Brain Game #7 – The Team Cheer

This brain game is so much fun because you get to make up a cheer!

I don’t think I know an athlete who doesn’t like doing cheers. Even the quietest and most shy athletes will have fun with this.

I encourage all teams to have one and to show it off on a regular basis. Chanting positive and motivating words with your teammates is such a rewarding experience. You will find that happiness and smiles will surround the room. It could be the worst training day ever but a small cheer at the end of training could bring out some smiles that seemed the most unimaginable. It could help those athletes who had a tough day leave on a more positive note.

Have fun with it and make it interesting. Use inside jokes that your team might have or even funny sayings that some of the team members use. Make it into something that each of them can feel happy and motivated about.

I encourage you as coaches to let your athletes make it up on their own. You can only understand your athlete’s relationships with each other from your own point of view, not theirs, so it is best if they make it up themselves. It will mean more to them if they get to create it because that makes it more personable. Of course if the athletes are very young, you can make it up for them. At a younger generic motivation is good enough.

Try and have a designated time in which you do the cheer. Perhaps at the end of practice if you feel that is best or even at the beginning if they need a little motivational boost before they start. Achieving goals or getting over a fears can be reasons to do team cheers. This will help the athletes feel special and therefore more energetic and motivated to push themselves even further. Team cheers can bring feelings of closeness and help to strengthen friendships. It is important that athletes who train together on a team have good relationships with each other in order to be able to perform confidently.

Once you have made your personalized cheer try it out! Make a poster and stick it to the wall in the training facility. That way everyone can see it and be part of it.