All-Star Large Youth Teams

[Tealxblack25]

Hello!
I'm writing in here to get some advice/fun ideas for how to maintain, and coach a team of 28 7-8 year olds.. I come from high school aged kids so this is a major culture shock for me .. I'm looking for just ANYTHING anyone can offer as input for how to be successful, keep it structured, fun - Ive never coached any team with 30 kids on it let alone that age bracket!

How do you separate the strict practices, complete and train for a routine, all while keeping it fun and interesting, playing games etc ?

thanks everyone

 

[cupieqt]

Make the games a regular part of training. Playing H-O-R-S-E with stunts is a great way to drill basics like load ins, show n go's, cradled, etc. and you can slowly add/increase difficulty over the season.

Have a fun practice once every ___ weeks. Play board games that you've modified to fit cheer practice.

Do "dancing Divas, Jumping Julie's, and Miss Motions (the Queen of clean)" and let them pick out who they thought was the best. This is an AWESOME way to drill dance, jumps and motions over and over while keeping it interesting.

Find a quick and simple 5 minute team bonding activity to do at the end of hard practices. Just being silly together before they leave practice can help ward off any yucky feelings from tough practices.

 

[CookieMomster]

My CP's team does a lot of what was mentioned. They also do a version of cheer Bingo or spin the wheel and whatever it lands on they do as a team (ie. conditioning, drills, stunts, jumps, opening, pyramid, etc). To help break it up during those intense practices they LOVE noodle runs where they get to do their routine in a silly way with the music. It's honestly the highlight of the practice when they get those 2min30seconds to be silly because they know it's not normal.

Themed practices are also fun for them.

They work hard during their 2hr practices by its amazing what 5-10min of fun spread out over those 2hrs can do to motivate and encourage the kids and help them refocus. It gives them a bit of a break and it gives you a bit of break too. It's a great age and they really do want to please you and make you proud. They're too young to know any different but old enough to know they need to work hard and will start to encourage their peers to do so too.

Best of luck!

 

[cupieqt]

To elaborate on the Dancing Divas:
I pick the first winner then they get to sit out the next round and stand by me to pick the next winner. This gives us at least 10-15 rounds before I lose them. Usually I'm done before they are!

 

[DaniV]

Holy cow... 27 mini age athletes, that's mentally exhausting.

I coached 27 youth age (5-11) last season and it is a lot of making things in to contests and games to keep them motivated and to keep pushing for new skills. If you have other coaches assisting you I would suggest breaking them in to groups and doing stations with small groups. (One group works on standing tumbling, another group on jumps, ect).

During the season instead of just working on the routine, we turned a lot of things in to contests and games. Pit the stunt groups against each other to find the "winner" (gets to not do conditioning or something), or have two groups go against each other at random and just chose one "winner" (but they don't really win anything except bragging rights). We would line up on the floor in a stunt group and everyone goes together. If they hit perfect, they get to move forward one line.

If you set the expectations high and they know what is expected of them right off the bat... they'll follow suit. Think about classrooms, they aren't allowed to run around crazy in school so if you let them know the rules and enforce them in cheer, it will be the same.

If you have a tramp, you can use that as a prize or motivator. Or game time at the end of practice. Candy was great too. I'd bring in starbursts and at random they would be handed out for listening well, standing clean, or doing something really well.

Sticker charts for tumbling skills was a bit hit the year I coached mini's. I told them if they all got stickers for straight leg BWO's we would have a pizza party. It never happened, but they never gave up trying!

 

[DaniV]

I'm trying to think of other things that we've done...

Shoots and ladders for conditioning. Each square has a different conditioning skill on it.
A spinner app on my phone with each section being a different part of the routine. This way they are "choosing" what we work on. Whoever is tightest/best at that section gets to spin for the next time.
Make-up a routine with your stunt group.
Counting the amount of full-outs we've done and when we hit X, we have some type of party.
Check-off chart for the sections of the routine with music (in prep for the first competition) and also mark-through and full-out. Once they get the final check-off box (hit a full-out with music), they get some type of reward... tramp time, games at end of practice, popsicles, no conditioning, etc.

ETA: if they win a competition, we do a banner party. Donuts for zero deductions. etc.

 

[AndyT_T]

I don't have a solution I'm just commenting to applaud you on your bravery and patience :cheering::cheering::cheering:

 

[Tealxblack25]

I don't have a solution I'm just commenting to applaud you on your bravery and patience :cheering::cheering::cheering:

Well thank you very much, we plan to have myself, another coach, and two junior coaches to help us out so there will be 4 of us !

 

[MakeYourMark]

What level is the team?
As much as I hate to say it- I do find that level plays a factor. New-to-cheer lvl ones are not going to be as focused at vet lvl 4 youths. Either way, keeping it fun and fresh like everyone has said is impt!

Have fun with it! You will be these little one's biggest role model and best friend. Here's hoping you keep your sanity

 

[Tealxblack25]

Me again !
I am writing in here to ask for ideas on keeping the youngins quiet and focused during practice?
and also, how to keep them in their lines -- majority of our practices are spent putting them back in line!

 

[Melissa Starke]

Me again !
I am writing in here to ask for ideas on keeping the youngins quiet and focused during practice?
and also, how to keep them in their lines -- majority of our practices are spent putting them back in line!

As far as getting them quiet goes, we use silent captains in our kindergarten/first grade class.
Out of all the tablegroups 1 is the captain and gets to remind them to be quiet.
You can translate this to cheer by having say 4 captains (divide the teams in "crews" of 7)
And when you need them to focus signal this to your captains (maybe through a bell)
Let the captain face the others and when pointed at that specific kid needs to be quiet, repeat with others or as needed. The crew with the least amount of time used, gets a sticker and wichever crew gets a full chart first, get to be the #1 silent crew and a small reward.

 

[JumpChannel]

Our schoolteachers use a silent signal with young age groups. The teacher does a motion such as hand pointing to mouth or hand by ears or even something funny like stand on one leg. Kids who have been watching the teacher copy the move, holding it in silence. Other kids then catch on and hold the move in silence, till the whole group has caught on and is quiet.
I don't know why this game works but am always amazed at how quickly the noise level drops.

 

[LabbyGirlMOM]

I work in a day care and when we need our kiddos to be quiet I clap 3 times then those who are listening clap 3 times. I do this til I have everyone attention and they are all quiet it usually only takes 2 times of me clapping then the kids clapping
We also hold up the peace sign or I stand clean and the kids who are paying attention will stand clean and then everyone usually joins in and stands clean.