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If you’ve been a cheer mom for any amount of time, you’ve probably thought about how to help your athlete advance their skills. If you’ve been a cheer mom long enough, you’ve seen your athlete struggle with a mental block. I would guess that at least one of these two things is on a cheer mom’s mind, literally at all times. But advancing skills and overcoming mental blocks are not always easily solved.
This is where Debbie Love, often referred to as the Tumbling Queen, comes in. Debbie has been in the cheer, dance and gymnastics industry for over forty years, and travels all over the world to teach athletes and their coaches, and I got to have a conversation with her about her approach to athletes as they grow their skills and overcome mental blocks.
Debbie’s first piece of advice is for the parents. This one might sting a little, and it’s probably easier said than done:
Parents need to tolerate mistakes more.
Especially in the age of social media, Debbie believes that perfection has become the norm and that it just isn’t realistic. Kids can get discouraged and demotivated because they can’t be perfect every time.
Here’s how parents can support:
Don’t compliment the skill. Instead, compliment the character qualities of the athlete.
Say things like, “You are such a hard worker. I admire your diligence and perseverance.”
WHAT ATHLETES NEED BEFORE ADVANCING THEIR TUMBLING SKILLS
The Learning process
- Visualize the skill
- It’s important for our athletes to see themselves doing the skill. This starts in the mind!
- Associate your body with that skill
- Our brain has a cognitive function as well as an emotional function. It’s important to separate the two when performing a tumbling skill. Many times, the athlete’s emotions take over, and that’s when mistakes happen. Have your athlete try breathing techniques to help them get out of their head.
- Script the skill
- Use short action verbs and power words, like “push, squeeze, and pull” when visualizing the skill.
We can require excellence from our kids without requiring perfection.
MENTAL BLOCKS
Mental blocks are just challenges to overcome. These challenges are common in any area of life (not just cheer and tumbling!) It means you’re normal, and it doesn’t mean you’re a bad athlete. If we make mental blocks a big deal, they will become bigger. It’s important first and foremost to accept that mental blocks are normal.
Mental blocks are much less likely to happen if an athlete owns, or masters, a skill. They need to be able to do it perfectly ten out of ten times in a routine.
Keys to overcoming and preventing a mental block:
- Accept that it’s normal
- Get to the root of the problem
- Don’t come back too fast from an injury
CREATING PERFORMANCE GOALS
Many challenges come up for athletes when outcome goals are made instead of performance goals. So often, we want our athletes to be on a certain team or to win a certain competition. Instead, we should encourage our athletes to set performance goals.
An example of a performance goal could be, “I want to get my legs straight on a skill,” or, “I want to tumble faster.”
We can’t be so involved in the outcome that we forget that the journey to that outcome is the most important thing.
ATHLETE JOURNALING
Debbie suggests that athletes journal every day to help them meet their goals:
HAVE A SHORT-RANGE GOAL
This should be a monthly goal. Athletes should write the goal down, and then set a plan on how they’re going to achieve it.
HAVE A LONG-RANGE GOAL
This should be a quarterly or a seasonal goal. Again, the athlete needs to write a plan on how they’re going to achieve their goal.
GRATITUDE
Each day, write down five things that you are grateful for.
WRITE DOWN ALL YOUR CONDITIONING
WRITE THE POSITIVES AND THE NEGATIVES
Write down all the positive things and all the negative things that happened to you each day, so you can get it out and make a clean slate.
HAVE A “DREAM BOX” OR, “POSITIVE BOX”
This tool could be helpful for younger athletes who are too young to journal, but it’s an excellent idea for all ages (I’ll tell you right now that I want a Dream Box of my own!!)
Have the athlete make a box (or give it as a gift!) with a slot on the top. Every time they pass the box, they have to write something positive about themselves and drop it in.
Another way to use the Dream Box is to have the athlete write down their dream and what they did each day to get closer to that dream.
AFFIRMATION CARDS
Another way to reinforce our athletes and help them to overcome challenges is to create affirmation cards for them. This can be as simple as a small index card. Every day, they have to write down ten positive things about themselves (“I’m a good friend, a great learner, a good listener,” etc.)
An athlete’s success is so much more than executing a skill or advancing to the next level. An athlete’s value is not in a mental block. These tips are so valuable to help our kids be well-rounded as people!
Be sure to check out the full episode, linked above, and visit Debbie’s resources at theloveoftumbling.com.
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