Does your gym have a coaches training/orientation? My prior gym did this, and it was absolutely invaluable. They taught is the exact technique to be used for everything, effective ways to run practice, how to deal with certain issues, etc. Try talking to your owner/director and see what exactly it is that the expect of you. I can answer these in terms of how I was trained, but every gym is different:)
1. How is your practice run? Whats the best length of time? What do you do for conditioning?
We had to submit a practice plan to the director to be approved for each day. Two practices a week fo 3 hours plus a 60 or 90 min tumbling class every week. They would look something like this:
Wed-6p-9p
6-7 team tumble
7-730 jump conditioning
730-8 baskets
8-830 stunt 1
830-9 condition
Sun- 1p-4p
1-130 jump conditioning
130-2 stunt 2
2-230- pyramid
230-300- baskets
300-330 dance/motion cleaning
330-400 conditioning
2. Do you have strict rules that make your team a better team? Structure vs fun?
Work before play, at least as far as a senior team is concerned. If they have a good practice with full attendance and focus, I'd take the 30 min of conditioning out and do some fun team stuff at the end:) There is a thread on here about motivating your team and a lot of people put in some great ideas that they use at their gym. The best ones were from @
FamousRudags and @
HotCheerCoachCaleigh if I remember correctly:)
3. Thoughts on practice wear and hair bows?
Personally, I think it's important to look the part. If you look like a team, and your hair is pulled back neatly with a bow, you're going to be more focused at practice. It's also much easier to clean and work on timing when everyone looks the same IMO
4. How do I initiate team bonding?
I'm not sure what you mean by this... come up with games and activities, and ask your team to come up with ideas of things they think would be fun- bowling, laser tag, sleepover, etc. Try to do one a month, and let them vote on what they want to do:)
