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.

 

Fundraiser Ideas

At the local summer festival charge $5 to have a child stunt with the cheerleading squad. Put up a few mats and put kids up into a thigh stand, a half, a shoulder sit, maybe a chair. Something relatively easy that almost anyone could do.

Rent a cotton candy machine (costs about $70 for the machine with cotton candy mix, and $10 each additional pack of mix). At the local festival sell cotton candy for $2.

My squad has a ton of old uniforms. There are no complete sets that would fit the entire squad. Think about selling those old uniforms. They are taking up space in the cheer closet. Old cheerleaders would love to be able to buy their old uniforms, and people who wish they were cheerleaders could buy them.

Take the old uniforms and convert them into bags. I've seen this all over pinterest, where squads are taking their old shells and skirts and making a seam and turning them into ADORABLE bags. I would totally buy one. If you can't sell enough of them in your neighborhood, you can always put them online for other people to buy.

Talk to local sporting good stores that sell team gear and see if you can get a percentage of their sales on a certain day or on certain products over a course of a few days.

Go to a local restaurant and see if the squad can waitress for a day and get a percentage of the sales of the tables they wait. I know Pizza Hut does this with their buffet. They fundraising group gets most of the tables in the restaurant (one group of tables goes to a regular waitress), all tips from the tables waited by the fundraiser goes to them, and a percentage of the sales of the buffets go to the group as well. It is an easy way to earn a few hundred dollars, just be sure to advertise beforehand.

Slave for a day. Put up a glamor shot of each cheerleader. Do a silent auction before school, during lunch, and after school for student to bid to have a cheerleader be their "slave" for a day. The "slave" would do a set list of things for the "Master" like save them a parking spot in the front row, bring them their lunch, carry their books to class (the "slaves" would be allowed to come to class 5- 10 minutes late), bring them lunch, etc. Specifically say that sexual acts, or anything that goes against school policy is strictly prohibited.

Kiss a pig pep rally. I'm from the Midwest so there are a ton of farm animals around. This sounds like a great idea. Put a jar out before school, during lunch and after school. Charge $1 a vote for a cheerleader to kiss a pig (or any other available farm animal) during a pep rally before a game.

Sell squad cheerleading calendars. You can easily make these online through VistaPrint for under $10 a piece. See if a local photographer will take pictures of the squad for free or a discounted price. Make sure to thank the photographer somewhere in the calendar. This is free advertising for the photographer. 

Donation letters: send out letters to friends, families, local businesses and ask for money. Make it fun. For example: $1- $5 donations receive a personalized thank you letter signed by the squad. $5-$15 donations receive a signed picture of the squad. $15- $25 donations receive a squad cheerleading calendar. Donations over $25 receive .

Hold a cheer camp. Invite students from the local elementary and middle schools to come to learn cheer basics: motions, stunts, dances, cheers. Charge $20 per child for a 3 day event during a school break.

Bag groceries: See if your local grocery store will allow you to bag groceries for a day. Place a donation box next to the cash register.

Scholarship Plans

There are't nearly enough cheer scholarships. I want to start one once I graduate (and have money). Requirements:

• High school senior
• Must have 3.0 GPA or higher (verified by submitting a transcript)
• Must have verification of being on the varsity squad by some form of documentation (ie: roster) 
• Must have a letter of recommendation from coach
• Must include community service activities 
• Must include cheer resume video (on flash drive)
• Must attend an accredited university the year after graduation
• Scholarship due October 1. You will be notified of results February 1. 

The Well-rounded Cheerleader: I am looking for 2 cheerleaders (1 male, 1 female) who have a true passion for the sport. I want to award cheerleaders who have the whole package: jumps, stunts, dances, tumbling, cheers, community involvement, cheer involvement, good attitude, good grades. 

Most Dedicated Cheerleader: I am also looking for one cheerleader (male or female) who may not be the best on their squad but they have the most spirit, dedication, and love for the sport.

