Key 5: Be Real with your Team

In my three decades as a cheer coach, I have had some very tough seasons.  I have experienced times that I questioned why I was even coaching.  It seems in those years, I can always look back and feel a bigger sense of accomplishment because I was able to overcome challenges and grow, along with my other coaches and team.  

I am pretty transparent with my teams.  For the vast majority of times I am at practice, I feel great.  It doesn’t matter what has happened that day, cheer always uplifts me and I can forget about whatever challenges I am facing while I am with my team.

Then, there are those extra hard days.  Sometimes it is my personal life, or something that happened at work, and there have been many times it really impacts me when a cheerleader gets hurt or is having a really hard time in her personal life.  I have shed many tears over seeing the challenges some of my athletes face.  

On those hard days, I am real with them. I let them know how I am doing.  I sometimes shed tears in front of them.  I don’t do this a lot at practice, but when I need to shed some tears, I don’t hide it. Even though some coaches think it may not be appropriate to be vulnerable, I have no problem with it within appropriate boundaries.  I want to be real with them and in turn, I feel they are real with me.  

Keep in mind the boundaries that you don’t want to share details of your personal life.  I am just talking about saying that you had a hard day.  I have found that they appreciate that as a coach, you are real and that you showed up and did your best even if in a challenging situation. 

Always be real with your team.  When they see your transparency, it gives them the freedom to be real, vulnerable and transparent.