Being mentally prepared for your first cheerleading performance

When your first performance approaches, pressure and stress can increase. Your nerves may kick in because you've never performed in front of a crowd before! That is completely normal! That happens to just about everyone before their first performance! You are not alone! It's your coaches job to make sure you are physically ready and your body is conditioned to execute the routine the best you can. But, you cannot forget to condition your mind! Here are a few tips on how to mentally prepare yourself for your first cheerleading performance.

1.) Positivity

When you have so many practices leading up to to a performance, picking apart every portion of your routine is easy to do. Sometimes you'll think "Did I really do my best during that run through", "why were my stunts so wobbly today", "I should have been sharper during the dance portion today". You have to remember to stay positive. Having a positive outlook will encourage positive results. If you keep thinking negatively about how you practiced, it can not only change your attitude but may rub off on your teammates and change their attitudes and start getting them to think in a negative way. Those types of practices are never fun. People then begin to get frustrated and everything just goes downhill from there. Remember: stay positive!

2.) Stay focused

Make sure you come into every practice ready to go! Leaving whatever issues you have in your personal life at the door is very important! You never want to bring any outside issue into practice, it will only distract you. Anything going on outside of practice will still be there once it's over, so don't let it distract you from practicing for your performance. Use your practice time to escape from reality, it can be quite therapeutic. If you stay focused on the task at hand, you can focus more on the upcoming performance.

3.) Make a playlist

My favorite part of preparing for a performance outside of practice is finding a playlist of songs that are very positive and motivating. I will listen to this while getting ready for every practice to put me in the correct mind set for practice. Then, I will listen to the playlist while getting ready for the performance to get in that same positive mind set!

4.) Visualization

Visualize yourself absolutely hitting a clean routine! Don't think about what can go wrong, think about everything that will go right. If you are nervous about a certain tumbling pass, visualize yourself landing that tumbling pass over and over again. Make sure to visualize yourself doing the routine the best you can!

 The authors：

Rebecca

 Rebecca Virgadamo has been on UCA Staff for 9 years. She has taught cheerleading camps all over the country as well as internationally. She has performed with UCA  in Las Vegas and New York City. She also cheered at Sacramento State for 4 years and was captain for one year. Rebecca is very happy to be in China to share her cheerleading knowledge with the kids in China!