who have not seen it, the quick and dirty version of the story is this:  The new captain of the Toro’s cheer team is presented with information that the previous captain was stealing cheer routines from another school, the Clovers.  The previous Toro’s captain would video tape the routines and teach them to her team, they would then go on to win national championships with those “stolen” routines.  In the movie, the new captain of the clovers decides that she is going to make sure that her team makes it to nationals.  Chaos ensues, the Toro’s have to come up with their own routine, and “SPOILER ALERT” the Clovers win the national championship.  Because of the hard work that the Toro’s put in to make sure they had an original team they are happy with their performance… 

This brings me to the question, is it all right to copy, or imitate routines that you see online or from other schools?

My short answer is Yes it is ok, but with limitations.

If you go so far as to perform the routine EXACTLY like the original, down to the music, NOT OK.  This is the same as copying your neighbor’s answers on a test. 

If you watch a routine and see a stunt, dance move, transition, or cheer and adapt it to fit what you are doing, this would be fine.  There is very little in the cheer world that has not been done.  If we look at our chant list there are many chants and cheers that have been passed down from generation to generation.  They had to start somewhere.  Especially when you hear parents say, “we did that one when I was in school.”  Chances are the parents that are saying this didn’t come from the same area.  In football, how many times have you seen, or heard, of plays and offences set up from multiple schools?  Right now, the Pistol Offense is big in the college world from Coach Ault at Nevada.  He developed an offense that is now being used by Oregon, UCLA, Alabama, and even some NFL teams are picking it up, just to mention a few.  Is Coach Ault upset that so many teams are using it?  Probably not, they don’t have his team, his coaches, or knowledge of the plays.  Teams watch the film and adapt it to what they need.

The same goes for the cheer world.  In fact, if you attend a cheer camp in the summer that is run by any of the major companies you are learning the same material that is being taught to 100,000 cheerleaders across the nation.  Chances are you are taking the dances and cheers and adapting them to what works for your team.  If you aren’t its ok too, that was the point of those routines.  If you go online and snag a great dance off Youtube, there really isn’t anyway to tell if it was “original” or learned at camp.  Many of the same issues come up with stunting.  When someone comes up with a creative load or transition and performs it at nationals many of the teams go home and work on duplicating that stunt.  Often times the cheer companies also duplicate those stunts to teach to the masses.  It’s just the reality of sports.  Again, for you football fans, how many teams in history have run the “statue of liberty” play?

As a coach, I am asked why I post videos of my team performing at games and assemblies.  The concern is that other teams will take the ideas and perform them in competitions against us.  My response is always this.  “Feel free to copy our choreography.  If you choose to perform it against us, you better know it better than we do.”  My routines have the advantage of my teaching and my vision.  If someone wants to watch it online and try to teach it, they may not know the tricks and techniques that I used.  Because of that, it wont get taught exactly the same, thus adapting it for what they need. 

It has been said that imitation is a form of flattery.

Absolutely!  If you see something you like, make it work for you.  Don’t be upset when you see your material being performed by someone else.  It means it was good enough that they took the time to repeat something great!

Cheers!

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CW3

Game Time!

Getting your team prepared for games.

You have worked hard to select the perfect team, conditioned through the summer, and gone to camp to learn new material.  You’ve done the team bonding, and fundraised for uniforms and spirit packs… Now it’s time for the main event!  Cheering for Games.  The sole purpose of cheerleaders.  No matter the amount of competitions, camps, community service, etc. that you put into your season it would not be an option if it weren’t for those athletic teams! 

Most schools cheerleaders cheer for Football in the fall and Basketball in the winter.  Some cheer for Volleyball, Soccer and Wrestling.  We'll go through the process of getting ready for football, since it is the most common.

First things first: Cheers and Chants.  These are the meat and potatoes of your program.  Cheers and chants serve MANY purposes.  They are used to fill dead time between plays.   They let the crowd know what is going on in the game so they can socialize too.  They also drown out the inappropriate comments from the crowd so the referees don’t hear.   They also can keep your team warm in cold weather.  

When assembling your chant list make sure that you have enough cheers and chants to make it through a game without repeating more than twice.  I usually teach 10-15 each of offense and defense and 20 or more general chants.  Have them learn 5-6 Cheers to perform for timeouts and quarter breaks so they don’t have to repeat those during the same game.

Teach the cheerleaders the basics of the sport you are cheering for.  In football, they want to know the difference between offense and defense most importantly.  They also need to know what to do when the team scores, kicks, time outs, and half times.  Many schools already have traditions in place for these things so don’t be afraid to ask outgoing cheerleaders what has been done in the past.    If your school has a band, you will need to communicate with the band director who will be performing when.  Have the cheerleaders learn dances and motions to perform when the band plays.

Offense – this may seem obvious to some, but it means your team has the ball.   There are a few ways to tell if the team has the ball.  Look at the field, your team will have the ball.   If you cant see the field because the team is in the way, your scoreboard may have an arrow that points to the team with the ball.  The easier way, is to know the team.  Who is the quarterback and what number does he wear?  If he’s not in the line-up he’s probably on the field.

Defense – When the other team has the ball.  Again, all of the ways that are used to find the offense can be used to find the defense.

Kicking – One of the teams will kick off at the beginning of the game; most cheerleaders have a kick-off type cheer or traditional cheer that they do at this time.  They scoring team also kicks the ball after they score points. 

Timeouts – sometimes these can be hard to hear from the sidelines.  Train your cheerleaders and captains to listen to the announcer and the football coaches to hear the call.  Time outs can involve cheers or chants, stunts, tumbling, dancing with the band, etc.  Material that will entertain the crowd when there is no action on the field.

Halftime – this is when your cheerleaders get the opportunity to shine.  My team performs at every game, every halftime and each halftime is different.  We always perform at least a cheer with stunts and tumbling.  Sometimes we add a dance.  As the season pushes into late fall/winter we have two halftimes planned.  One with stunts and tumbling and second that allows for rain and snow.   After they perform my team takes a quick restroom break, chat for a few minutes, grab a quick snack and we line up for the halftime run-through. 

Some teams do a run-through for the football players at the beginning of the game.  My football coach prefers that we do it at halftime.  Each week the cheer captains paint a long sign on butcher paper and they hold it up for the team to run through as they come back onto the field for the second half.

During the second half of the game, keep up the energy.  As the game comes to an end it can get very intense.  Use the crowd involvement cheers to keep the crowd focused and excited.  At the end of the game, win or lose, perform the schools fight song or other traditional cheer that shows support and camaraderie for the school and team.

When cheering at games focus on the positive.  Try to cheer FOR your team not AGAINST the other team.  Good sportsmanship should be the most important key in cheering.  Avoid the cheers that make derogatory comments toward the other team.  You know your team is the best cheer so loudly that the other team is jealous of your school spirit.

If your cheerleaders have never watched a football game, get a video of one that you can show at a practice.  During the film, explain to them when to cheer, what to do during an injury, kick-off, touch down, etc.  There are also situational CD’s that have an announcer that talks like he would at a game to help prepare.  If your football team participates in scrimmages, attend these and have someone talk to the girls about what is happening.

Make sure the cheerleaders have the right tools and knowledge to feel prepared.  The more they know, they more fun they will have at the games.  

CHEERS!

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CW3