Cheer video resume:

• Name
• Birthday
• Address
• Phone number 
• College you plan to attend
• Name of squad you are currently on
• Scholarship applying for
• Best jumps, tumbling, dances, stunts, cheers, sidelines (where applicable)
• Number of years you have been involved in cheer
• What cheer means to you
• Your favorite part of cheer
• Any cheer awards won

Cheer Homework

I just read that to be a good athlete you need to be a student of your sport. At first I didn't understand what it meant. Then it hit me. It means that to be a good athlete you need to study your sport. Football players do this I know. They have their games recorded and after the game the coach goes through the plays highlighting what they did well or poorly. The coach uses the video as a learning tool so the athletes can see what they did wrong. I've wanted to do this with my squad for years but it never got accomplished. I want to take the videos as a learning opportunity to the next level. I want to have my girls do cheer homework. What is that? Well I was thinking of having the girls watch YouTube videos on something they are struggling with, like a jump or a stunt. Or maybe have them e-mail me a YouTube video and time in it of a stunt they would like to try. Or a dance that is cute. Maybe have the girls send me music suggestions for the next dance. I want their brains constantly thinking of cheer. Everything in their life should revolve around it or they aren't dedicated enough. If you aren't dedicated enough to be a student of cheer, then why are you involved in the sport? This sport requires immense passion and I ask that of my athletes. 

Picking A Squad and Conditioning

I'm sure I'm not the first one who has thought of this but with my squad I would like to benchmark all of my girls. I think it should start at tryouts. I will need to see what level every girl who is trying out is on. The level that they are on stamina and skill wise is a major factor in who to choose for the squad. I feel like benchmarking every girl would be a lot though.

Maybe I should judge the girls on what skill level they are on first. See what kind of tumbling they can do, how their jumps look, how well they can learn a routine, what level stunts they have; then, choose the top girls from that. After I choose the girls with the greatest skill level, see who have the most stamina. But don't choose just based off of who has the best stamina. Before you can choose your girls you need to look at height. Your bases need to be within a few inches of each other so they can be interchanged in stunts. The back spots need to be a little taller than the bases so they can get a grip on the flyer's ankles. I don't think that grabbing the bases' wrists works as well as pulling up on the flyer's ankles. This may sound shallow, but the flyers need to be thin, muscular, flexible, and preferably short.

Another factor to take into consideration is the girls' history. How do they perform in school? Are poor grades going to keep them from cheering? If they are I don't want you. I don't want to put my time and energy into training you if you are going to get benched because of grades. Are you a trouble maker? Do you get into fights? Do you have a problem listening to your teachers? Do you back talk to adults? I don't want you if you have behavioral issues. I am a cheer coach, not a baby sitter. You are a cheerleader, not a hooligan. Do you start a lot of boy drama? Are you constantly changing boyfriends? Are you starting fights between other girls over boys? I don't want to deal with an emotionally distraught cheerleader every other week because she has bad taste in men who keep breaking up with her. I don't want to have to deal with an athlete who is going to ruin the name of the program because she got pregnant. If you can't keep it in your pants, I don't want you to be my cheerleader. And most importantly do all the possibilities get along? Is there one girl that everyone hates? Are there cliques? I want all of my girls to be friends. If they can't all get along then I am going to get rid of the problem child. 

I feel like this last point is the most important when choosing girls to be on your squad. You can train for skills and stamina. Height differences aren't going to bring a squad down. It is how the girls behave that matters. It is their attitudes about each other and the program that can run a squad into the ground. If they don't respect their team mates, coach, and the program they are going to be the weakest link and need to be purged from the squad before they do irreparable damage to it.

This following list is a rough list of the things I would like to benchmark my girls on. I believe that starting them at their personal level then helping them progress will help build them not only as a cheerleader but as a person. It isn't a huge deal to me how much stamina my girls have in the beginning as long as they work hard to achieve what I want from them. I can train them to be at the level I want them on. I just need their effort and dedication. I will make a personal workout list for my girls to do on their own that will help them develop their weaker areas. For example, if a girl doesn't have the leg strength I would put frog jumps, wall sits, mountain climbers, and leg circles on her list. If a girl has poor jumps I would have her do frog jumps, leg circles, extra jumps on her own, more stretching, I would suggest jump bands. Every day at practice I would like to do an hour and a half of conditioning, then another hour and a half of dance, tumbling, and stunting. Every 20 minutes they can have a 2 minute water break, and a 1 minute break between each item on the list. I expect each of my girls to be stretched before they start practice. This list seems like a lot to me, but I'm not sure if that's because it is a lot or if it's because my squad didn't condition... like at all. I saw how my squad was with no conditioning and I want to push my girls to be the best possible cheerleaders they can be.
 

