Safe and Effective Coaching Tips for Cheer and Gymnastics

Anyone that has taught a gymnastics or cheerleading class knows how difficult it can be to keep the students safe and motivated. In this article I offer a few proven methods for teaching trust and balance and for making warm-up and conditioning fun.

It is important that students trust you and each other and know that they are going to be safe while learning new tricks. Teaching spotting and trust in the first few weeks of class will help keep injuries to a minimum and help students feel safer and more comfortable.

Try having everyone do these trust exercises or ones like them.

The Falling Game:
One person falls backward and the other person catches them.

Variation of the Falling Game:
One person stands in the middle of 3-5 others, with their eyes closed, and allows the others to push them around, forward, backward, etc.

Warm-up is an important part of every class. Without warm-up, the body is stiff and more prone to injury. Unfortunately, running is one of the best ways to warm up and many people simply can not stand to run!! If you can, vary the warm-up routine a bit: on nice days, run outside (on a trail, if possible - the varied topography and changing scenery will make it a more pleasant experience). If the weather is poor and you can't go outside, try having everyone do jumping jacks for warm-up instead of running in a circle around the room. Be creative and make a game out of the exercises.

The Basic Warm-up:
1. Run or do jumping jacks
2. Stretch
? wrists, ankles
? Shoulders, calves
? Pike, splits
? Back

Balance, like trust, is something that most students have to work on. If students can't trust their balance, they often won't try some of the tricks later in the class. I suggest leading balance exercises from day one of the class. This simple exercise can be incorporated into warm-up.

Basic Balance Exercise:
Start with standing on one foot, then the other foot.
Next, stand on one foot and extend the other leg - front, back, and side.
Encourage the students to practice this until they can stand on toe, with one leg extended, for 5 seconds or more, without falling over.

Finally, we all understand the bulk of a cheer or gymnastics class is learning the basic (and later, advanced) elements of the sport and building the strength and flexibility to do so. Again, doing the same thing over and over can get very, very boring and often students will lose their motivation. So, I've compiled the following list of games (to be used in class and during conditioning exercises) to keep the

Contests: always good in conditioning, stretching, and for tricks.
Handstand - who can stay up the longest?
Splits - who can go down the farthest?
Push-ups or sit-ups - who can do the most?

Races: again, good for conditioning and tricks.
Walking on hands - race across the floor
Who can climb up the rope fastest or who can go the furthest?

Show-Down: individual
Divide the class into pairs based on skill level. Give everyone a list of tricks - forward roll, backward roll, handstand, cartwheel, etc. beginning with the easiest. Each person in the pair competes with the other. The first person does the trick and the second has to do either the same or better to stay in the game.

Add-on: particularly good for improving dance skills
Divide the class into two groups and number off. If you have any really advanced students, make sure that they go last. Person #1 does a trick - a forward roll, maybe. Person #1 on the other team has to do the same trick and add a trick - forward roll, cartwheel. The team that makes it the furthest - can do all the tricks, in order, wins.

Crab Soccer: fantastic for conditioning!
Two teams, goals, and a beach ball are needed for this game. Set up goals on either end of the classroom and divide the class into two teams. Everyone has to play in the crab position and the goalies are the only ones who can use their hands (without coming out of the crab position). The beach ball is the soccer-ball and the team with the most goals, wins.

Simon Says: with a large group this is actually pretty fun.
Again, two teams. The coach begins the game by telling everyone Simon Says do a cartwheel, or whatever. The first team to mess up loses, and the other team gets to tell them Simon says. When the group messes up they have to do 10 pushups or sit-ups, and then they get to tell the other group Simon says, and so on.

"What's My Lie?" Conditioning: This is excellent for getting to know everyone.
Coach starts the game by telling everyone their name, two truths, and a lie. If the class guesses the lie, the coach has to do push-ups or sit-ups, but if the class is wrong, they have to do the push-ups or sit-ups. Have everyone do this, beginning by introducing himself or herself, then telling their truths and their lie.

In the end, creativity is key. Use your imagination, create new games, and be supportive and trustworthy… if your students are having fun, so will you!! And remember, always be safe!