Planners. We all have one or we are told we should all have one. Every year I spend money on buying at least two which get used for a month or so and then sit dusty on my shelf. The thing about planning is that nothing ever goes according to plan. It has taken me 25 (I am only 24) years to really understand that. When I planned things as a child, if they did not run smoothly, there was undoubtedly a crying fit and an adult blamed for messing up my schedule. Then as I grew older I learned about procrastination, which killed motivation for planning and for getting things accomplished in general. In college there was always tomorrow which always turned into the night before.
Well as a coach I have tried my best to schedule practices but the thing with kids is, you never know at what point you are going to get them at 100% and at what point their ADD medicine is slowly but surely wearing off. I try to keep a base line of things I want to get accomplished and then work towards those goals. If they hit those goals then we were successful.
I am trying very hard to apply that ideal to my life. This way I can not be so upset when things don't go according to plan but yet actually set goals for myself. So for this weekend coming up, I want to enjoy my days off but I also need to get some things accomplished. Last weekend it worked pretty well!
> Clean My Car!! Number 1 Most Important!
> Finish "My Disaster Movie" Kit- (Will Explain More Later)
> Attend my Best Friend's Engagement Party
> Work on Hair Bows for my Youth Team
> Choreograph the Cheer Portion to My High School Routine
Lets hope it all gets accomplished and I have fun while doing it all!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
The Wave- Weekend In Baltimore
*Note- I said this blog is not only about cheer coaching but also life lessons! This is simply a life story, not directly related with coaching!
This weekend My Boyfriend (to be called "R" from now on) and I headed to Baltimore with his parents for a belated fathers day present. The actual present was tickets to a Baltimore Orioles game. They were playing the Washington Nationals. Both teams have been doing fairly well this year so we hoped the outcome would be a toss up.
Let me back up.. For those of you who know me, I am a big baseball fan. I have been watching The New York Yankees since I was a little girl. Now before you cancel out the window because you could not possibly read a blog written by a fan of the "evil empire" recognize two things. 1. I used to watch baseball with my grandpa religiously. It was our little way of bonding. 2. I have been watching the Yanks since the 97'/98' era. It was a time when all of the players were young and enthusiastic. They played for the love of the game not necessarily the money. The time of Young Jeter, Chuckles at second, Tino Martinez on First, Bernie in Center, Scotty B on Third and Paul O'neil practicing this golf swing out in right field. They were an amazing team to grow up watching and they are the reason I love baseball. Sometimes I compare them to the Texas Rangers the past two years. Not so much this year (to me the Ranger's don't have the same twinkle they had the past two years), but definitely 10' and 11'. Too bad they couldn't pull out and win a World Series, hopefully third time is a charm this year!
Anyways, because I am a true supporter of the American League (go DH, poo NL), so I put on some Orange and Black and planned to root for the Orioles. Later of course I was heckled by my mom, a huge Yankee fan as well, who feels that since I started dating R my pinstripes have faded. We headed to the harbor and dinner at an Irish Pub right in the harbor, stopped a bar for one additional drink and headed to the park. The game was enjoyable (the O's ended up losing) but two really cool things happened!
The first was that we were looking around the baseball park and saw this tall guy dancing in a pink cowboy hat and a green dress. After closer look, it was R's roommate from VCU! How random! He was there from VA Beach with his Rugby team for a Bachelor Party Weekend. We sat with the Rugby players until they started getting a little un-rooly for me (showing their man parts to each other- yikes!). But they were HUGE men! The one on the left of me, was so big and had hair like Troy Polamalu! One guy behind me had a big scar down the center of his face, and a third had the most epic mustache I have ever seen!
The second thing that happened that was really awesome was an entire ball-park wave! Now most people can say they have been part of a wave at a sporting event but how many can say that they were two seats away from the guy who started it! He tried soooo hard to get it going and it was about the 5th or 6th time that he got it going. It ended up circiling all the way around the park 5 or 6 times! Pretty long wave! The video doesn't do it justice at all, but you can see part of it!
But over all it was a fun weekend with R and his parents! I always have a good time going on mini-adventures and enjoying new experiences when I am not in the cheer gym! Hopefully the rest of the summer will bring some more exciting times!
This weekend My Boyfriend (to be called "R" from now on) and I headed to Baltimore with his parents for a belated fathers day present. The actual present was tickets to a Baltimore Orioles game. They were playing the Washington Nationals. Both teams have been doing fairly well this year so we hoped the outcome would be a toss up.
