First Year Cheer Coach Advice

Your first year of coaching will be challenging but it will also be so rewarding!

My first year of coaching was harder than I expected. I thought coaching would be a breeze, I mean I teach first grade, I have been an assistant coach, I even grew up watching my mom coach. But I had my fair share of hiccups that first year. But I quickly learned that coaching high school cheer was not for the weak because there is so much work behind the scenes. Now, 5 years into being a head coach, I love what I get to do every day.

Hey, Cheer Coach!

• You might be an experienced coach who is just looking for advice to become an even better cheer coach
• You probably have some background in cheer, maybe you cheered in high school
• You might be taking over your child’s cheer team so they have an awesome experience
• You might be brand new to coaching cheer looking for tips on how to navigate this season

First Year Cheer Coach Advice

Here are some of my best tips for a First Year Cheer Coach! These tips are also great for experienced coaches who are looking for advice. As a cheer coach I am always looking to improve my coaching too!

Tip 1: Be Organized

• Create organization systems to keep you organized, there is actually a lot of paperwork involved in coaching cheer. Here are some of the ways I stay organized:
  • Create a folder in your email inbox to move all cheer related emails into so you can refer back to them easily.
  • Create a Google Drive and organize your files to quickly find documents you need.
  • Create a Cheer Coach Binder to keep the most important files and documents with you at all time such as contact information, incident report forms, etc.

Check out my post here on what to keep in your Cheer Coach Binder.

Tip 2: Have A Plan

• Create a year long calendar of practices, games, events, competitions, fundraisers, parades, rallies, etc.
• Create a practice schedule.
• Have a plan for when your team will learn the cheers and routines.
• Create a plan for the routines you will have your cheer team perform.

Tip 3: Choose Assistant Coaches Who Align With Your Values

• Choose coaches who have the same values as you when it comes to coaching. 

Tip 4: Create a Cheerleading Contract

• Think through your expectations for your team and create a cheerleading contract.
• This should include an attendance policy.
• Have your team and their parents/guardian sign this cheerleading contract as soon as possible. 

You might like this blog post: Cheer Team Attendance Policy

Check out this editable resource for Cheer Tryouts that includes a Cheerleading Contract

Tip 5: Enforce Rules for Safety & Unity – Not Just Because

• As you are writing each rule of your contract, think through your reasoning. This will ensure you can confidently explain WHY the team has this rule. 
• For example: Rule: Cheerleaders must arrive on time and ‘Game Day Ready’ Reason: The team needs enough time to warm up for performances to ensure safety and preparedness of the team. By being late or not being ready, we lose valuable time to warm up for performances.
• Your cheer team will be more likely to respect the rules put into place when they understand how the rules actually benefit them. 

Tip 6: Safety, Safety, Safety!

• Follow the correct skill progression in all cheerleading skills.
• Enroll in training to educate yourself on skills before teaching them.
• Make sure your team has ‘hit’ their routine many times during practice before performing the routine for a halftime.
• ‘Hitting a routine’ means that every stunt, jump, dance, and tumbling sequence was executed safely and completely.
• It is better to perform a simple but CLEAN routine than it is to perform an advanced but sloppy routine.

Tip 7: Be Consistent

• Be consistent in your expectations and any consequences. If you say there will be a consequence for a broken rule, you have to follow through every time for every one.
• Be consistent at practice. You should do the same type of warm up and drills at every practice. This helps practice to run smooth. 

Tip 8: Over Communicate, but Keep It Concise

• Decide how you will communicate with your team and their parents/guardians.
• Some ideas include: Google Classroom, Band, GroupMe, ClassDojo, Remind, etc.
• Parents appreciate knowing the schedule as soon as possible. At tryouts, try to give the cheerleaders and families as much information as possible.
• Post information in a concise, easy to read format.
• Send reminders.
• Parents are busy and unfortunately might miss an email. It is better to over-communicate rather than under-communicate. Poor communication leads to frustration and confusion, we don’t want that!

Looking for an editable calendar? Check out my Editable Calendar resource.

Tip 9: Be Kind & Collaborate

• You never know how everyone is connected.
• Be kind to everyone. 
• Collaborate with your coaching staff.
• Collaborate with cheerleading coaches from other schools! Collaboration over competition.

Tip 10: Choose Your Battles

• Coaching high school cheerleaders is so rewarding. However there are times when it can be tough to coach teenage girls. Choose your battles. 

Tip 11: Include The Team in Making Certain Decisions

• Create more buy in from your cheerleaders by including them in decisions such as: spirit days, ideas for future practice outfits, creating some cheers or dances.
• Communicate the responsibilities of the coaches so that cheerleaders understand which decisions are ultimately always up to the coaches. For example: tryouts, captains, lineups, stunts.

Tip 12: Order Items Earlier Than You Think You Need To

• Cheerleaders often order custom practice outfits, uniforms, bows, etc.
• We order from Varsity who recommends 8 weeks for processing.
• Order at least two weeks earlier than you think you need to so that the items come in by the time you need them. 

Tip 13: Focus On Your Purpose

• Coaches do not make a lot of money, that is a discussion for another time. That is not the point I want to talk about when I say to focus on your WHY.
• Coaching is HARD and some days feel defeating.
• When you can focus on WHY you coach, it helps you to let the bad days and the bad moments go.
• One year, my mantra was “My job is to love these kids.” And as cheesy as it sounds, it helped me to focus on the fact that I was coaching to serve the athletes.
• My job is to help and encourage them. How can I do that best? By making decisions from a place of love for them. 

Tip 14: Reflect

• Be proud of yourself! You are making a difference in the lives of your athletes.
• Throughout the year reflect on what is working and where you can make adjustments.
• Sit down at the end of the season and update your cheerleading contract.
• Chat with your coaching staff about what went well this season and what changes you can make to improve the following season.

Conclusion

• Enjoy your year of coaching! You will learn many lessons along the way, so give yourself grace.
• Your cheerleaders appreciate your leadership and guidance more than you know!

What advice do you wish you had heard during your first year of coaching? Let me know by commenting below!