• Suicides-----------------------------10 minutes
• Bear crawl--------------------------5 minutes
• Burpes-------------------------------5 minutes
• Frog jumps-------------------------5minutes
• Wall sits-----------------------------5 minutes
• Mountain climbers-----------------5 minutes
• Planks--------------------------------5 minutes
• Hand stands-------------------------5 minutes
• V-up----------------------------------150
• Leg circles--------------------------5 minutes each
• Laps----------------------------------10
• Crab dips----------------------------5 minutes each
• Splits---------------------------------5 minutes each
• Push ups-----------------------------50
• Sit ups-------------------------------150
• Box jumps--------------------------5 minutes
• ladders-------------------------------each set twice
• Toe touch----------------------------5 perfect in a row
• Hurdler------------------------------5 perfect in a row
• Herkie--------------------------------5 perfect in a row
• Pike-----------------------------------5 perfect in a row
• Kicks---------------------------------100 each side
• Flexibility/ Balance (What can they pull?)
• Back bend
• Lib
• Heel stretch
• Scale
• Arabesque
• Scorpion
• Chin- chin
• Bow and arrow
• Needle

• Tumbling (Note: Do not choose cheerleaders just based off tumbling ability. Tumbling can be taught, a love of the sport can't. If a girl really loves to cheer but has a significantly lower skill level than the rest of the squad do not immediately dismiss her. She may have a lot of untapped potential that you would just be throwing away)
• Cartwheel
• Round off
• Aerial
• Handspring
• Tuck
• Layout
• Full
• Double Full

There are Consequences to Your Actions/ In-Actions

Ok I was just catching up on Cheerleaders, because I was WAY behind, and Eddy has a great method of punishing his cheerleaders if they drop a stunt or it bobbles at a comp: do that stunt Perfect 20 times. Why had I not thought of this? My squad was ALWAYS dropping stunts (that's what happens when you don't practice) and I was always trying to think up a good way to punish my girls and work on the stunt. This is like a super simple solution. I am absolutely in LOVE.

My coach always said that if we could do a stunt 3 times in a row perfect that it was game-ready. I don't think that this is enough times to know for sure that you aren't going to drop it. I definitely think that more times are needed. 20 may be a little excessive, but I think that the repetition will get it into their minds that dropping a stunt is not tolerable

I also feel that repeating a stunt 20 times perfect (that's at least 20 times, not counting the times that the stunt isn't perfect) may cause injury. I know from the base and backstop's point of view that repetitive stunting is hard on your body. Your wrists, back, legs, and arms hurt. I was never a flyer, so I don't know how their body feels after stunting for long periods of time, but I can imagine that their body feels just as bad if not worse that the bases and backspot. When you're excessively tired is when mistakes are made and in cheerleading an innocent mistake can cause serious injuries.

Cheerleaders need to learn that mistakes are not acceptable, but safety needs to be first and foremost. I think that maybe the number of times a stunt should be repeated perfectly will also depend on the squad and the stunt group. For one stunt group, repeating a stunt 10 times may be miserable, to another stunt group it may take 20 repetitions to feel the same pain.

I Think I'm Going To Do It

After not cheering for 2 years, I have decided that I just can't NOT cheer ever again. I want to start up cheer lessons in my community because this isn't offered in my area. The closest cheer gym is almost 40 miles away. I live in a relatively poor community that can't afford costs of cheer and travel. I want to offer these lessons to give young girls the basics they need to go on to cheer competitively or in high school. These lessons will help the high school squad in the long run because the coach will not have to spend time teaching the basics at the beginning of the season and can get started on learning material. This post is generally going to be me working out the logistics of what I need to do to get this started. Its not a final draft of what I will do, but rather getting my thoughts out.

Location: See if I can use the high school gym, or talk to a church if the high school is not available.

People to talk to: Talk to high school and junior high coaches. Learn what they want the girls to know for their squad and integrate it into the program, talk to school administration for permission to use high school, church board for a church.

Certification: Get certification to have a business, become certified to coach cheer, stunting, and tumbling

Curriculum: Develop a plan of progression. Follow rules set forth by the AACCA or USASF. Youth Recreational Cheer does not have set rules.

Advertising: Facebook page for community, flyers in gas stations, grocery stores, day cares, Twitter for high school

Fees: $20 a session (2-hours), $30 administration fee

Waver: Have parents sign waver saying I am not liable for injuries. Kids must have medical insurance and a physical on file

Ages: 6- 18. General beginner cheer lessons to start with.

Is there anything else I didn't think of??

