1.) The Best One
This one is self-explanatory. This kid is the best on the team. She’s probably been cheering for a while. She picks things up quickly and does them all well. You will find her in the front throughout the entire routine. Other kids are envious, but they can’t deny it either.
2) The One That’s Better than the Best One at One Thing
The Best One can’t be the best at absolutely everything all the time. There’s usually one kid who’s good at most things, and the best at one thing. Maybe they’re the best tumbler, but the Best One is better at everything else. This girl will be the Best One’s rival. The good news is that this usually fuels a competitive spirit between the two of them and they both end up improving their skills.
3.) The Tumbler
Sometimes this is the same kid as the one above. This kid just tumbles all the time. They do the hardest pass in your routine every year. In fact, they probably do more than one. When you need some tumbling done, you get them to do it.
4.) The Coach’s Kid
This is the kid that is only in the front because their mom is the coach. Don’t let this happen to your kid. There are exceptions of course when your daughter is talented enough to be in the front. But do not tailor the entire routine just so your daughter can do a sloppy cartwheel. If there is someone better equipped for a certain position in the routine, put them in.
It can be hard to take anyone out of a stunt or position that they’ve worked hard for. It can be extremely difficult if that child is your daughter. However, when the coach’s kid gets preferential treatment, the rest of the team notices. Then that kid is not well liked, and is often bullied. Then the team does not respect you as a coach. It is not a good environment, and it is better to just be impartial from the start. A good way to do this is to have a couple coaches and ask for their honest opinions.
5.) The Kid that Can Only Do One Thing
You will notice this kid early on because they will lack a natural skill. Perhaps they’re very lanky and awkward. Oftentimes they get better over time, but in the beginning, they’ll stick out like a sore thumb. Then one day you work on something and out of nowhere, this kid is great at it. For example, I had this one girl who was not very good at any aspect of cheerleading. She tried and over the years did improve. But from day one, her jumps were great. I don’t know how because frankly, she didn’t use much technique. She spent most of the routine near the back, but during the jumps she was right in the front row.
The lesson here is don’t assume anything. Kids can really surprise you. Also, kids have no idea what they can do because they’ve never tried. She had no idea she could jump either!
6.) The Ghost
The ghost is a very quiet girl who usually stands alone or with just one friend. You may never hear her speak. They aren’t very good at cheerleading, and they know it. Therefore, they don’t try very hard because they don’t want to be seen failing. If they fail but aren’t trying, then it’s not as embarrassing because they weren’t really giving it their all.
These kids want something to do. When they succeed at something they get really excited. Although they’re shy, so they try not to show it. For these very shy kids, failing in front of people is mortifying. So, I try to offer up “excuses” for why it was okay that the stunt didn’t work.
“Try to push straight up. I should have made that clearer. I’m sorry.”
“You did better going straight up. This time you need to grab right on 3. There’s a lot to remember. Each time you’ll get a little more.”
“This isn’t usually a stunt people get right away, so we’re going to have to spend a few days on it.”
“It might just be the combination of people. There might be too big of a height difference.”
This way, even though they didn’t succeed right away, they don’t feel like they failed either. Sometimes they never do get it, but hopefully they don’t get embarrassed either. If they get embarrassed right away, they quit trying in order to prevent further embarrassment. It might sound weird to someone who was never shy or insecure as a kid, but give it a chance next time you encounter a shy one.
7.) The Cute One that Isn’t Good
This is a common one when they’re young. You have this really cute kid who either isn’t good or can’t remember the routine. They’re really sweet, and they try so hard that you want to give them a chance. But then they can’t handle whatever you gave them, and you have no choice but to move them.
8.) The Mean One that is Good
Sometimes this will be the same as the Know-it-All. This kid is a mean girl. You know it, and the other kids know it. She may always blame other kids when things go wrong (and she’s right, making it difficult to correct her) or she may rub her skills in the face of others. We’ve all known that mean girl.
The problem with this mean girl is that she’s good. As a coach, you’d be silly not to utilize that talent. Sometimes you want to teach her a lesson, but if you put her in the back are you just biting off your nose to spite your own face?
9.) The One Stuck Between Two Positions
This happens on every team, especially as kids grow. You may have a really short girl who used to backspot. Or you may have a girl who’s a little too big to fly but is a little too small to base. There’s really no easy solution to this. On one of my teams I had a girl that was tall when they were young, so she was a backspot. As they got older, she didn’t grow much and ended up pretty short. We tried to teach her to base. She could do the basics, but compared to how well she could backspot, her basing was virtually useless. So, I got some short bases and I just had her keep backspotting.
10.) “But I Want to Be a Flier!”
You will have at least one of these kids every year. One of the parents may even insist that their child fly. Obviously, everyone can’t fly. Sometimes, it has nothing to do with the ability of the potential fliers in question. If I have 10 kids who used to fly, but only 20 kids on the team, they can’t all fly!