All games will be played at 7 PM. Whether or not games are played, who the opponents are and most locations are to be determined (TBD) by the results of each previous game played. The two games in bold are the first games to be played.
Monday (Feb 1) we will be hosting Conference Games vs COU.
Game 2 - V Girls @ 6:00 PM
Game 3 - V Boys
Tue 2/2/2010 Western Valley Conference B Varsity 6:00 PM
Thu 2/4/2010 Charter Oak - Ute High School G JV/Varsity Dunlap 6:00 PM (show up for at least the varsity game, Mr. Straight feels strongly that we cheer at all home games- having said that, I won't be at this game because my wife and I are taking our Daughter Grace to Iowa City for medical tests.)
Fri 2/5/2010 Western Valley Conference B JV/Varsity 6:00 PM
Sat 2/6/2010 Western Valley Conference B Varsity 6:00
But then, there'sno game until Feb 12!
Cammey sent me a text and Tiffany asked here on facebook, so here's what you need to know-
You might've thought that we'd have a pile of make-up games, but this is the start of Western Valley Conference Tournaments. Girls this week and boys next week. Why our conference insists on having it's own tourneys when we'll still have District playoff tournaments at the end of the season, I have no idea, but they do.
Mon 1/25/2010 Charier Oak - Ute High School B JV/Varsity Dunlap 6:00 PM- (the girls have conference game in Manning this same night, Mr. Straight believes we should be at all home games) Sorry if you don't like it- but we will cheer at both the JV and Varsity games, so please be there b 5:30 or at least 5:45
Tue 1/26/2010 Western Valley Conference G Varsity 6:00 PM @ Dunlap (home???- this is if I understood the westernvalleyconf.com posting correctly)
If I'm not mistaken, these next two are contingent on our winning- that means they may or may not have them, so please be ready:
Thu 1/28/2010 Western Valley Conference G JV/Varsity 6:00 PM @ Westside (see me for bus time)
Fri 1/29 the JV/Var Boys have a game in Correctionville, BUT, since it's one gender only but it's NOT a home game- I am going to let you off the hook for it because if the girls win, this will be a monster week and the same will be true if the boys win in their tourneys next week. You deserve at least one day off.
Sat 1/30/2010 Western Valley Conference G Varsity 6:00 PM
Mon 2/1/2010 Western Valley Conference B JV/Varsity 6:00 PM and guess what? Boys will have Conference turneys Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sat, blah blah blah, assuming they win and keep laying.
" Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent."
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."
~Eleanor Roosevelt
"Courage is being scared to death- but saddling up anyway."
~John Wayne
"You must have confidence," writes Coach John Wooden, "You must believe in yourself if you expect others to believe in you. However, you can't have poise and confidence unless you've prepared correctly. (remember that failing to prepare is preparing to fail.) Every block is built on the others. When all are in place, poise and confidence result. You don't force them to happen. They happen naturally from proper preparation. "
Webster's Dictionary explains that it is "a state of mind or a manner marked by easy coolness and freedom from uncertainty, diffidence, or embarrassment... faith in oneself and one's powers without any suggestion of conceit or arrogance confidence that comes from long experience>...an ease or coolness under stress that reflects perfect self-control and command of one's powers... a manifest self-possession in trying or challenging situations."
Some kids bring confidence to cheerleading. Generally cheerleading gives kids confidence.
Flying, basing and spotting in stunts. Leading chants; shouting, jumping and kicking in front of hundreds of people. Leading pep-rallies... practice, practice, practice... being LOUD and PROUD!
Heck, just having to perform in front of the whole student body or half the town gives you a certain amount of confidence- once you get over whatever stage fright you had, there won't be many times you'll be afraid to be inn front of people anymore!
I wish we still had 10-20 people trying out for cheer- not because the competition means you get a higher caliber of cheerleader- you guys are great- but because having to go through the tryout practice is a real teat or confidence. Over the last 17 years I've known a couple of girls who gave phenomenal tryouts, you'd think they were college cheerleaders, unfortunately they became lazy and sloppy in practice and at games. These girls were "over confident." True confidence is built on the other 13 bricks and includes not just poise, but work, conditioning, alertness, loyalty, Enthusiasm, cooperation, etc.
Then there were a few girls who I absolutely knew had outstanding skills, knowledge, and work-ethic- but unfortunately for them, they completely freaked out when it was time for tryouts. A couple of times girls wound up in tears. It was too bad because I knew that they were brimming with potential. At least once they decided they couldn't stand being in front of crowds, at least once there wasn't anything I could do- there were too many other candidates that performed better, and I know a couple of times it worked out in the end. Even the girls who don't make the squad have said that just having to go through the tryout process helped build their confidence.
