I'm Back

I know it's been forever since I've posted, and the reason is that I kind of lost my love of the sport for a while because I got caught up in the stupid politics of my community.

Update about the Y: I let my local YMCA know about my desires to coach at the beginning of March. It took MONTHS for the sports coordinator to get back with me. After TONS of emails I finally got him to set up a meeting with me and he was game, except for completely reworking my idea. Instead of a summer class he wanted to make it into a 4 day camp. You can't teach jack squat that is worth anything in 4 days. Instead of wanting to offer it to K-12, he only wanted to offer it to 1st -5th. But the worst thing that he did was not get anything in gear to hand out to people (which needed to be approved by the Y and the school board) until the last week of class and he wanted to have the class a month later. UMM by then parents have already scheduled vacations and kids already have summer activities planned. He set my idea up for failure. The week before the camp he called saying that no one signed up. I wasn't surprised but I was angry. I'm STILL angry.

Cheer is my passion and I want to share it with everyone. Especially in my community. Every year the cheerleaders get worse and worse as they focus more and more about the uniform, bow, hair, and glitter. This fall my old squad got a new coach (that's the second "new coach" since I graduated) and they went to a competition for the first time since before I was a cheerleader (over 8 years ago). I saw the fb videos of their "performance". It was so bad. I've seen 5 year old's cheer better. It was an absolute embarrassment. I would never allow my squad to publicly humiliate themselves like that if I were their coach. There is a time when the coach has to step up and tell them that they need to step up their game or they aren't going to compete. I embedded the video of their routine so you can see that I'm not being overly critical. It's really that bad. 

I was talking to the last girl I cheered with who is still on the squad last week and she let me know that their grounded. Literally. The coach took away flying. Apparently the girls were being rude to each other and talking behind their backs so she took away the things they actually like about cheer, flying and competing. WAY TO GO COACH! I am much more interested in knowing if it is actually working though. My friend said that this year has made her HATE cheer because of the girls the coach let on the squad, and the coach doing nothing. They have gone through at least 2 assistant coaches since last June because the SQUAD scares them away. That is not a discipline problem, that is a personality problem and it sounds to me like some of these girls need kicked off. I really can't wait until next season to see how many of them stick it out and maybe if they get a new coach. If this one has had so many troubles with them this year I can see her quitting.

One of the girls I cheered with is now the Jr. high assistant coach. This is the same girl that I taught how to cheer. The only reason she even joined the squad is because I suggested it. I don't know how she is doing or how the squad is doing. The head coach at the Jr high is a girl who was a few years older than me and stopped cheering in jr high, so I can guarantee that she's just teaching all the old cheers from a decade ago. I'm also pretty sure she was a drug addict in high school, so I guess my school's athletic department will let anyone coach now. (They're also starting to recruit which I am highly against at the division 4 PUBLIC high school level, but that's another story).

Youtube Channel

I just thought I should make sure everyone knows I have a youtube channel now,

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO8zUC2EwNB6OS-bnCXQO-A

I have some videos of me cheering (2-4 years ago), my squad trying new stunts (from like 3 years ago), and what my old squad has become (and it's not pretty). Once I start coaching (hopefully this summer) I will post videos of my girls and how they are improving =)

Letter to the YMCA to coach

This is the letter I am sending to my local YMCA (omitting personal information). 

Dear Mr. Lemon:

I am interested in volunteering to start and coach a cheerleading program this summer at the YMCA.

Benefits of cheerleading: A cheerleading program is greatly needed. Cheerleading fosters leadership and teamwork, improves strength and cardiovascular health, and builds a strong foundation for high self-esteem during a child’s formative years. It also allows children to form new friendships, emphasizes accountability, develops a healthy competitive spirit, and teaches children to become involved in their community.

My qualifications: I was a High School cheerleader for four years. I helped with the Bitty Cheerleading program  for three years teaching girls in K-5. I was captain my senior year. After graduation, I started a cheerleading blog that helped me organize my thoughts on how I wanted to coach, what I saw other squads doing, what I thought looked good, and what I though could be improved. If you accept my proposal, I plan to complete the required cheerleading coach certification program through the National Federation of State High School Associations. This certification includes courses in the fundamentals of coaching, first aid, health, and safety, concussion safety, AACCA spirit safety certification, fundamentals of coaching cheer and dance.

