Coaching Cheerleading as a Career

Recently I was asked to write for an interview regarding Coaching Cheerleading as a Career.

The questions were good and I feel that my answers were honest.  After sitting down with a newer coach this week, I thought back to this interview and how much it might help someone who was looking to this as a career option or just coaching in general.

Here is the interview:

How did you decide to get into coaching and what steps did you take to begin?

When I was in high school our coach needed help with the freshman squad, teaching them cheers, chants, dances, stunts, etc.  She was not able to attend their games so I would go to guide and help them.  At the end of the year she gave me a whistle (which I still have) and thanked me for being her Junior Coach.  The next year I was able to help out with a different school across town with the same basics.  After graduation I came back as a volunteer coach and through the years had different opportunities open up for coaching.  I stayed up on trends and the safety rules, taking classes as I could.  Eventually I was in a position where I could attend the larger conferences and get more intense training. Each coaching position opened doors to other positions and I eventually ended up here.

What training would you recommend for someone wanting to enter this field now?

Get online and take the available training.  Find a successful Youth, High School or Collegiate coach and ask to mentor them, learning their style and the ins and outs of the sport. Coach a youth team to get your foot in the door, most of what we need to know is best learned through trial and error. 

What is the salary range for a person in this field?

Little to none.  Youth and volunteer coaches are paid nothing.  High school coaches make the district minimums ranging from $500.00 to $1,600.00 per season depending on tenure.  Collegiate coaches can make on average $33,000.00 per year depending on the school and the designation of their team.  The more athletic and competitive a team, the more the college coaches will earn.  We don’t do this for the money and rarely can you live on a cheer coach’s salary.

What types of people survive and do well in this field?

Strong personalities and those who are well organized and resourceful.  Cheerleading is not revered as one of the big sports, so often times cheerleaders practice locations and budgets suffer.  Successful coaches will find ways to advocate for their teams and get funds through sponsors and fundraisers.  Knowledge is key here.  You have to know your skills and rules for your teams as well and how to navigate the administration and politics.

What personal qualities do you feel are most important in your work and why?

I am highly motivated and organized.  I have a plan and a goals for the program. I am constantly working coaching style and the program in a certain direction.  I am good at motivating and convincing my athletes to work towards a common goal and the benefit of the program. I can adjust my coaching style for each participant as needed to help them stay motivated.  I am stern and no-nonsense.  I don’t pity my athletes, but I do help them to understand the benefits of every situation.

What are tasks you do in a typical work day? How would you describe them?

Coaching goes far beyond practice and games.  Daily I work through mountains of paperwork.  I am constantly reviewing videos of my teams for ways to progress skills and work more effectively.  I watch videos of other teams and schools for choreography and effectiveness of their program.  I keep logs and journals of daily squad activity.  I work on budgets, fundraising, accounting, monitor social media, and promoting my team to the school and community in a positive light.

Once at practice we work through a practice plan to stay on track to meet goals and performance expectations.  After, I again evaluate practice and progress to plan the next practice. 

Game days are for evaluating the team and its effectiveness of crowd-leading and skills.  Always collecting data and thinking ahead to how to get better.

Outside of the 2 hour practices and 3-5 hours of games, I spend about 2 hours per day on administrative and behind the scenes tasks. 

What types of stress do you experience on the job?

The biggest stress I have is motivating others.  I have to convince teenagers to buy in to my program goals and get them to work hard to achieve them.  It’s not always easy and often the goals of the team and program change throughout the year based on the level of dedication and commitment of my athletes.

What do you like least about your job and why?

My least favorite part of my job is the lack of respect my kids get from their peers and the community.  People have antiquated ideas of what cheerleading is and how hard they work.  Not all cheer teams are the same, many don’t have the expectations that we do.  Some have more, but the fact the people just write my kids off as ditsy girls in skirts is frustrating.

What do you like most about your job and why?