MIX IT UP

My squad was a bit ridic when it came to dances, sidelines, and cheers. My coach didn't know how to come up with new cheer and dances herself so we only used the material that we learned through the UCA camps and tryout DVDs. Yea. Those SUCK! Because my coach didn't know how to come up with her own stuff the UCA material was all that we knew... We did the EXACT SAME dances, cheers, and sidelines my 4 years of high school. That is one of those things that DRIVES ME CRAZY! I like to mix it up and we got stuck doing the same thing every game, sometimes in the exact same order as the previous game because she was too lazy to change it. The crowd wasn't stupid, they knew what she was pulling. And that is probably one of the reasons they didn't get involved. They had seen it all before. I am a strong believer in coming up with your own dances, cheers, and sidelines for your squad. Doing those robotic nasty UCA dances are SOOOOO junior high. If you're going to jack someone else material at least make it good material! I would also suggest jacking it from a school across the country so they don't find you and bring a beat down (Obvious Sarcasm).

Now I'm just going to link up some Youtube videos of stuff that I like (at least pieces of it I like) and would be cool to use as inspiration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QE0TJBF7Ro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if02tS5-Glk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYLEPtdw4Rk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL2luR8Y6Xs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40oZ0PVPRzs

You are beautiful

There is no body type you have to have to be a cheerleader. I am 5"5' and my weight ranges from 145 to  155. I have a huge butt, a bit of a tummy, and thunder thighs. I was still cheer captain. My co-captain was almost 6 foot tall, skinny, and all legs. She backed and I based. We had a short chubby girl fly one season. We also had flyers who were 5 foot 2 and 110 pounds. My point is that just because you aren't a short skinny girl doesn't mean that you can't cheer. Cheerleaders come in all shapes and sizes. We are not all alike like the media portrays us to be. We are each unique, special, and beautiful. The squad needs all types of girls. Don't think that just because you don't have a model's body mean that you can't cheer. If I can do it I know you can too. Just prove yourself and your skills and leave it all out on the mat. 

Watch Those Motions!!

My cheer pet peeve: Shitty motions. For the love of all things sparkly why is it so hard for some people to figure out how to do a right or a left punch? WHY??????? Its so easy!! Straighten your arm, put it right next to your ear, thumb tucked, squeeze your muscles, and pretend that a puppet master has your arm on a string and is pulling it straight up. Your hand should NEVER be over your head or in front of you. It should always be straight above your shoulder. Why do some girls hook their arm? You ain't no pirate! Why do some girls push their arm forward? That looks like you are a deformed unicorn with a horn coming out of your shoulder. Why do some girls tilt their heads so they can touch their ear to their arm, instead of pulling straight up from your shoulder? Girl you confused. See this girl on the left is doing a unicorn. The girl on the middle has a hook. The girl way in the back is doing it right.

Then the people who can't do a high or a low-V. Your arms should not be parallel with your body. If you look straight ahead while doing a high or low-V then you should see both fists out of the corners of your eyes. Your arms will be in front of your body.And for the love of all things sparkly watch your wrists! Your arm should be straight. Don't push your wrists up, down, left, or right during the motion. The top of your hand should be level with the rest of your arm and there should be a straight line from the pinky side of your hand to your shoulder. I see a lot of flyers do this! They have what I like to call broken wrists. It looks like this. (and a little side note: Never cheer at a game in a T-shirt. That's NASTY!)











If you are doing a touchdown PLEASE do it correctly! It's just a left punch and a right punch at the same time. This is the wrong way for it to look. Her arms should be touching her ears just like the three girls on the left of the other picture.
















 And when you do a low touchdown a good rule of thumb is to squeeze your boobs together with your elbows. Obviously you keep your arms straight while you do the squeezing and your arms will be a little in front of you.











 And PLEASE watch your arms when you're doing a broken T!!! This is the GROSSEST motion if its done wrong. Look at it. EWW! Keep your arms flat and right in front of your shoulders.

A T is just like a high or low V in premise. Its just in front of you, perpendicular to your body. You always have to remember to keep your arms straight and not have one higher than the other.











When you do daggers you have to keep your arms at a right angle. From the side of your arm with your pinky to your elbow should be straight and parallel with your body. Your arms should be on either side of your boobs. If you push your boobs together too much the motion will end up looking like a mini high-V. If you don't tuck in your arms enough then it will look like a chicken wing. Chicken wing example.


















