This is for the Cheer Coach……

This is for the Cheer Coach who feels under-appreciated.

This is for the coach who stayed up for 48 hours straight choosing the perfect music for each team until her eyes crossed, and still has to do the 8-count sheets to go with them.

This is for the coach who consistently shows up early and always stays late.

This is for the coach that sits in the middle of his or her living room surrounded by skittles, switching positions and formations as they figure out the perfect place for each and every athlete on each and every team.

This is for the coach who misses weddings, funerals, reunions, major events, and plans their entire life around competition season.

This is for the coach who attends countless classes and conferences (and spends a large portion of their paycheck on such) to stay up to date on all of the latest techniques and safety methods and doesn’t complain about it.

This is for the coach who packed their dinner for between classes but left it sitting in the fridge in order to deal with a concerned parent.

This is for the coach who hasn’t sat down at the dinner table with his or her family for supper in over a decade, often has to hit the late-night drive thru on the way home, and rarely gets to tuck their own little one in at night.

This is for the coach who encourages all his or her students to fight for it, rather than only focusing on the ones that it comes easy to.

This is for the coach who doesn’t want to get down on the floor and demonstrate because her knees hurt and her muscles ache, but does it anyway, with enthusiasm.

This is for the coach who saved money for a vacation, but instead used it on new equipment for the gym.

This is for the coach who desperately needs a full night of sleep.

This is for the coach that receives hateful emails from a cheer mom and still shows up to teach the daughter or son with the same passion she had from the beginning.

This is for the coach that receives texts in the middle of the night, early hours of the morning, and all hours of the afternoon asking questions about scheduling, placements, music, choreography, or what to do if a child can’t be a flyer.

This is for the coach who gets so excited when an advanced student lands their back tuck for the first time, and is equally just as excited when a beginner stands up their first forward roll.

This is for the coach who has very few friends or not a single family member that understands what goes into being a cheer coach. It’s not always easy to find someone to empathize with all the energy that goes into this profession.

You are appreciated. Maybe not by those you see on a daily basis, but by so many you’ll never meet. Everything that you pass down to your students gets passed along into the cheer world, or down to their students, and down to their students’ students, and so forth. The ripple effect that you generate with each class you teach will last far beyond your lifetime. And in case your colleagues, or your boss, or the cheer mom of your star student forgets to remind you of that, let us.

You are talented beyond what your students ever get to witness. You are worth thousands of dollars more than your paycheck reflects. You deserve a nap. You change lives. You affect people. You inspire human beings with your grace, your creativity, and your drive. You give children tools that help them beyond the classroom. You create relationships between people and their bodies. You make them appreciate their ability to move freely, as they tumble, stunt, and dance through each and every routine. You make a lasting difference that someone else might get to witness before you ever hear about it.

Your sacrifices are so appreciated. Your talents, your choreography, and your gentle teaching manner is so appreciated.

You are so appreciated. Thank you for all you do to make the cheer community, and the world, a more beautiful place.

Co-founder Heart of Cheer

Resources
This article was inspired by an article written for Dance Teachers called “This is for the Dance Teacher who Feels Under-appreciated” By Amanda Trusty. We put a ‘cheer’ spin on it because we feel that cheer coaches go through many of the same feelings.
http://www.sadiejane.com/blog/this-is-for-the-dance-teacher-who-is-underappreciated/