This is the hardest question because my favorite things about my job are not tangible.  You would think that it would be the trophies or the recognition, but when I see the looks on the kids faces when they accomplish something they didn’t think they could do, I am proud.  When they successfully hit a routine that they have been working hard on, I am proud.  I love the fact that so many kids choose to sacrifice their social time and family time to spend with something extracurricular.  They choose to be a part of a team and support others.  My cheerleaders are some of the sweetest, most selfless, caring individuals, and I am blessed that they continue to work hard to make the program successful. I love making a difference in their lives and how much they continue to make a difference in mine.

Celebrations

Tonight I celebrated my 36th birthday the only way I really know how. For 25 years I have spent my birthday with high school sports. Not every night was actually a game night, but they might as well have been. Coaching has been my passion for over two decades and tonight it showed. I was able to be on the field with some truly awesome kids and amazing colleagues. I absolutely love my SHS family. They have seen me through many of my life challenges and been a major factor in most of my biggest accomplishments. Even though the Railroaders lost and we had some less than stellar fans, there is no place I would have rather been tonight. To my current cheerleaders and the Alumni that came tonight, thank you. Thank you for allowing me to share in your journey. And thank you for being such a big part of mine.

Defining Our Accomplishments

Defining ourselves by our accomplishments.  

There are people who will always be on top.  On top in school with grades, with athletics, and with popularity.  There will always be that mom that has 8 kids and a spotless house, bakes cookies, volunteers for the PTA and holds her whole family together.  Or that co-worker that advanced quickly, is loved by peers, gets the bonus, etc.  Are those truly accomplishments? Are those people proud of that process? Are they truly making a difference?

My biggest accomplishment is in something far different.  
I am a coach.  
A cheer coach.  
I teach groups of kids how to be leaders.  How to time manage and budget family, school, friends and responsibility.  We teach our kids how to be upstanding members of society through leadership, discipline and dedication.  They work hard.  My kids didn't start out cheering since they were small.  Many of them learned everything they know about cheer from me.  Even harder to define is how I have succeeded in this process.  We are not judged on a weekly basis through a score.  I have learned to judge success as a cheerleading coach by the progress and excitement in the kids.  They are successful when they have hit their routines perfectly at a game.  When they finish all their homework, cheer at the game and put in a few hours at work.  They are successful when at the end of the day they are proud of themselves and the hard work they put in, even if it’s not understood by their peers.  As a coach, my MOST successful moments are those when I run into a former student many years later and they talk about their time on my team.  They are proud of what they accomplished as a group and what they overcame as an individual.  So many of them thank me for being hard on them and teaching them lessons that they still use into adulthood.  This is my biggest accomplishment.  Leading, guiding and mentoring so many wonderful young athletes.  I am successful because I know for one small moment I made a difference in their life.  Whether they were successful or not as a cheerleader, they learned lessons that make them successful in the future. They will always have a cherished piece of my heart.  That defines my success.

No More Negativity, Please.

A note to those in the stands tonight with so much to say...
You sit in the stands week after week and think you know how easy it is to play the game or cheer. You sit in the bleachers and make comments about the coaches and the athletes like you personally could do better. These kids and these coaches put their hearts on the line each week, not for you to judge and make nasty comments. They do it for the love of the game. They do it because it is something they like to do. They do it because they are proud to represent their school, community and themselves. Win or lose, good spirit or bad, they don't do it for you. You should take pride in the abilities of these kids who put themselves out there each week not belittle them. They know when they make a mistake. They know when things go wrong. Let the athletes and the coaches work that out. They could be out doing drugs or causing problems in our community, but they are not. They are working hard each week to better themselves and their team. To those spectators in the crowd tonight the were making nasty comments about the cheerleaders and their coach and about the football team and their coaches, Shame On You! 
Yes, you are absolutely welcome to your opinion, but you are not welcome to make these kids feel poorly about themselves and their performances. People like you are not easy to play and participate in front of yet they do it. To those parents who are going to cuss and yell the entire game, stay home. Your negativity is not necessary. These kids deserve better than that. They have EARNED it.

