Getting A Mini Team Under Control

[skibumcheercoach]

I currently coach a Mini 2 team alongside another more experienced coach. She began working with them at the beginning of the summer, but I didn’t start coaching this team with her until the week after they got their choreography.

They are a ROWDY bunch. They love to jump around and tumble around EVERYWHERE despite how many times I count down from 5 or give the old “ready 1 2!” They’ll bicker at eachother and just have the classic craziness that comes with that age group.

I have tried discipline through hollow holds or something similar when they aren’t ready by the time I finish counting or call it. It works about two times after that then chaos occurs yet again.

I have tried positive reinforcement by adding additional time for “sharing circle” at the end of class or by instating a points/rewards system but they still have a terrible time listening.

I’m losing my voice and going a little crazy. They are not advancing/learning/hitting their routine at all because they have such a hard time listening. The other coach and I are together on Tuesdays for practice but I have them all to myself on Thursday practices. It’s hectic. Any suggestions ???

 

[alexacheer2010]

Minis are tough! I’ve coached minis for a few years and last year I had a team that sounds just like yours. Play games with them- Say who’s the cleanest of them all and practice walking from lines to windows as a game! They love games.
It’s tough to “punish” with conditioning because they love running at this age- so I just turn it into a race- which team will finish their suicides first?
It’s a weird age bracket- there’s a huge developmental difference between a kindergartener and a 3rd grader. You need to get them to bond. The games and having fun helps with that. Have them do a dance party the last 5 minutes of practice.

Try to remind yourself that they’re little- you can’t expect them to be Worlds ready at 7 years old. They need loving coaches who want them to have fun and learn along the way so that they fall in love with this sport!


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[Fly Cheer Gear]

Hi, we currently coach a Mini 1 and a Youth 2. Things that helped us:

1. Set ground rules and stick to them no matter what. It'll take some time to get them to follow them but you'll save so much time in the long term. Example: We make them do burpees (5-10) every time they do not follow our rules. We never yell when we tell them to get to the burpee circle. The first two weeks or so, we spent most of our practices teaching them how to listen when the coach is talking and how to react when we tell them to do something. We literally practiced being wild and then when I said get in your spots they ran to their spots, it was a game at first that turned into a regular practice. Now all of that is automated, of course they are still kids and it's so easy to get distracted, but if they get too crazy, we just do burpees once and that is usually enough for them to get focused again.
Our rules are:
- We start our practice at 5:00 sharp, at 5:00:00 they need to stand in a line (they took it as a game so now they count down the last 10s every time) - it teaches them the discipline from the first second of the practice - they just followed the first rule right away and I'm not lying, those kids get hyped when they start their practice!
- If you are late for some reason the first thing when you get to practice is to go to the coach and say: "I'm sorry I'm late, I'm late because of..." - teaches them manners that they will need for the rest of their lives
- When we tell them to do something they they have 5 seconds to do so - it took us some time to get to the point to where we are now, but it was so worth it. For them it's fun, they all start running and yell: "he's counting" and they get ready.
- Don't talk (or do handstands or cartwheels) while your coach is talking. If there are some kids that don't listen we tell them to listen in a plank.

2. Constantly explain that athletes that have been on the team before or older athletes should help the younger ones be disciplined - they react very well to that, especially the ones that have younger siblings, it teaches them about responsibility and they take it as a game as well. It helps a lot when you have kids telling kids to stop talking or to get in the line.

3. Every time (literally every time) someone listens or gets in a spot first make sure you comment and let everyone know how awesome that person is for doing that. They will want to be those kids.

4. Be consistent with everything you do. They are young and it takes them longer to adjust to things, so just know what you want at practices and follow your own rules (every single time) and they will adjust to them.

Discipline is a form of love. It is more important than their talent or athleticism, and you want to instill that in them from the beginning. I do not know one successful athlete that doesn't love discipline and our minies and youth kids are no exception.

We do this with minies and not with tinies, with tinies it's different. But since you have a mini 2 it means they have been in the gym for some time now and know how things work.