All-Star Help Me Become A Better Coach.

[Nikaa]

Hi fiercebarders.

I have been a coach for 2 years. Last season I coached youth 2 and thi year I coach junior 4.
Girls are older and well...teenagers.
How to deal with those girls? How to motivate them. I have big problems with words "I'm scared". A couple girls do stading back tuck with spotting perfect. But when I tell them to do it by yourself they are just scared.

They come to practice tired, with no motiavtion and they don't give 100 percent at pracitce. Flyers don't squize because they're lazy.

I know here are some amazing coaches so help me with this teenagers.

 

[cupieqt]

Hi fiercebarders.

I have been a coach for 2 years. Last season I coached youth 2 and thi year I coach junior 4.
Girls are older and well...teenagers.
How to deal with those girls? How to motivate them. I have big problems with words "I'm scared". A couple girls do stading back tuck with spotting perfect. But when I tell them to do it by yourself they are just scared.

They come to practice tired, with no motiavtion and they don't give 100 percent at pracitce. Flyers don't squize because they're lazy.

I know here are some amazing coaches so help me with this teenagers.

Teenagers are tough. They actually do better with a STRICT coach. They will be lazy only if you let them. My srs know I'm in charge and if you slack I'm calling you out and you will do frog jumps etc. If there is attitude and disrespect, they're dismissed from practice. If they can't get on board after that, remove them from the team. I had to make one girl leave practice earlier this year and I removed two from the team a few months later. They are now 100% better. They need clear boundaries or they will walk all over you. You have to be the alpha.

 

[JUSTICE]

Teenaged girls will test you to your limit! Male coach, female coach, it doesn't matter--the ones that are really not interested and are only doing it because their parents paid X amount for tuition, are usually the offenders!! They feel they "deserve" a spot on the team. The best way to deal with these types is to follow CUPIEGT'S advice!! Let them know who is running the practice, plain and simple! If they don't wanna get on board, then see ya!!

 

[cupieqt]

It usually only takes one major incident for them to know what's up. But even the little things have to be dealt with. If you have a rule about bows/shoes, etc.that they break, they're testing you. They should know the consequence already but if one isn't established, they want to know what it is and if you'll enforce it. Enforce it.

 

[cupieqt]

Ok here's my last little bit (they make me crazy too and when I was a younger, newer coach it was hard not to be their buddy too often).
Make rules you know you will enforce. As long as it's something you know you'll have no problem doing, you will find it easy to discipline and move on. They need strong leaders so YOU have to be disciplined.

Keep me posted on this. I want to hear about your journey with them!

 

[glitterdiva]

Teenagers are tough. They actually do better with a STRICT coach. They will be lazy only if you let them. My srs know I'm in charge and if you slack I'm calling you out and you will do frog jumps etc. If there is attitude and disrespect, they're dismissed from practice. If they can't get on board after that, remove them from the team. I had to make one girl leave practice earlier this year and I removed two from the team a few months later. They are now 100% better. They need clear boundaries or they will walk all over you. You have to be the alpha.

Can you email my boss that. I wish she would do that to some of our seniors!

 

[cupieqt]

Can you email my boss that. I wish she would do that to some of our seniors!

It took a large coed team to teach me this. I went from 2 to 6 to 16 boys in 4 years. 16 boys and 11 girls (sr 4) in our final year as a program changed my life and coaching style forever.

 

[BrookeLessard]

I have this same problem, except this is my first year coaching. My squad has a wide age range of 9-15, I feel as if I am too nice. I was too nice in the beginning and now I do not know if and how I can get the control back. I need any advice I can get, I want to start being strict but I just don't know where to start...

 

[Fionaelite]

Id work out what your main priorities are, e.g is there an issue with people being late, or not listening while your talking, or generally being really slopping during dance ect.
Choose one, and set the boundaries in your own head before practice of what you allow and what you dont and what the punishment will be, so if you choose people talking over you as the main issue, I would say that I give one warning in practice, and then whoever is still talking will do crunches/frog jumps/run/sit out whatever. if everyone was talking, then everyone would do the punishment.
Make sure at the beginning of practice you clearly explain to all the kids that this is what will happen, it will happen to everyone, and will happen all the time from now on, so that its not a surprise to anyone. I think with teens as well it is important to explain why this is necessary, so they understand its not just because you feel like being mean or watching them do crunches, but because if they want to go out and do well at competitions, then they need productive training sessions.

Make sure you are always consistent and confident in what you say. once the first issue has been solved, move on to the next one, e.g. late for practice, and work in a similar way until you have the training environment that you want

Hope this helps

 

[JulieP]

Lay down the law and stick to it. My rules: no attitudes, no talking back, be on time, wear your practice uni (with bow), and be ready to work. If they don't want to follow the rules, then they can go sit in the lobby and explain to their parents why they think they're above the rules. Stick to it and it will make all the difference in the world. Kids need to know what the boundaries are and have a cut and dry understanding of your expectations. It will make the difference in your teams' attitude and their progression.

 

[gi_cheer]

I encourage you to join the coaches forum to get more feedback from other coaches.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

Hi fiercebarders.

have big problems with words "I'm scared". A couple girls do stading back tuck with spotting perfect. But when I tell them to do it by yourself they are just scared.

I used to be one of those "I'm scared girls" and I can tell you that having a coach that is super strict about it (yelling at you for not throwing the pass or making you do frog jumps for it or whatever) will get you nowhere. If it wasn't for my current tumbling coach I would have never gotten over my mental block. Take it slow, and have them build up confidence. I know my biggest problem was that I didn't think I could do it. Take baby steps, it sounds so stupid but it worked. I hope this helped somehow.

 

[VTX]

I have a lot of similar problems, it's my second year coaching and I have a team that ranges from 7-16. Getting the older ones to stop talking is the worst. I've had to step up my strictness lately, I started threatening with 200 pushups instead of starting at a low number and working up. Haven't had to have conditioning for miss behaving since. So I guess strict does work lol. However if anyone has advice, I used to cheer with a few of the girls on this team and one of them kind of viewed me as a big sister and it is difficult to get her to not talk to me over excessively (if that makes since). And one of the younger ones was on my tiny team 2 years ago and is having problems with the adjustment. Just realized the strictness was from another poster, as for the original post about motivation, I'm having a extremely hard time with that too, however I have found that being strict/mean but not mean, I cant think of the right word, and then telling them it's ok and they will get it, all in the same conversation seems to work for most of them (if you get what I'm saying lol)

 

[cupieqt]

You don't ever have to be mean. Or even get mad (although the occasional loud cap IS needed), teenage girls respond best when you patiently explain things and do so in an encouraging manner. I rarely have to raise my voice (not counting when the music is on and I'm calling out reminders lol). Now how you work with each individual is up to you. You may have girls that are more sensitive and need more hugs or you may have some bull-headed stubborn girls that thrive on being challenged and pushed.
As for team rules though, it needs to be equal discipline across the board. Coddle one kid once and it's all out the window. Know what excuses you'll accept if any for infractions. And FYI I don't accept many but I will be reasonable about some things (my dog died after being hit by a car when I opened the door to leave for practice and that's why I'm 15 minutes late--ok, hugs, go wash the tears off your face and get stretched).

 

[VTX]

cupieqt if your response about being mean was to my post, I really didn't mean mean, I was exhausted after a comp last night and really couldn't think of any way to say what I meant lol. I'm probably to nice sometimes. I just meant a change in tone to show I'm serious. Just thought I'd clear that up