My proposal: I am proposing five initial classes, a stunt class, a flexibility class, and three age-based classes. I would like to start the classes at the beginning of May and run them until the beginning of August.

·         Youth: This class is for ages 5-9. It will teach basic skills. It will meet once a week for an hour and a half.

·         Junior: This class is for ages 10-14. It will work on enhancing and developing basic skills. It will meet twice a week for two hours.

·         Senior: This class is for ages 14-18. It will focus on preparing students to make a school, all-star, or college team. It will meet 3-4 times a week for three hours.

·         Stunt: This class is for ages 10-18. It will focus on teaching proper stunt technique and progression. It will meet once a week for two hours.

·         Flexibility and Balance class: This class is for all ages. It focuses on increasing a flyer’s flexibility. It will meet once a week for an hour.

If you would like to further discuss my proposition you may call me or email me. I look forward to collaborating with you to start a much-needed cheerleading program.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Dance/ cheer Inspiration

This link is for a dance to a song we did in high school. I can't remember our whole dance so I went looking for it and found this instead. I think it looks great and looks super fun.
http://youtu.be/agwzUvdMxLY


This link is band dances and sidelines. You can never have too many.

http://www.schooltube.com/video/53e40a33b12a36ec963d/Allen-Cheer-Band-Dances-and-Cheers

http://www.schooltube.com/video/6a36a03ce7d8f30b12e2/Allen%20Cheer%20Band%20Dances%20and%20Cheers%20Part%201


 This is the Allen High School (the school Jamie Andries cheers for) cheer constitution 

http://www.allenisd.org/cms/lib/TX01001197/Centricity/Domain/24/Constitution%20-
%20AISD%20Final%202-13-13.docx


More dances and sidelines that have potential:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwgWjtgfy_g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8XzhZWulJc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7dDtZBG3is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP2Baew5aTw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgQ8n-AtYWg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An1494Z2Vik   --- I like the transitions and cheers at the beginning rather than the dance. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3NGTwPs0jc


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZh54TPBxl4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAeANmlmjVk


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBlgZ-jYn6M


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTSqYIxa5rE   --- This has a great dance starting at 2:42  *** favorite for the Y

Stretching Help

To get a HUGE list of stretches go follow inspiration__buddies on instagram. They are PERF! Seriously, they have stretches that I have never heard of or thought of. If you follow any of the big name cheer anons this instagram is what they use to learn new, harder stretches. There are beginner to advanced stretches that really challenge you to get to the level that you want to be on. There are stretches on how to get rid of cramps, tumbling help, and balance techniques that I will DEFINITELY use when I start coaching. I will give you a link so you can check out the pics and videos yourself because there are so many that it is really hard to choose the best ones (and I can't figure out how to copy and paste them on here yet. If I figure it out I will make another post of the pics.)

instagram.com/inspiration__buddies

I'm also a HUGE fan of the Nike Training app. It gives you the option to do workouts that Gabby Douglas and Shawn Johnson endorse. If Olympic winning gymnasts say you should do these I'm pretty confident they will help. There are also a lot of other really great exercise options with this app to work on any other aspect of your body like leg and core strength, which will help with jumps.

My squad was pretty lax when it came to stretching (prob why I was more flexible than my flyer). We did standing and sitting straddles to middle, left and right. We did sitting straddles to left and the right with the opposite leg bent in. We got into a hurdler position on the ground and reached for our toes. We did butterflies. The people that could, did splits. We crossed arms across our body. We put one arm over our shoulder and used the other hand to reach up from the bottom and touch it. We stretched out wrists forward and back. We did pike stretches. We did hollywood's (some people call them pretzels I think). We got into a sumo squat position and sat as far as we could. Occasionally we would do V-ups and leg lifts. We pulled heel stretches.

