All Levels Can Play

Ten proven strategies for making all-star athletes of any level feel valued and driven

By Jennifer Renée Smith

It’s important to stress the value of the lower-level teams because those athletes are your future higher-level teams.”—Randy Dickey, owner of ACX

Once the division-level system went mainstream in 2005, it didn’t take long for Level 5 and 6 teams to gain industry-wide recognition and respect and for cheerleading celebrities to emerge from the elite, invite-only USASF Cheerleading Worlds, which kicked off the following season. Given this steady exposure and the impressive skill set permitted, to an outsider, it may seem as though competing on a Large Senior Level 5 or an Open Coed Level 6 team is the be-all, end-all of all-star cheerleading. While this may be the case for some, it’s certainly not the reality for most athletes who work hard season after season to be the best they can be on their Level 1, 2, 3 or 4 team—teams that make up the bulk of any gym owner’s or event producer’s business. And it’s certainly not the message the industry is aiming to broadcast to the rest of the world, especially when the goal is to continue to attract new kids to give cheerleading a shot.
That being said, it’s not difficult as a coach to become blindly swept up in the competitiveness and excitement that’s typical of an elite-level team. What can be difficult is dealing with the undesirable side effect of leaving your lower-level athletes feeling as if they’re less significant to your program.
Whether you’re a veteran who’s still trying to dream up novel ways to manage this situation or merely looking to launch a Level 5 team in the future, read on for a few new tricks to add to your coaching repertoire.

Reward Equally

As a coach or gym owner, striking a balance between individual teams versus program-wide traditions and privileges is key. You want each team to have its own personality and sense of pride, but you don’t want the latter to alienate the other teams at your gym.
When Brian Barnhart, co-owner of Woodlands Elite in The Woodlands, TX, sensed that a number of parents thought their kids were beginning to feel slighted after seeing the senior members enjoy certain perks, he decided to poll each family on what would make the kids happy and motivated throughout the season. The answer was as simple as treating them to some of the same rewards that had been traditionally reserved for the older athletes, such as a trip to Sonic for drinks and fries after nailing a routine and parent-supervised lock-ins.
After opening up these activities to the rest of the program, the feedback has been very positive. “Our kids are really loving it,” says Barnhart. “I thought our Level 5 athletes were going to say, ‘Wait a minute—getting these privileges is a right of passage. It’s not fair.’ But rather than being territorial, they’re actually getting more involved with the younger teams. Instead of having the attitude of ‘I’m a senior, bow down,’ it’s been a sharing experience.”
At Long Island Cheer in Ronkonkoma, NY, the staff has started the tradition of issuing a spirit award for each level at the end of every competition they attend as a program. “The kid who’s been the most motivating toward her teammates gets a spirit stick that a rep from our parent organization fills with candy and decorates,” says co-owner Mark Donnelly. “This season, we’re also letting them take the banner and plaque home if their team placed and having their parent snap a photo. We’re eventually going to blow up the photos to display in the gym as our version of ‘Employee of the Month.’ It doesn’t matter if they’re 5 years old on a Level 1 team or 21 on our International Open Coed team. They love it all the same.”
Since combining forces to form Pacific Coast Magic, based in Murrieta and Laguna, CA, co-owners Kellie Elliott and Troy Hedgren now collectively have 14 teams, ranging from Level 1 to 5. “The majority of our program is Levels 1 through 4, and in my opinion, those athletes work just as hard and deserve the same love and compassion as Level 5 teams,” says Elliott.
In an effort to create a sense of unity among athletes who were a part of separate programs until this season, they’ve launched some new traditions that are open to all levels. The biggest hit involves shoe beads. “Each member is given one orange shoe bead for each year they’ve been a part of our program. For every five-year milestone, they trade in their orange beads for a purple bead. This has proven to be a great incentive among the kids with sharing and comparing their beads. There’s a bigger sense of pride now,” Elliott says.

