All-Star Heart, Drive, And Chemistry

[catlady]

I am a firm believer you can put the best of the best on a team and still not get the win if they lack heart, drive and chemistry. In your experience, is this something that athletes have right from the beginning of the season, or is it something they can develop over time? And, if it can be developed over time, what if anything, do you do as an athlete/coach/parent to help the process?

I will put my two cents in on team bonding and goody bags, because those are popular responses. I have seen teams that are very gracious, appreciative, and hug and love on you all year long and the years to come. But, I've also seen the teams that voice how "lame" everything is (even when the team voted on it) and all you get are eye rolls and attitude.

 

[p.o.k.]

It is too bad evualuations do not vet out heart and drive. I have seen lots of talented kids with bad attitudes over the years and that can be the biggest drag on a team. Then that affects the chemistry. Unfortunately some of theses attributes can not be developed over season. I think many times these type of characteristics are just inherent in certain kids.

 

[Kate081]

I agree with this 100%. Cheerleading is 90 percent mental and if you don't want it bad enough, it's not going to happen


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[ilikebigbows]

Last year my team had a rough start. Loads of talent and potential but there was little communication and cohesiveness. We had a few embarrassing performances in the beginning of the year and we were all confused as to how each individual could be so talented but on the mat everything went wrong.
This may seem far-fetched but I swear by it: once our team started a group chat, started hanging out together, having sleepovers, really getting to know each other...everything started working. We learned each other's strengths and weaknesses, how each other were motivated and we enjoyed being around each other more. By the end of the season we could hit zero deductions multiple times per practice with added difficulty, which was amazing compared to where we started off. This just proved to me how important team bonding can be! It's so much easier to work together with people that you know and have grown to love in a social setting as well as a cheer environment.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

It is too bad evaluations do not vet out heart and drive. I have seen lots of talented kids with bad attitudes over the years and that can be the biggest drag on a team. Then that affects the chemistry. Unfortunately some of theses attributes can not be developed over season. I think many times these type of characteristics are just inherent in certain kids.

I think evals DO take this into account, if you're observant enough as a coach. I know it is a factor for me with school and all star cheer.

If we finish tryouts, and all sit down as a coach to look at kids and we need to figure out who is going to go where (among us as coaches), you can bet we're looking at the following things which to me, indicate commitment/drive:

1. Who has done, repeatedly, what is asked of him/her in any situation? Ex: "Hey Jenni, we know you usually fly, but can you side base this tonight?" Jenni: "Sure!" I want that kid.

2. Who can have a stunt consistently NOT hit, yet keep trying? Ex: Your express up lib keeps falling, you take the criticism and keep trying until it hits. That tells me a lot about you. If every time something falls you ask me to change it to make it easier, or cry, that also tells me about you.

3. Who conditions without complaining all year?

4. Who is the girl who did not get the team she wanted this year but ROCKED it all year? The girl who wanted J3 but got Y2 again but took her Y2 spot and SERVED all year. She has real heart and a heart for her teammates. Not for herself.

5. Who is the girl who is AT PRACTICE all year? Ex: While everyone is at Aunt Gertie's Retirement Party or some such every other weekend, this is the girl who prioritizes cheer (not saying that she LIVES in the gym, but every other weekend is not a birthday party, pageant, etc.)

6. Which girl interacts with teammates with encouraging words? When a stunt falls, is she the "OMG KATIE JESUS YOU KEEP FALLING OMG I HATE THIS GROUP!!!" girl?" Or is she the "It's okay guys, let's try _____ next time" girl?

7. Does she always try to sit out for some reason, or is she ready to practice every single time?

8. Is every other word "I don't even really caaaaare." or "omg they're probably gonna beat us anyway?" You're not in every single kid's conversation, but be aware of the little things you keep hearing from certain kids.

There's more, but that's a lot of what we look at when forming teams (both with new kids and returners.)

 

[Cheerfan1234]

What really matters is the amount of heart, drive, and cohesiveness your team has. Being stacked is just a bonus; it certainly doesn't guarantee anything. All it takes is a couple of bad attitudes to mess with a good thing.

Tryout month always makes me smile. There are so many kids (and coaches) ALREADY tweeting about who's gonna be the team to beat or watch out for in 2015, and meanwhile most of these teams haven't had more than one practice together.