I would use these to warm up before actually stretching. But these don't work to improve flexibility if they're all you do.  My coach tried telling us for four years that these would make us flexible. I think she was on drugs because that isn't true at all. They are like warm ups for gym class, not stretches to make cheerleaders flexible. It's a miracle that I know anything when I had a coach like this.

YMCA Cheer Classes Plan

YMCA Cheerleading:
Ages: 6-18

• Must have multiples of 4 for each team

• No more than 20 on each team

• Request gymnastics coach (Because I do not have a background in tumbling or gymnastics)

Each member will wear white, non-marking shoes, above the knee athletic shorts (ex: soffe, Nike Pro), tight fitting T-shirt or tank top

• Youth---Ages 5-9

- Basic cheer motions
- Jumps
- Beginner tumbling
- Chants for football and basketball
- Basic cheer dancing
- Beginner stunting
- Beginner conditioning to promote health and increase stamina
- Introduce cheer stretches for flexibility

Practice once a week
1 1/2 hour

At end of course perform all dances, chants, jumps, stunts, and tumbling for parents

• Junior---Ages 10-14

- Emphasize importance of staying tight
- Perfect jumps
- Increase tumbling abilities
- Learn chants and sidelines for basketball and football
- Learn multiple cheer dances and band dances
- Continue to further stunting ability
- Increased conditioning to promote health and increase stamina
- Continue stretching techniques for flexibility

Practice twice a week
2 hours each practice

At end of course perform an competition-like routine that showcases the material learned

• Senior---Ages 14-18

(for students wishing to make a high school or college team)
- Help learn tryout material
- Learn school song
- Emphasize importance of staying tight
- Perfect jumps
- Increase tumbling abilities
- Increase ability to learn material quickly and correctly
- Continue to further stunting ability
- Intense conditioning to promote health and increase stamina
- Continue stretching techniques for flexibility
- Participate in mock tryout situations

Practice 3-4 times a week
3 hours each practice

At end of course know all material necessary for tryouts

• Stunt Class---Ages 10-18

- Learn proper stunt technique
- Improve upon current stunting abilities
- Learn stunt progression
- Use strength staining to build muscles necessary for stunting

Practice once a week
2 hours

At end of course perform all known stunts in sequence from easiest to hardest to show progression

• Flexibility and Balance Class---All ages

(for flyers)
- Learn proper stretch technique to avoid pulling muscles while stretching
- Learn new stretches to pull body positions and to gain flexibility in other muscles that help with other aspects in cheer, such as hip flexors and shoulders
- Learn proper technique to pull body positions
- Learn tricks to keeping balance in a stunt
- Practice pulling body positions on ground, in a simulated flying situation, and in the air

Practice once a week

1 hour

At end of course, with significant outside work, be significantly more flexible and have better balance in stunts






In a few weeks I'm going to post exactly what we will be doing each class, but I've been hyping this up for so long that I decided that I would just make it a separate post.

My Cheer Package

I'm from the Midwest, so I am accustomed to cheering during football season in temperatures ranging from 90 degrees to 30 degrees, rain, shine, snow. I've done it all. And every year I realized that my team, though everyone was from the Midwest and had experienced our crazy weather changes during football season, was never prepared with the right outerwear for the conditions. If it was raining or snowing we would put on a black or red jacket or hoodie and black or red pants. None of us ever matched. If it was really cold the upperclassmen would put on their letterman jacket. But the thing is that no matter what the temperature was at the beginning of the game we still had to wait until halftime to put on warmer clothes. The first half of the game we HAD to wear our uniform with no jackets or pants. Gloves were frowned upon because you had to take them off to stunt. The coach hated that the flyers wanted to wear pants like the rest of the squad because it was just more things to deal with when we went to stunt. It was just a ridiculous situation. If it was warm we looked fine, but the second the temperature dropped we looked like a bunch of people who walked off the street who happened to know the same cheers. It was so embarrassing.

My senior year was the first year that the coach thought it would be a good idea to get warmups for the whole squad. She went to the local sporting goods store that sold our high school wear only and bought some windbreaker jackets and pants for the squad. I hate the swish noise of windbreakers when you walk. The thing was that they weren't specialized for our squad so half of the crowd wore them too. No, just no. Warmups are part of your uniform. It's not a uniform if half of the crowd is wearing the same thing. Part of the reason she didn't order through the Varsity rep (which we always ordered everything through because it was the previous coach's daughter) was because my coach wanted to cut costs for the squad. She didn't consult with the squad if it would have been difficult to pay for Varsity warmups. Nor did she ask us if we liked the ones she got. Her clothing choices are one of those things about high school cheer that I do not miss.

All of this pent up irritation with my coach has given me the idea to put together my own cheer package. The practice wear, the uniform (which I think the seniors should have the option to buy at the end of the season), the bows, the shoes, the makeup, the warmups, the team wear, the poms, the bags. Everything.

Uniform: My squad is known for having a ridiculous amount of uniforms. During a season we will rotate through probably 4 uniforms, and still have 6 different uniforms in storage. Most of them are from the 80s and 90s. I know of only 3 that have been bought in the 2000s. One was bought before I started high school. One was bought my freshman year (2008). The other was bought just this year and let me tell you, it is hideous. It's plain red with the mascot's name on it in white and black. It's gross. My freshman year's uniforms were super cute. Made of the same material as all-star uniforms, same kind of design. Full top. Slitted skirt. No cut outs in the top. It's fashionable. It also looks horrible on anyone who has a BMI over 20 though.

I personally am (surprisingly) enjoying Varsity's most recent catalog. Generally I would hate Varsity, but today my opinion has changed. I like the red and black uniform. Their the motion-flex material, My squad had uniforms made of the same material (I think) and they were amazing. They're kind of pricey. The top is $70 and the skirt is $60 (Though Varsity advertises it as their $100 package??) We've always matched our shell with our skirt but I really like the white shell with the black skirt. It's something that you don't see around my area. It's classy, fashionable, and different.




I am also really liking UESports.com. Their uniforms are traditional and if I want to go that route I would definitely choose their uniforms. I'm not sure on prices because they require you to call. This is not a design that my squad has personally gone with before, but the school across the county has ones similar and they look great on. I think it would look best with a white body suit and maybe the white wedge where it crosses at the hip should also be black.




Bows: There are so many amazing bow manufacturers in the market right now. It would be hard to choose one. For my freshman, sophomore, and junior year we ordered our bows from Varsity. They were tolerable, but there were a lot of other squads that had the same bows. I HATE showing up to a game and having the other squad have something in common with us. I want to be our own squad with our own gear that no one in our area has. Since my junior year we have made our own bows. One has turned out fabulous. It's my favorite bow ever even if it isn't very big. The others have turned out like utter crap. I will be buying all of my bows unless there is a girl on my squad who shows me that she can consistently make perfect, uniform bows every time. Most bows I've seen range in price from $10- $25. I want as many as possible for my squad. Your bow makes the uniform and allows the squad to participate in student section themes, like gangster, camo, or holiday. If there is no theme fora  night, glitter bows are the way to go.

Some of my favorite bows include: 

Bags: My freshman year we had great bags. It held all of our uniforms, shoes, bows, body suits, spanks, makeup, purse, small child, kitchen sink. I'm just saying that it was enormous. My sophomore year the bags were like half the size. Like what? I can barely fit my uniforms in there, let alone the rest of my stuff. It was pointless. I am looking for a bag that is about 28- 30 inches long, about a foot wide, a foot tall, with 2 straps to carry with hands, a shoulder strap, and is durable. Preferably one that has the ability to be customized. I will do all embroidery and customizations myself. Every bag I have found that fits this description is about $50. I want it to roughly look like this:


I also love this glitter duffel from Varsity it's just super sparkly and absolutely beautiful.



Shoes: I have always loved cheering in Nike One Spirit shoes. I have 2 pairs and they last forever! I still haven't worn out my first pair from freshman year and I'm a sophomore in college. They are the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned. I wear them almost everyday. They take a little getting used to if you've never worn them before, but they are perfect once you get them broken in. They are the type that have the changeable color in the Nike Swish. They're only $66, which I think is completely reasonable.