Let me back up.. For those of you who know me, I am a big baseball fan. I have been watching The New York Yankees since I was a little girl. Now before you cancel out the window because you could not possibly read a blog written by a fan of the "evil empire" recognize two things. 1. I used to watch baseball with my grandpa religiously. It was our little way of bonding. 2. I have been watching the Yanks since the 97'/98' era. It was a time when all of the players were young and enthusiastic. They played for the love of the game not necessarily the money. The time of Young Jeter, Chuckles at second, Tino Martinez on First, Bernie in Center, Scotty B on Third and Paul O'neil practicing this golf swing out in right field. They were an amazing team to grow up watching and they are the reason I love baseball. Sometimes I compare them to the Texas Rangers the past two years. Not so much this year (to me the Ranger's don't have the same twinkle they had the past two years), but definitely 10' and 11'. Too bad they couldn't pull out and win a World Series, hopefully third time is a charm this year!
Anyways, because I am a true supporter of the American League (go DH, poo NL), so I put on some Orange and Black and planned to root for the Orioles. Later of course I was heckled by my mom, a huge Yankee fan as well, who feels that since I started dating R my pinstripes have faded. We headed to the harbor and dinner at an Irish Pub right in the harbor, stopped a bar for one additional drink and headed to the park. The game was enjoyable (the O's ended up losing) but two really cool things happened!
The first was that we were looking around the baseball park and saw this tall guy dancing in a pink cowboy hat and a green dress. After closer look, it was R's roommate from VCU! How random! He was there from VA Beach with his Rugby team for a Bachelor Party Weekend. We sat with the Rugby players until they started getting a little un-rooly for me (showing their man parts to each other- yikes!). But they were HUGE men! The one on the left of me, was so big and had hair like Troy Polamalu! One guy behind me had a big scar down the center of his face, and a third had the most epic mustache I have ever seen!
R's Roommate, R, and Me
The second thing that happened that was really awesome was an entire ball-park wave! Now most people can say they have been part of a wave at a sporting event but how many can say that they were two seats away from the guy who started it! He tried soooo hard to get it going and it was about the 5th or 6th time that he got it going. It ended up circiling all the way around the park 5 or 6 times! Pretty long wave! The video doesn't do it justice at all, but you can see part of it!
But over all it was a fun weekend with R and his parents! I always have a good time going on mini-adventures and enjoying new experiences when I am not in the cheer gym! Hopefully the rest of the summer will bring some more exciting times!
Friday, June 22, 2012
How Mean Is Too Mean?
So recently I have been faced with a personal coaching challenge- drawing the line between being too mean or being a push over.
When I first started coaching in 2009, I was the roughest, toughest coach you could imagine. I took all the lessons that my very less than perfect cheer coach taught me about coaching and applied them to the kids I was now coaching. Then in my 2010-2011 season for one of my senior level teams, I had a parent have the audacity to say that my coaching style was "mentally abusive" towards her child. It crushed me. Not once had I ever gotten into an athletes face yelling at them to be better, not once had I used cuss words or slurs, not once did I put players up against each other to duke it out for a spot in the formation. What I did do was tell kids when they were not performing correctly, yell at them when they did not pay attention, and made sure to be very stern about safety hazards. The thing with cheerleading is, if one person is not paying attention in a stunt or tumbling pass and someone could be severely injured.
Well after this statement, I was left shattered and confused about what a coach was supposed to do. So for my 2011-2012 season I took a very laid back approach, not disciplining the girls, not training them the way I wanted to but instead the way the parents did and what I was left with was a team that had to drop a level mid season, a very less than perfect routine, and rankings way lower than the year before. Needless to say, that approach did not work either.
This summer I started coaching at an additional program as the assistant to a young man (we shall call him D), for a youth level team. Let me start out by saying, I think D is a fantastic coach and really pushes the girls to their full potential. I initially met D when he was training my high school team in tumbling and I have fully enjoyed working side by side with him the past couple of weeks. However, last night on my hour commute home from the gym, I started thinking about practice and D's coaching style. He is very upfront with the little ones. When they are wrong, he tells them to do it again. When they cry, he tells them to suck it up and keep fighting. When they condition, he works them till their muscles shake. But what does he have to show for it, two 7 year old girls working on very advanced tumbling skills, an entire youth team with tripple jumps and standing backhandsprings and a heck of a lot of respect from the kids.
They love me because I play the good cop and compliment their good efforts and listen to their 7 year old stories about this one time when their big brother picked on them but they love him because they are there to become athletes and win competitions. And sometimes at practice I just wish D would be a little bit nicer but I am sure he looks at me and thinks "step up and yell already". But I think that is what makes us work well together, a mix of the hard work and dedication that you need to force yourself to have if you want to be successful and a bit of the spirit that gives girls the confidence they need to be amazing.
