What I Learned as a Middle School Cheer Coach

Thanks for checking back to see what I learned as a cheer coach!

As I wrote in my last post, I felt a little in over my head at times coaching cheer. I wish I knew these things prior to the season starting, and now that I do next year will be amazing!

I had no transition time between being a 2nd grade teacher and a middle school cheer coach. It took me about 2 minutes to walk from my classroom to cheer practice, and by the time I got there my brain was still in 2nd grade teacher mode. 

As the season went on, I got better at switching to middle school cheer coach quicker... but I could still have improved! The biggest realization I had with this was that things that would make a little 2nd grader cry, would make the middle school girls laugh. They LOVED getting a hard time from the various coaches, parents, and volunteers. I was shocked that they weren't crying. But, I guess middle school kids get sarcasm better than 2nd graders!

I gave the parents my email address and classroom phone number and told them to get in touch with me if they needed anything or had any questions. I heard from exactly 0 parents the entire time. So I'm thinking "Great! No one has any questions, and I'm awesome!" 

Well, that's not exactly how it worked out. It seemed like parents were very thankful that someone had stepped up to take over the cheer position, and they all said that their girls enjoyed being on the team. However, they were always full of questions whenever I saw them at games and after practice! 

I've heard of other coaches giving out their cell phone numbers, which I'm hesitant to do. I try not to bring work home, and I don't want to be contacted over minor things that could absolutely wait until business hours. But... I need parents to get in touch with me if they have questions about a game, that we're currently at, or when we're somewhere outside of my classroom. I may set up a Dojo group for my cheerleaders, or I may give them my phone number. 

I relied on the cheerleaders to relay information to parents about games and practice information. I figured they were old enough to handle it. Some of them did great with this, but most of them did not. I will be getting email addresses to send out the schedule and other game information next year! 

I had a parent meeting with the parents and girls who made the squad. I went over the tentative schedule, the game information I had at that time, and my expectations. I had a lot of positive feedback and I think this answered a lot of questions!

Well, I probably should have had multiple parent meetings, one before and one after tryouts. 

Before tryouts, I should have gone over the tentative schedule, game info (if available), my expectations, and fundraising info (see below!). I think this would clear up any parents or girls thinking they want to do cheer, but not realizing what it is, or the commitment I'm expecting. 

After tryouts, I would wait until closer to game season, and then focus mostly on my expectations at games and other events we attend. I'd focus on my expectations for the girls during the game, attendance at games, and expectations for the parents at games. I didn't have any issues with parents at games.. it was actually the opposite! I think that having a second meeting would allow parents to coordinate carpooling to games if needed, and would assist with finding chaperones for other events and things like that. 

It was clear that I did not use the parents enough! I had several supportive parents, and I need to put them to work next year. Luckily, it'll be easy work :) 

Next year, I'm going to try to recruit a team mom to assist with finding carpools to games or events, assist with fundraising and supervising the girls, and set up a schedule of parents to send in snacks for the girls prior to games. 

I had practice start right after school, and this is something that I plan to continue next year. It worked out well having the girls go straight to practice so we could get started right away. 

I didn't do this before games. I had a lot of girls who went home, and then didn't have rides to get to the games. Next year I plan to keep the girls at school, and practice prior to games starting, have snack, and hang out together. I think it would be nice for team bonding, and then I'll make sure everyone has a ride to the games!

I'll be posting about fundraising ideas on April 3rd, so I don't want to say too much about this right now. That being said, it is so important to start fundraising early!

I don't think I could have wrapped my head around fundraising at the beginning of the season this past year. This is something I definitely plan to start early next year!

I wanted to buy jackets, or other things for the girls, but wasn't able to do that since we didn't have any money. I have plans to do some fundraisers with my girls to prepare for next year so we can start the year with some money in our account! 

I learned a lot of things this year about working with an older age group, and about coaching. It was a steep learning curve.. just like my first year teaching. I hope all those new coaches out there find this helpful!

Come back again on March 6th for my next post: