Yesterday, I showed up to teach my Acroyoga class at the YMCA and witnessed a verbal altercation between a parent and a coach. The interaction upset me enough to write this post. I’ve written about this here and a somewhat relative post on comp behavior. The hardest part of coaching is almost always dealing with the parents (though for me, it is sometimes also at odds with my administrators over what a cheer team should be). ...
I was reading this cheerleading blog today when I came up to a quote that I have to pass on. The article is part of One Two Down Up, a blog for a cheerleading coach who doesn’t make their identity easily known. (I could probably find it, but I’m too lazy) One of the articles is about Cheer Parents, The Ups and Downs of a Cheerleading Coach: Those Crazy CHEER PARENTS. ...
Yesterday went through my second AACCA certification class. This time my instructor was Mike Burgess, my last instructor was Lisa Moscow (former regional director for UCA in the northeast). Lisa was great, she was very experienced in the sport, and made sure to get the key points across. Mike had a lot to live up to, but I can say with assurance that he thrashed my expectations. I’m not sure what factor contributed most to my learning this time around: ...
I was driving my friend Mike home from a bike ride, when he asked me if I thought that I had learned anything unique from cheerleading. Whether that sport in and of itself was unique enough that I felt I had learned things that I might not have learned from a different sport. This is a really great question. Now, I chose cheerleading because it captured my interest with the gymnastics and throwing people around, not to mention the great seats for football and basketball games, but I do feel I have taken some unique things from the sport that might be hard to find in total in any other sport. I think some of the things I’m about to mention can be achieved in other sports, but I don’t think the combination of all of them really exist. ...
For some reason I try to keep myself objective when I coach. I don’t want to play favorites; I want to be fair; I want to have logical reasons for why I do everything I do. This is one way to coach, but the more I think about it, the more I dislike this method. I’m not getting closer to the kids, I’m not learning about them, and I’m keeping them from learning about me. I’m hoping to change this. This post is about the first steps. ...