 

[King]

Last year my team had a rough start. Loads of talent and potential but there was little communication and cohesiveness. We had a few embarrassing performances in the beginning of the year and we were all confused as to how each individual could be so talented but on the mat everything went wrong.
This may seem far-fetched but I swear by it: once our team started a group chat, started hanging out together, having sleepovers, really getting to know each other...everything started working. We learned each other's strengths and weaknesses, how each other were motivated and we enjoyed being around each other more. By the end of the season we could hit zero deductions multiple times per practice with added difficulty, which was amazing compared to where we started off. This just proved to me how important team bonding can be! It's so much easier to work together with people that you know and have grown to love in a social setting as well as a cheer environment.

#1 secret to coaching a group of females. If they hang out they like each other more. If they like each other they practice better.

 

[catlady]

Last year my team had a rough start. Loads of talent and potential but there was little communication and cohesiveness. We had a few embarrassing performances in the beginning of the year and we were all confused as to how each individual could be so talented but on the mat everything went wrong.
This may seem far-fetched but I swear by it: once our team started a group chat, started hanging out together, having sleepovers, really getting to know each other...everything started working. We learned each other's strengths and weaknesses, how each other were motivated and we enjoyed being around each other more. By the end of the season we could hit zero deductions multiple times per practice with added difficulty, which was amazing compared to where we started off. This just proved to me how important team bonding can be! It's so much easier to work together with people that you know and have grown to love in a social setting as well as a cheer environment.

For those of you that are a little bit more tech savvy....Several of the girls last year didn't like the group chat, because "it blew up their phone," ultimately, they broke it down into smaller group chats and occasionally there would be drama. Does anyone use Group Me? Is it something you can turn on or off, or is it liked better because it is separate from texts. I would love to hear input on group apps.

#1 secret to coaching a group of females. If they hang out they like each other more. If they like each other they practice better.

Last year, we had a group of girls that enjoyed hanging out with each other for the most part, but there was no drive or energy. I don't know for a fact these parents would be negative in front of their kids, however, we had some that would discuss in the parent room how we couldn't win with that routine. It did, however, win at every comp with the exception of 1 where they fell apart and their response was, "I told you we couldn't win with that routine." Some other parents, when it came to rules, felt it should apply to everyone if the rule was "good" in their opinion, however, it they didn't like it or they wanted to do something else, then "the coaches just didn't understand how much they're paying for this" and they and their kids would do what they wanted to. In your opinion, can parents affect team drive and cohesion, or are you able to coach around the negative parent "vibe"?

 

[dance2874]

Our gym uses group me. You can turn notifications off so you just go look at the messages in the app itself. I really like it.

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[BrettMiddleton]

This is a difficult topic to answer, there have already been some really insightful responses that have summed it up better than I probably could but I'll put in my thoughts as well. You cannot coach talent, you can however take a girl who is maybe not as athletic but has drive and turn focus on something she does well to mask her deficiencies in other areas. Having the ability to recognize where your athletes perform best and putting them in a position to maximize that is HUGE, just like in any other sport. On the subject of practicing and getting them to work together I'll use a football example because I love the NFL. Often guys with past off-field (whether they be indicators of a lack of focus, work ethic, or drive) still get drafted and go onto great careers because their coaches have faith that they can take their talent and coach work ethic. It may be naïve of me but I think if you have an athlete whose drive and teamwork you question, as long as they are showing up at the gym to practice you can coach them, if they really didn't want to be there they would quit. Getting a team to work together is absolutely critical, if one person isn't committing the others will know and it will show up in the scores.

 

[Momager]

On my dream team,

The athlete believes that they are an important component on the team. The athlete listens to others AND makes corrections. The athlete asks for clarification. The athlete believes that they are doing it for the others on the team. The athlete believes the team deserves her best performance. The athlete believes she may need to give a little extra if a teammate is not having her best day. The athlete believes she can do ANYTHING for 2:30.
The athlete believes her teammates can and will go to the same lengths that she will for the team.
The athlete trusts the coach.

The coach recognizes the talent in each athlete and uses them in a way that is both rewarding and challenging. The coach knows what needs to be included in an award worthy routine. The coach knows how to build in difficulty as the athletes improve and develop to keep it challenging and rewarding for the team to learn skills and improve technique. The coach sets the tone of communication and models the communication she wants to see between the athletes.

Athletes walk in the door with some skills, heart, attitude, but the team must be developed as individual athletes and into a single team. As in chemistry. the raw elements need energy and bonding to transform.

 

[TraumaRNcheermom]

Sadly I don't believe heart and drive is anything you can place in a goody bag, the kids either have it or not. I do believe you can encourage and motivate the kids that already have heart & Drive. With that being said, last year we had a team with a few negative nelly's and they tended to clique off by themselves while the others had much heart and passion... The team was fractured and the competitions and practices were evidence of this. There was so much talent on that team last year. The team has new players this season and the nasty girls are gone, so I believe the team will Excel!