Currently my squad is wearing Varsity Spirit II. I don't know much about them but I've heard they have some great reviews. They just got them a week ago, so next time I see them I'll ask how they like them. They look great in the picture, but look a little funny on the foot. I think it is just the lacing that the picture has compared to how a normal person would lace their shoes to fit their foot. They're $72, which for a good cheer shoe I don't think that is a bad.



I have heard so much about Nfinity shoes that I am really eager to try them out. I was so sad when I found out that they are only for all-star cheer, BUT Nfinity has come out with a  shoe designed specifically for sideline cheer. It's called the Nfinity Game Day. I don't know anything about this specific shoe but I have heard rave reviews of the other Nfinity shoes and I'm sure these will be just as good. They look really similar to the Nfinity Evolution and those are really popular, so I can only assume that these would fit relatively similar. They are $69.99, completely reasonably priced. They look like they go up the ankle a little more than the Nike's I'm used to though, and I would love to know how that will affect jumps and any tumbling that we do. 



Warmups: I will require warmups for my squad. I will not allow my squad to look like a bunch of bums. I am absolutely IN LOVE with Varsity's cold weather gear. It includes everything that a squad would need to keep warm in the Midwest. The jacket costs $55.95. The gloves cost $19.95. The leggings can easily be made by adding a piece of ribbon to plain leggings, over all leggings can be bought very cheep (I got my newest pairs for $7 woop woop!) and ribbon is only a few dollars. The ear warmer can be bought relatively cheep (probably $5 at Walmart) and with the use of an embroidery machine can be personalized with the mascot's name or the cheerleader's name.


Poms: When I cheered we always had one red pom and one black pom. Last year was the first year for a new coach and she picked the ugliest poms ever. They are those two color poms in red and black. I was so glad that I had graduated and didn't have to deal with them. This year she decided to make the girls get WHITE poms. YUCK! They've turned yellow from their hand sweat and dirt. We had such nice poms and then this new coach chose the nastiest poms ever. I am also a fan of pink poms for breast cancer. I think that those should be purchased by the squad and used for the breast cancer pink out games, rather than have the girls buy their own. If the girls would like to they are welcome to purchase their own pink poms. Pink poms are only $21 and I believe that metallic red and black poms are comparable in price.

Makeup: My squad always let each girl did her own makeup, her own way. Recently I have heard of squads who make girls buy the same makeup and wear their makeup the same way. I think this is a good way to keep with the uniformity of the squad. My school's colors were red, black, and white. Red eye makeup looks scary, so I prefer to do the silvery white and black. Add shimmery, sparkly glittery stuff (I suck at makeup) and it is perfect.



Team wear: I love personalized team wear. Hoodies, oversized sweaters, t-shirts, tank tops, sports bras. I love it all with your name, mascot, school name, graduation year. These. just these. I love oversized sweat shirts with leggings, and I would have loved to have one when I was still cheering.


My squad bought something like this my senior year. It had our school name and graduation year on the front and out names on the back all in glittery print. They looked great on! I would definintly want some for my own girls.



I would love to have these for my squad. I think they are fun and I've only ever seen them on pinterest.



Practice Wear: It is the in thing for all-stars to wear sports bras and Nike Pros for practice. I'm not entirely sure if my school allows that. I think it looks best and if the school doesn't like it, I will just fight for it. We always got ugly Varsity t-shirts that were too busy. I like clean simple designs and Varsity's t-shirts are way too busy. I like these in red, white, and black with the school's name or mascot.


















If my girls can't wear just a sports bra, these t-shirts and tanks would still be cute to practice in. Any of these would also make really cute hoodies.

 





The popular choice would be Nike Pros for shorts, but Soffe recently came out with their own line of spandex shorts and I have heard that they are just as great as Nike's but only $20 compared to Nike's $35. I'm really interested in trying them out especially since I LOVE Soffe.