When I first started coaching in 2009, I was the roughest, toughest coach you could imagine. I took all the lessons that my very less than perfect cheer coach taught me about coaching and applied them to the kids I was now coaching. Then in my 2010-2011 season for one of my senior level teams, I had a parent have the audacity to say that my coaching style was "mentally abusive" towards her child. It crushed me. Not once had I ever gotten into an athletes face yelling at them to be better, not once had I used cuss words or slurs, not once did I put players up against each other to duke it out for a spot in the formation. What I did do was tell kids when they were not performing correctly, yell at them when they did not pay attention, and made sure to be very stern about safety hazards. The thing with cheerleading is, if one person is not paying attention in a stunt or tumbling pass and someone could be severely injured.
I definitely never looked like this guy!!
Well after this statement, I was left shattered and confused about what a coach was supposed to do. So for my 2011-2012 season I took a very laid back approach, not disciplining the girls, not training them the way I wanted to but instead the way the parents did and what I was left with was a team that had to drop a level mid season, a very less than perfect routine, and rankings way lower than the year before. Needless to say, that approach did not work either.
This summer I started coaching at an additional program as the assistant to a young man (we shall call him D), for a youth level team. Let me start out by saying, I think D is a fantastic coach and really pushes the girls to their full potential. I initially met D when he was training my high school team in tumbling and I have fully enjoyed working side by side with him the past couple of weeks. However, last night on my hour commute home from the gym, I started thinking about practice and D's coaching style. He is very upfront with the little ones. When they are wrong, he tells them to do it again. When they cry, he tells them to suck it up and keep fighting. When they condition, he works them till their muscles shake. But what does he have to show for it, two 7 year old girls working on very advanced tumbling skills, an entire youth team with tripple jumps and standing backhandsprings and a heck of a lot of respect from the kids.
They love me because I play the good cop and compliment their good efforts and listen to their 7 year old stories about this one time when their big brother picked on them but they love him because they are there to become athletes and win competitions. And sometimes at practice I just wish D would be a little bit nicer but I am sure he looks at me and thinks "step up and yell already". But I think that is what makes us work well together, a mix of the hard work and dedication that you need to force yourself to have if you want to be successful and a bit of the spirit that gives girls the confidence they need to be amazing.
I do think there is a fine line between my coaching style and D's and I think that line is actually a word- Education. I think we are all there to teach the kids lessons about not only cheerleading but also life and as long as we don't spend too much time screaming or not screaming we will succeed as coaches.
Me and Coach D at Dynamic Camp's 1st Annual Valley Blast Camp
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
My Life As A Cheerleading Coach
Coaching. By far one of the best experiences I have had in my lifetime. Some moments of coaching give you the highest highs of your life and sometimes when the practices are hard, the girls hate you, and parents wont get off your back you never want to go back into the gym. But there is something about the face of an athlete when he/she accomplishes a new skill that makes you come back for more.
I work with three teams. I am the Head Coach of the Varsity Competition Cheerleading Team at Western Albemarle High School. I also volunteer head coach a Senior Level 1/2 All-Star Team at CSS All-Stars as well as summer volunteer assistant coach a Youth Level 2 All-Star Team at Elevations All-Stars. I coach girls aging from 6-18 and I wouldn't change a thing. Each athlete has their own quirky amazing talents that you have to appreciate. I have "Perry", a middle school aged girl who loves photography and telling stories that last for hours. One they call Tiger, a eight year old, who is constantly caught dancing in the mirrors in the gym. And I can't forget about D, one of my high school girls who made me cookies for helping her simply get through this past year of school.
I love each of my girls in their own very special way and as the seasons start up for each of the teams, I can't wait to see how they grow up and achieve new skills!
I work with three teams. I am the Head Coach of the Varsity Competition Cheerleading Team at Western Albemarle High School. I also volunteer head coach a Senior Level 1/2 All-Star Team at CSS All-Stars as well as summer volunteer assistant coach a Youth Level 2 All-Star Team at Elevations All-Stars. I coach girls aging from 6-18 and I wouldn't change a thing. Each athlete has their own quirky amazing talents that you have to appreciate. I have "Perry", a middle school aged girl who loves photography and telling stories that last for hours. One they call Tiger, a eight year old, who is constantly caught dancing in the mirrors in the gym. And I can't forget about D, one of my high school girls who made me cookies for helping her simply get through this past year of school.
I love each of my girls in their own very special way and as the seasons start up for each of the teams, I can't wait to see how they grow up and achieve new skills!
Welcome To My Blog!
I have tried a couple of times now to be successful at blog writing, but I always get nervous that readers wont like what I have to say or care about my life. Well this time is different, this time I am simply writing for me. A place to write keep track of my thoughts and my lessons learned not only during coaching but also in life. I am excited to get started!
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