Welcome back readers. We hope you enjoyed our first blog post and we appreciate you tuning in for more!
As you watch your athletes learn their routine over the competition season you notice how they display commitment to the sport. Commitment is a word that we cherish as coaches – commitment means every athlete shows up for practice and give it their all. Commitment enables coaches to get the most out of the athlete – enabling athlete and team progression. When an athlete commits to the team the importance of consistency is made clear, and that by showing commitment they become critical to the success of the team. This is one of the many lessons cheerleading teaches athletes that can be useful later in life.
Most cheerleading clubs have a contract between the athlete and the club which outlines acceptable reasons for missing training, along with measures which may be taken if too many training sessions are missed. For people who join cheerleading from other sports this ‘contract’ can seem strict and possibly unfair, but when you think about practicing a cheer routine you need commitment from each member to make the stunt safe and succeed each time it is performed. Even one member missing from the team has a flow on effect to the rest of the team and the safe, successful completion of the routine. Our advice at Evolve is to suggest that parents and athletes take the time to read the contract carefully and help their child understand the level of commitment they are making by joining a cheerleading team (and hence becoming a critical part of the success of the team).
The team that is right for you might be based on your ability to commit. Cheerleading is a competitive sport and often commitment and ego can get mixed together. How many hours do you train per week? How many private tumble classes? Do you join more than one team?
At Evolve we encourage all athletes to train as much as they can handle, but not to take on more than they can handle as over committing to one thing in your life is never healthy for development. We all need balance, and learning to balance your life by committing to cheerleading is something that we encourage, which is why we offer both competitive teams (for those who want more commitment) and recreational classes, for those who might have things outside of cheer which means they only have an hour a week to commit to training. The right team or class is dependent on the athlete’s unique circumstances and there is no ‘right’ way to be a cheerleader!
Something we think about a lot at Evolve is how to best keep our athletes committed – to their team and to their own development as cheerleaders.
We think the best way to do this is by showing commitment ourselves, as coaches and gym owners. The first rule is being committed to our brand. As we are a new business in the growing City of Casey, we constantly think about what we want to offer our athletes, and how we can do things better for them. We are passionate about cheerleading but also acknowledge this isn’t just about coaching; it is about offering a space which is professional and welcoming from the minute you walk in the door.
We are committed to providing a positive and comfortable atmosphere for the parents as well as a supportive environment for the athletes to learn new skills. It is important to us that each athlete is different and we commit to coaching each athlete and not simply apply a formula of drills without regard for how our athletes learn. We encourage athletes to talk about themselves – to help the team learn about each other and to help us as coaches learn more about them. Often appropriate self-disclosure can create a closer bond between the athletes as they gain mutual understanding, respect and a stronger community feel. This is the environment we commit to creating at Evolve.
Consistency is key for commitment. If as coaches we are fair in the choices we make in the routine, have made our decisions clear to the team and lead by example, then we hope to show our athletes we are 100% committed in the team’s success, which we hope will encourage them to be too.
If you would like to see what being part of a cheerleading team is all about, we encourage to you contact us today to discuss the most suitable class options, and to come down for a free trial class at our Cranbourne West gym.