Share Choreographers and Coaches

Randy Dickey, owner of ACX in Columbia and Charleston, SC, says that his staff tries to treat every team the same from start to finish. “Everyone gets the same amount of time in the gym, pays the same price and uses the same caliber of music and choreography,” he says. “We don’t just bring in a special choreographer for the one big team. It wouldn’t be right for the lower level teams to watch the Level 5 teams have this spectacular choreographer work with them while they get one of the coaches from our gym who’s just learning how to choreograph. If anything, it’s the Level 1 teams that need the creative choreography, because they have limited skills.”
Dickey also mixes up his coaches so that all athletes get the same level of experience. “It’s important to stress the value of the lower-level teams because those athletes are your future higher-level teams,” he says. “You should make them feel like superstars from the first day. Any accomplishment they make is part of the building blocks to get to that final elite level.”

Put Accomplishments on Display

Pittsburgh Poison (PA) has introduced goal sheets and commitment contracts at the gym this season as a way to visibly remind athletes of their past and future skill achievements within their levels and prompt kudos from fellow program members. “When they accomplish a personal goal, they get to post it on the wall for the entire gym to see,” says Pittsburgh Poison owner and head coach Tracy Zangaro Indof.
The staff at ACX makes large posters of Excel spreadsheets that list all the athletes’ names in one column and each of the tumbling skills that are in their levels across the top. “We check off every skill the athlete has at the beginning of the season and continue to check off each skill he or she learns throughout the rest of the year,” says Dickey. Both owner-coaches have found this tracking method an easy and tangible means to motivating athletes of all levels to grow and experience pride in even their smallest personal victories.

Create Coaching Sidekicks

Aside from incorporating gym-wide perks this season, Woodlands’ co-owner Barnhart has been inviting members of his three Level 5 teams who can fit it in their schedules to come in 30 minutes early before their own practice on Mondays to assist the Level 2 and 3 Youth teams.  “We’ve always had older coaches in our program,” Barnhart says. “We don’t hire our athletes, but now ask them to volunteer, because the younger kids just eat it up. They love that the older kids are taking an interest in them.”
Since starting this mentoring system, Barnhart has also noticed that his Level 5 athletes show up to competitions earlier because they have a newfound vested interest in how the lower-level teams will perform at the event.
“It’s helping our program bond as a whole,” says Barnhart. “I’m even seeing some of the parents of the younger kids pull the older athletes aside and thank them, because they’ve seen how much it means to their children.”

Reinforce Expectations

Similar to how Barnhart uses his older members’ experience and cool factor to positively influence the youth teams, the LI Cheer staff takes the time to remind their older, more advanced Level 4 and 5 athletes that they’re role models to every kid in the gym, and their individual attitudes, emotions and work ethics have an influence on the younger teams.
For LI Cheer’s younger teams, they focus on aspects of the routine that may not be level-specific—things like crowd appeal and sharpness. “We make sure to communicate that our expectations are the same regardless of their level,” says Donnelly. “We want them to push the boundaries, max score sheets for their levels and perform routines where they’ll have the most fun doing just that.”

Guarantee Support

One surefire way to pump up your lower-level athletes and make them feel important is to encourage or—as some coaches do—require attendance at the front of the mat for each team’s performance at competitions.
“All of our teams (both cheer and dance) are required to be at each and every Pittsburgh Poison performance,” says Indof. “We do allow our Tiny teams to go home early at big competitions, but all others must stay. It’s been my number one rule since the day I opened my doors. All our teams deserve the same amount of crowd support.”
To help facilitate their own performance pep rallies at events, the ACX staff hands out detailed itineraries to each athlete outlining times when they need to meet up before they move in front of the stage to support whichever Jaguar team is taking the mat.

Approach Every Event As If It’s Worlds

At Woodlands Elite, they treat every National as if it is the only one they’re entering all season, even though their schedule boasts five to six championships. “Sure, Worlds is a big deal for our Level 5 teams,” Barnhart says. “But we try to take it weekend by weekend and not revolve our season around it. It scares me as a coach to only put emphasis on one competition. Yes, it’s a big event. Yes, it’s a good weekend, but for us, but we’re trying to be consistent as possible, and I’ve seen this philosophy trickle down to our Level 2, 3 and 4 teams.”

