All-Star Prepping For A Comp....

[cheerforceone]

Ok so we have a comp coming up and I have a few girls who have never competed before.... EVER.... and I want tips from cheerleaders and coaches..... what did you do to mentally prep yourself the week before.....the day of, the drive there... etc... and what did you coach do? :) thanks in advance

 

[DaniV]

Practice in front of parents or as many people as you can get them in front of. Practice running out from the side of the floor to their spots. Really though, the only way to get over that initial stage shock is to just perform the first routine.

Before warm-ups I have the girls lay down and visualize the routine hitting perferctly while I count and then we walk through it. During warm-ups on the full floor I have them mark it with music and do anything that I think might need a little extra warming up after the stunt/tumble stations. Big pep talk before they walk on, get them pumped up and excited, then it's go time.

 

[Shaeeee<3]

Remind myself to breath!!!

 

[JoFTZEW21]

I used to get really bad stage freight, (i guess you would call it) my first year of cheering. What I did was ask girls who have competed before, like how it works. I had never been to a cheer competition before and I didn't know what to expect. After gathering what I needed to know I made sure I knew my routine and wasn't confused at what count on stood up on from a backhandspring or something. I practiced in the mirror and did it in my head while I was going to bed. On the day of I would eat a healthy breakfast, get ready and made sure I had enough food and water for the day. I basically just made sure I was in the competition mindset, and I had to focus on what I was doing. I have ADD and sometimes I am not always focused on things. You just need to make sure you are completely focused because in the warm up area, it's not the same at practice, you only have a short amount of time. While we wait for our turn to go on stage I go through my counts in my head. I take deep breaths and make sure my shoe laces are tucked in, my spanks are down, my top is adjusted, my bow is straight. I still do all those things while waiting for our turn. We used to have a front spot in my group, and i got into the terrible habit of not breathing while stunting, so she would always say "Breathe!" when she could see me turning almost purple, hahahah. Other than that, you just have to go out there and act like you're at the gym and there's not a thousand people watching you. Hope this helps :)

 

[alexamarysouza]

At our last practice before the competition, we do a "competition style" warmup. We use two panels and warmup stunts with a certain time allotted, same for tumbling warmups, and then a full out like we're competing on the whole floor. For the last full out of practice our parents and other teams in the gym that day come and watch.
The day of the competition, our coaches make sure we're only focusing on us. We have a little ipod speaker and we do a few mental walk throughs before going to warmups. In warmups, we make sure we're cheering a lot for everyone, and just overall trying to get our energy up.
Before we compete, we get in our team circle, and say motivational things. Either a coach or gym owner comes and says a prayer, and then we break, and a coach usually says "go tell 5 people they're going to do great" or "go tell 5 people you love them", and then we're on!
I definitely always feel motivated on competition days!

 

[retiredl5cheer]

Routine routine routine. In college we warmed up the exact same way every time we threw a full out run through. We did that same warmup at nationals. Knowing what will come next calms nerves and helps focus.

I did the same with my J1s before the first competition. We warmed up using the competition's mat format and time allotments. Then I gave them a 5 minute "in the hole" break and left them alone like I would at competition. (This also helps to see who is going to step up and pep-talk when the coach isn't there.) Family and friends came to watch their "competition" performance.

 

[cupieqt]

alexamarysouza we prep the same way. Seriously it's identical (except we tell them to wish their competitors good luck only). I think it's a very positive, confidence building strategy.

 

[alexamarysouza]

alexamarysouza we prep the same way. Seriously it's identical (except we tell them to wish their competitors good luck only). I think it's a very positive, confidence building strategy.

we do that too, only it's kind of an automatic thing and programmed into our brains to tell the competition good luck lol

 

[chyeeaaa69]

The biggest thing that helped me was surrounding myself with gym-mates and friends the night before. My first allstar competition ever was this past November and the night before I had a sleepover with good friends from other teams competing from the gym, and it really helped keep my mind off of the pressure and the stress. Everything else was very similar to what alexamarysouza said. We ran through the routine 3 or 4 times in our heads/marking it in a hallway before warmups, went into warmups, didn't exhaust ourselves and didn't let ourselves get down if something wasn't working quite the way we wanted it to. Team encouragement is so key in that warm up gym because it's not always going to go as planned back there, and if there isn't a positive attitude, it's difficult to step on the floor putting behind you a bad warm up.

 

[cheerforceone]

thanks everyone wish us luck saturday !!! :) ahhh!!!!