And lastly I will discuss an L. For the love of all things sparkly the girls on my squad had the HARDEST time doing an L correctly. I don't know what was so difficult about it, but they sucked at it. For an L put one arm in a punch position, and the other in a half T position. You have to make sure that your punch is perfectly straight and your half T is parallel with the ground. See this girl on the left is demonstrating the confused look when you do a punch because her head is tilted. If your arms aren't perfectly lined up with each other it could look NASTY.



 

That's pretty much the motions that get screwed up a lot. If you think I missed a big one then please tell me and I will add it. There are a ton of strange non-named motions that you will have to do, but they're all based off of the basic motions I just talked about. I hope this helped and rememeber! STAY SPARKLY!! 

Aging Out

I can't give any advice on how to deal with this subject. I haven't cheered for over a year now and I still am adjusting to not being a cheerleader. I can't watch a football or basketball game because all I do it critique the squad, miss doing the same things they are, and feel lost when I actually have to PAY to get in. HAHA. Cheerleading was the best thing to happen to me and now I can't do it. In a few years I am not going to know anyone on my old squad. The youngest girls I would have cheered with will be juniors this fall. And that's if they stick with it, because let's face it they are flakes. Pretty flakes that can't cheer, but flakes none the less. I don't want to be a girl who can't give it up and wants to relive high school again but high school was great. I loved high school. I had a great time. I met some awesome people. I did a lot of cool stuff. I was popular. People looked up to me. Now I don't have any of that and I miss it. I have held onto all of my old cheer clothes because I just can't give it up. I plan on decorating my room with all of my cheer clothes, poms, and awards next year because it will make me feel like I am still a part of cheer, even though I know I'm not and won't be at least until I graduate. I understand how it is to now have cheer in your life anymore and of you ever need someone to talk to I am here. I'm sorry I've been AWOL lately. I've been super busy at work. But school is about ready to start back up and I will be back posting a lot more. ❤

Expanding My Social Media Outlets

Alright so I started a YouTube channel and vine under my real name. And I have an ask now under cheerstrict.  If you want to know what I look like and check out my videos just comment or what ever and I'll give you the info. I'm still freaking out about giving away who I am so I'm not just gunna post it. You'll have to ask me for it. I'll apologize ahead of time if I don't look like you think I should and for the fact that I cuss. My videos are about a little bit of everything. I think I'm funny but don't we all think that? Lol just don't leave any mean comments on my videos. I'm super sensitive about that. While I'm at it I will shamelessly plug my new favorite person, Robby Ayala. He's gorgeous, smart, and incredibly funny. You should check him out. ❤ 

Trying Out and Getting Cut from the Squad

My first tryout was probably the most nerve wracking experience of my life. I was so confident that I wasn't going to make the squad because I had zero experience, couldn't tumble, didn't know the school song, I didn't know a left punch from buckets. I was a complete MESS. But I tried so hard to learn the sidelines and the dance that the coach noticed. I impressed her with my hard work even though I didn't know what I was doing. That is what I tell girls who have never cheered before who want to tryout. Try your absolute hardest and even if you don't do perfectly the coach will probably notice that you are putting forth more effort than probably half of the girls that are returning to the squad from last year. Making the squad makes you complacent about working to keep your spot, and their complacency gives you a boost over them.

I absolutely love encouraging new girls to tryout for cheer. I think it is the best sport to do if you don't have any previous experience. We can teach someone how to be a good cheerleader and put her on a squad or a division that will match her skill level. I kind of like new cheerleaders more than someone who has cheered before because they are a completely blank slate. You can mold them into the right cheerleader for your squad. That is why I don't understand why some squads don't want to bother with a brand new cheerleader. She could be your best cheerleader once she knows what she is doing.

When I tried out I didn't know any of the girls on the squad because I had just moved into a new school. I had one friend that was a cheerleader and she encouraged me to tryout. If you move to a new school find out who the cheerleaders are and talk to them. See what their squad is like.

Some squads focus on stunts, some on tumbling, some on dances, and some on actually cheering. If your new school focuses on tumbling for example and your old squad focused on stunting and you don't know how to tumble, you have the choice between giving up before you even start or talking to the coach about how you don't tumble but you can bring some killer stunt skills to the squad and she will probably understand. You can always learn how to tumble enough to keep up once you have made the squad. You just have to be able to prove that just because you are lacking in one area doesn't mean you are any less of a cheerleader.