To place more focus on the season being a journey of growth rather than a race to the end, Barnhart and his staff are constantly encouraging their athletes to set benchmarks with their scores with the goal of beating them. If they don’t meet their goal, then they have something to work toward at subsequent practices leading up to the next event.

Foster Growth

Rischard Landers, who was a main coach at Champion Cheer All-Stars in Southlake, TX, for the past 10 years, recently took over the reins at Academy of Champions East two hours away. Coming from a large gym with multiple-level teams to a small gym with the talent to support only Levels 1 through 3, the biggest difference Landers has noticed is that he’s forever searching for ways to motivate the athletes to reach their fullest potential.
“The temptation to grow complacent is a lot stronger here, because to them, they’re already the best in their area and the best in their gym, so they feel that this is as far as they can go,” says Landers. “I’m constantly battling the ‘good enough’ attitude. In a gym where you already have Level 5 kids, younger kids have something to aspire to. But in a gym with the highest level being Level 3, I’ve been the inspiration.”
To change things up, Landers brings in his former students, who are now cheering at universities and have been on winning World Championship teams, to speak about their experiences and to guest-coach. “I taught them everything they know, from a cartwheel to a double full,” he says. “So I stress to [my new athletes] that if I can teach them, then I can teach you. It gives them something tangible to look up to and strive for.”
Like Landers, Pittsburgh Poison’s Indof also found it difficult to motivate her athletes to move beyond their comfort zone. In her case, it was with her gym’s Senior Level 4 team, which was coming off a successful year of winning three National titles, six high-point champion titles and several “Most Entertaining” awards. “They were content,” she says. “The girls had become used to winning and feared they wouldn’t have the same success at the next level.”
Indof says she had the biggest struggle with tumbling. Several girls on the Level 4 team were graduating and didn’t see the point of learning new skills, and this set the tone for the team’s younger members. “As the head coach and owner of the gym, I was very disheartened and worried about the future of my gym. I knew that in order to grow, we needed a successful and competitive Level 5 team.” So for the last three events of 2008, she had them compete as such.
“With the support of the coaching staff and many of the parents, we pushed through,” she says. “The girls worked hard. Many of them, who never would have tried otherwise, started throwing fulls! The girls were so nervous at the first competition [COA Midwest Nationals in Columbus, OH]. Nonetheless, they went out there and hit the routine. I will never forget their reaction when they came off of the floor. The girls were hugging and crying and couldn’t believe they’d actually done it. We didn’t win, but it sure felt like we did. In the end, the girls thanked me for making them realize that they do have what it takes to be successful at the next level.”

Last Call

While your Level 5 teams may have earned a trip to The Cheerleading Worlds, your Level 1 through 4 teams have an opportunity to grow and find their own victories at these season cappers.

International All-Levels Championships

This multi-brand event provides the opportunity for teams of all sizes and levels to compete at the international level. More than 500 qualifiers held throughout the season determine the teams that are eligible to compete at one of five International All-Levels Championships, and, ultimately, one International All-Levels Grand Champion in each division will be chosen. Additionally, winning routines from each location will go head-to-head as judges vote online to declare the Virtual Grand Champions. For a list of qualifying event, visit all-levels.com.

Dates & Locations:

May 1–2 in Cincinnati, OH, Atlantic City, NJ, and Long Beach, CA
April 17–18 in Atlanta, GA, and Dallas, TX

The U.S. Finals

Formerly Final Destination, the U.S. Finals has grown into a multi-brand series of events, attracting more than a thousand teams in all divisions and levels of cheer and dance and giving teams a chance to see where they rank against others in their respective divisions. Every team must qualify to attend. All performances from each team at the six regional events will then compete against each other via video. A panel of expert judges will rescore and critique all performances and determine the official 2010 rankings for all levels and divisions. Via webcast, the U.S. Finals will announce the final overall rankings, as well as the U.S. Champions. For a list of qualifying events, visit theusfinals.com.

Dates & Locations:

April 9–10 in Baton Rouge, LA
April 16–17 in Las Vegas, NV, Kansas City, MO, and Orlando, FL
April 23–24 in Cincinnati, OH
April 30–May 2 in Virginia Beach, VA