Champions don’t think in the midst of competition. They trust themselves to already know what to do and how to do it.

Failure to trust leads to failure on the field.

When the game is on the line and the ball is in the hands of a champion, she is not thinking about how to set her feet or what her form needs to look like. She’s not thinking at all. She is merely trusting her instincts.

Instincts she developed during practice.

Practice is the time to think. To train. To drill. To repeat the same skill, the same situation, the same fundamental over and over until it becomes natural.

Competition is the time to react. To trust. To execute. To perform with ease the skills, situations and fundamentals repeated during practice.

Competition therefore requires a different mindset than practice. To do her best, the athlete must transition from a learning mindset to a performing mindset.

It’s just like taking a test in school. The classes and homework and studying leading up to the test are designed to train the student’s mind, to teach her what she needs to know to perform well on the test.

By test time, she knows all she is going to know. But if she doesn’t trust her knowledge and tries to cram more in at the last second, she’s still stuck in the learning mindset. So she overanalyzes every question. Second guesses every answer. And performs poorly because she did not allow her instincts to take over.

By game time, the athlete is as ready to play as she will be.

So don’t try to cram a last minute skills lesson in before the game begins. Let her execute the skills she has gained in practice without trying to teach her a new approach in the middle of competition.

Because you want her to concentrate on performing, not learning.

Take notes during the game on what she did well and what she needs to improve on. Then teach when the game is over. That’s when she is ready to learn again.

Until then, let your champion trust her instincts.

Bonnie Jean Schaefer is a writer and sports performance coach. She teaches young athletes how to think, perform and act like champions. Visit http://www.childrenintochampions.com for more information.

Tags: champions, coaching, coaching youth, mental game, sports, sports psychology, success tipschampions, coaching, coaching youth, mental game, sports, sports psychology, success tips

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Levels of Safety

There are three levels of safety/injury in the sport of cheerleading in the two different cheerleading sports. Cheerleading ranks as the most dangerous women’s sport in all safety areas. The first level of safety involves catastrophic injury in which involves permanent paralysis or death. The second level of safety involves injuries for which the athlete must receive hospital care. The third level of safety involves injuries which require missing or altering an athlete’s practice or competition schedule.

Height and Motion

There are logistical reasons why cheerleading is dangerous. Any activity involving height and motion involves the risk of injury. Cheerleading utilizes tumbling (motion) and basket tosses and pyramids (height and motion) and thus is inherently dangerous to some extent. Choosing to participate exposes cheerleaders to an increased risk of injury, including the risk of catastrophic injury.

Performance Areas

Cheerleaders, except in competitions, perform on surfaces designed for an entirely different sport. Basketball floors and football fields were not designed with cheerleaders in mind to even a minor degree. Even the layout of most basketball and football (and other sports) facilities are not planned with a specific cheerleading area designated, so cheerleaders are stuck performing around the edges of anther sports playing area.

Failure to Warn

One of the legal liabilities of any sport and certainly any sports injury lawsuit involves the failure to warn the participants in the activity of the dangers of their participation. There seems to be little doubt that cheerleaders, especially young cheerleaders, and their parents are not sufficiently aware of the dangers they are being exposed to by participation in the sport of cheerleading. While we are not in favor of the sometimes recommended scare tactic methods of warning athletes of dangers (don’t create self-fulfilling prophecy psychology), there is no doubt that cheerleaders would be safer if they understood that safety practices are never to be bypassed.

Cheerleading Competitions

Cheerleading has split into two distinct sports, although some programs perform and compete in both. Cheerleading used to be an athletic activity designed to act as a support system for other sports. There was more interest in boosting school and team spirit than in increasing skill difficulty. Cheer competitions changed all that as difficulty was introduced as an important factor in judging cheer competitions.

Alphabet Soup

There has been a proliferation of cheerleading associations, matching the rise of the popularity of cheerleading competitions. Often, the primary motivation for the start-up, operation and management of cheerleading associations is financial. Coaching and safety considerations, other than at their own competitions, camps and clinics can often fall by the wayside when the primary association activities are financial.

For More Information
For even more of the type of in-depth information about cheerleading in this article and other interesting and informative products, see our Cheer Zone web site at: http://gymnasticszone.com/CheerZon.htm

15 Books and Counting
John Howard is the author of 15 books and e-Books about cheerleading, gymnastics, gym design, and gymnastics humor. More books are already on the way. He has 25 years experience and has coached State, Regional and National champion gymnasts, international competitors and cheerleaders at the National level in NCAA Division I.

Enter the Gymnastics Zone

GymnasticsZone.com is a highly informative gymnastics, strength and cheerleading information web site for gymnasts, cheerleaders, coaches and parents with numerous FREE articles and information, fun pages and activities all available for viewing at: http://GymnasticsZone.com

Tags: cheerleader, cheerleaders, cheerleadingcheerleader, cheerleaders, cheerleading

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With Orlando getting their 5th PG it was obvious that Steve Francis was going to be traded. On Wednesday the Magic traded him to the Knicks for Trevor Ariza and the ancient Penny Hardaway. Both parties think the trade will work but like most trades one is dead wrong.

Orlando did the right thing. Though Hardaway makes more money than Francis his contract is up at the end of the year, which will clear up millions of dollars in cap room. With all the members of the 03′ draft becoming free agents this offseason the Magic should be able to make a splash the same way they did when they picked up both Hill and T-Mac in 00′.

And think again if you think that Hardaway will rejuvenate his career in Orlando. Remember that Brian Hill was fired the first time because Penny wanted him out. Now the two are back together and Hardaway is surely to either be waived or will be a bench warmer (either way his season is done).

As for the Knicks, it’s same-old-same-old. I’ve done so much criticizing of the Knicks that I’ve nearly run out of adjectives, but I’ll try to do this once again.

This move makes absolutely no sense for the Knicks. New York now has four Point Guards (Crawford, Robinson, Francis, Marbury) hogging one position. Francis’s contract runs for another three years after the season so they are stuck with him until 2009. By sticking with Hardaway they would’ve actually saved money. But I guess saving money isn’t big in the same city with the Mets and the Yankees.

Check out our Sports Betting Systems and the best researched Baseball Articles at http://www.easybaseballbetting.com

Tags: baseball, baseball betting, basketball betting, basketball odds, NBA, sports betting, sports gamblingbaseball, baseball betting, basketball betting, basketball odds, NBA, sports betting, sports gambling

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