But there will always be those bitchy coaches and cheerleaders who will think that and they may pom block you. If you get cut from your squad and you really wanted to cheer you can see if one of the cheerleaders that did make the squad are willing to work with you. If you don't know how to tumble I would definitely recommend going to a gym to learn. Learning from someone who isn't certified to teach tumbling can kill you or seriously injure you. It's just a bad idea. Don't do it.

You could choose though that you don't want to waste your time with a coach like that but that would mean giving up cheer. Another option you have is to look into trying out for a competition team (or if you got cut from a competition team, you could try out for your high school). Competitive cheer and high school cheer are really different though. High school cheerleaders have to have the stamina to cheer for hours on end and competitive cheerleaders have to be able to squeeze all of that into a few minutes. It depends on you what kind of squad you feel most comfortable with.

I started college last year and I knew that I couldn't make the squad because they do some crazy tumbling and I can barely do a forward roll. I didn't want to waste their time or mine trying out for a squad that was more advanced that I could ever dream of being. I looked into joining club cheerleading. Then I learned that they compete level 5 but they let everyone on the squad. I don't know how on earth they do that. They either don't have level 5 skills like they say or they bully anyone who doesn't have the right skills off the squad. Then I checked out youtube to see what they were like and they SUCKED. It was almost unbearable to watch for two and a half minutes. I decided that it wasn't for me. I don't have the skills to be on that kind of squad and I don't want them to bully me off the squad. I can live without cheering in college. I will just blog, get my ideas in order, and coach after I graduate. Its the choice I made, and you have to make your own.

Act Like The Role Model That You Are

Cheerleaders are one of the most looked up to group of people in our society. Every little girl wants to be a cheerleader when she grows up. This forces cheerleaders as a whole to present a united force. Not all cheerleaders are the same. Some are tall. Some are short. Some are skinny. Some are bigger. They can be blonde, brunette, or a red-head. They can cheer All-Star or High school. Everyone is different and we need to let the younger generation know this. You don't have to look like Barbie to be a cheerleader. Personally my favorite "Cheerleb" is Kira Shutt because she looks like someone I would be best friends with. Kira's personality (from what I've seen on Cheerleaders and her twitter account) seems to mesh well with my personality. She is afraid of losing her spot on her squad, she is always struggling with some aspect, and she has a really awesome VW bus. She isn't deathly thin, but rather has a healthy body. I see her tweets and I just love how down to earth she is. I see some cheerleader’s tweets and they are so shallow, talking only about tanning, Starbucks, bows, and Nike pros. They talk down to cheerleaders that don't do their kind of cheerleading and wear their preferred type of practice wear. Personally I am pale as a ghost because I am too busy to tan, am too poor to buy Starbucks (as much as I love it), have never owned a pair of Nike pros because I can't bring myself to buy a pair of $30 shorts, I only have 5 bows, and I have never even seen a pair of nfinities. Does that make me less of a cheerleader than you? Of course not. It just means we're different.  If cheerleaders keep focusing on these superficial things then they are going to give the next generation of cheerleaders the same ideas. These cheerleaders on twitter (and I follow over 200 of them) force their school work into the back seat while cheerleading takes the driver’s seat. How are these girls going to be functioning parts of society if they don't go to school? Little girls are looking up to you and thinking, "If they do cheerleading and don't go to school, I won't go to school either." Little girls see how you tan all the time and are going to do it too. Tanning causes skin cancer, and you doing it all the time is telling the people who look up to you that it's ok. Your tweets are always talking about how you hate the "basics" and "peasants". Cheerleading is a great sport, but it doesn't make you better than people who don't cheer. I have never met a group of cheerleaders who think so highly of themselves and so little of others. You really should be ashamed. Cheerleaders have a tremendous amount of power, and that requires a great amount of responsibility. If so many people are looking up to you and trying to emulate you, you need to act like someone you would be proud to follow yourself. If you decide that you are to "fat" and develop an eating disorder, there are hundreds of people looking up to you and it can cause them to follow in your footsteps. If you bully people, those who strive to be like you are going to bully people too. If you have a bad attitude towards non-cheerleaders, little girls are going to start to be standoff-ish to non-cheerleaders. Your actions have profound reactions and if you are not careful about how you carry yourself, you can be the reason someone loses their life whether it be to an eating disorder, bullying, or something else. Cheerleaders are always referencing Mean Girls, well think of the ending
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/F8gWTdF5Rzk?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
You are creating the next generation of "mean girls". Is that something you want to do?