Kudos to Coaches

Each year we see changes and challenges in our programs.  We adjust and move forward in a way that will benefit our squads and schools.  This year has been no different.  We have some teams that are struggling with numbers and some that are bursting at the seams.  We have new coaches and veteran coaches all working as one.  There is so much cheer and dance talent across Northern Nevada its astonishing! 

The absolute BEST part of all of this is the increase in sportsmanship across the board.  This year we are seeing schools participate that haven’t been involved and we have schools that will jump at the chance to help out new coaches and young teams.  So many amazing coaches are reaching out to new coaches and helping them develop their programs.  This, ladies and gentleman, is the definition of Spirit. 

As coaches of cheerleaders and dancers, we all have the same goals.  

Our squad’s job is to promote sportsmanship.  

We cheer FOR our schools and teams and not against the opponent.   

We are not fighting for territory or to see who is the strongest, fastest and best.  

At the end of the day, we cannot judge a win or a loss by the score board.  We judge wins and losses by achieving goals that only spirit leaders will understand.  We “win” when our squads are eligible, prepared and routines hit.  When we walk across that field to greet the visiting schools cheerleaders and dancers, we respect what they are doing and have accomplished.  We understand the man-hours that went into preparing for that game.  We recognize that while there is a battle to be won on the turf, our battle is the same whether our teams win or lose. 

So many schools and squads have reached out to other squads to help with camps, team bonding and building spirit – You guys ROCK! Thank you for your hard work and dedication to the sport.  I am proud to say that I am a member of this community and group of such amazing men and women that are so dedicated to our teams.  Please keep up the great work and share this spirit with your teams.  This ‘Thank You’ is for them to.  They work hard and earn the right to be Spirit leaders. 

Great Job Everyone!

#supportthespirit

-CW3

Game Time

Tonight 22 boys will line up on the field in a fight for territory. A fight for honor and pride. A fight for victory. Tonight the summer workouts and the blood sweat and tears become worth it. With tonight comes an understanding of the sacrifices and hard work that come with commitment and dedication to something that is bigger than the individual. 

The Team. The team is a family bonded by football. The brotherhood comes together tonight to honor the game, honor the team, and honor the family. 

11 Hearts, 11 Helmets, 1 Family. 

E is for Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is taught, and also contagious.  As coaches, we try to teach our cheerleaders to lead their crowd.  To lead they must set an example.  To set an example they must see the example or understand the goal.  Cheerleaders are a visual bunch.  They feed off their surroundings.  Their first contact with the material, event or project is the coach.  If they see that their coach is excited or motivated about what they are doing, they will most likely be excited as well.  As a coach, we have to sell it.

Recently my cheerleaders were asked to perform at a retirement party for a local dignitary that graduated from our school almost 40 years ago.  When I was first asked to have them participate, I was skeptical of their reaction.  I know that being involved was going to be a great experience for them and the retiree.  I also knew that I had to sell that it was a privilege and an honor to be asked (which it was).  I needed to find a way to connect what they were interested in and what our current traditions were with what the graduate would remember of cheerleaders in 1975. 

The choreography was simple, I chose music from the era, put a dance to it that would be fun for the girls and fun for the crowd that was reminiscent of the 70’s, but challenging enough to keep with the skills we have now.  I chose uniforms from our collection that they haven’t used in a few years so that the girls felt a little nostalgic.  I also had them Google Farrah Fawcett so they could style their hair like hers.  By taking the time to do all of these things, it made the girls feel more connected to the performance and the era.  Because they had the connection, they were in turn excited and enthusiastic about the event.

With each practice, performance, fundraiser, charity event, assembly, etc. the coaches must be excited and enthusiastic about what they do.  The cheerleaders will follow that lead and the enthusiasm will translate to the crowd.  We must teach our cheerleaders to be enthusiastic about everything they do.  Turn practices into creative games and squad competitions.  Give them something to look forward to other than just showing up and working material and skills. 

Over time you, the cheerleaders and the crowd will have more fun at events.

Cheers!

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CW2