And as Coach Wooden explained, working on industriusness, friendship, loyalty, cooperation, enthusiasm, self-control, alertness, initiative, intentness, conditioning, skill, team-spirit, and poise- these are going to give you REAL confidence.
My hope is that through cheerleading, you will build all 15 of these bricks into your character and your thinking. If you do, they may not make you a billionaire or the first woman President, but I guarantee that they will bring you success- that is, the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you did your best. And THAT could make cheer one of the most important things you do in high school. Even if this is the last season you cheer and you don't come out again (and I hope you all will, whether it's during football or basketball or both), but even if you don't- it will be worth it if you gain at least some confidence from it. That will probably happen even if you think this Pyramid business of Coach Wooden is a bunch of bunk.
I've known tons of girls who agree that it made a difference in their lives. Some who were timid, shy and unassuming before cheer and confident and comfortable both with themselves and with others after. But remember, if your confidence is not merely building up an immunity to stage-fright, but if it's backed up by the other 13 bricks in the Pyramid of Success- you'll be ready for just about anything life throws at you.
"The key to winning is poise under stress."
~Paul Brown
You've heard of old saying like, "she makes it look so easy," the reason some people make things LOOK easy, is not because they are easy, but because those people have poise.
POISE:
1 : a stably balanced state : EQUILIBRIUM poise between widely divergent impulses --
2 a : easy self-possessed assurance of manner : gracious tact in coping or handling; also : the pleasantly tranquil interaction between persons of poise poise of the meeting
b : a particular way of carrying oneself : BEARING, CARRIAGE
synonym see TACT
Fashion magazines will tell you that runway models need to be poised, so you might think that poise is all an act, but really it's about being comfortable, unflappable even. It's about being stable.
Coach Wooden says that his definition of poise is simply being yourself. Not acting. Not pretending to be something you're not, you are who you are and you're comfortable with that. You'll function at your own level of competence. Granted, as a cheerleader you may sometimes have to pretend to be happy and you have to work at being positive- but if you have enthusiasm (love/spirit) then you'll be able to smile and act excited and still be genuine even when life is hard or you're having a bad day.
Poise means that your goal is not to satisfy anyone else's expectations but your own. You give your total effort to becoming the best you are capable of being.
Here's a famous poem about poise:
"If..."
By Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
(or may I rephrase, you'll be a woman my cheerleader!
or how about, you'll be a leader, not just a cheerleader)
"Individual commitment to a group effort-
that is what makes a team work,
a company work,
a society work,
a civilization work."
~Vince Lombardi, legendary NFL coach
"If anything goes bad, I did it.
If anything goes semi-good, then WE did it.
If anything goes really good, then YOU did it."
~Paul "Bear" Bryant, NCAA Football coach
"Team Spirit means you are willing to sacrifice personal considerations for the welfare of all.
That defines a team player."
~John Wooden
It's not about me. It's not about you. It's about the squad, the program, the team & fans we're cheering for, the school, the town, the community. You and I are a part of something bigger than either of us alone. We are BULLDOGS.
You've heard the old cliche', "there's no 'I' in TEAM."
It's not about me. It can never be about you.
It's all about US.
Be a team player and you'll become a leader.
What's it gonna be? 7 individuals who all want their own way? Two or three factions that each coalesce behind different individuals who each want to be in charge? Or ONE unit, one group, one team, one family, one squad with the same purpose- to get the crowds going and make games more fun- for EVERYBODY?
As you've read before, about other bricks in the Pyramid of Success, it might take sacrifice, selflessness, maturity, patience, compromise- but those are all things that genuine and successful leaders do. Be a leader by being a TEAM player.
"A winner is somebody who recognizes his God-given talents,
works his tail off to develop them into skills,
and uses them to accomplish his goals."
~Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
Skill is the knowledge of and the ability to PROPERLY and quickly execute the fundamentals. It means being prepared and covering every single detail. For a cheerleader it means being accurate and sharp. It means being able to keep tempo and stay in sync. It means controlling the different aspects of your voice (pitch, inflection, volume & expression) etc. etc.
Webster's defines it this way-
2 a : the ability to use one's knowledge effectively and readily in execution or performance b : dexterity or coordination especially in the execution of learned physical tasks
3 : a learned power of doing something competently : a developed aptitude or ability skills>
synonym see ART
And what does it take to develop skills? Work. Practice, practice, practice...
"Skill to do comes of doing"
~ Emerson
"We are what we repeatedly do"
~ Aristotle
#1 read & use your notebook
#2 plan on camp this summer
"Some believed my players were simply in better physical condition than the competition. They may have been, but they also had tremendous mental and emotional conditioning. You must identify your conditioning requirements and then attain them. Without proper conditioning in all areas, you will fall short of your potential. It is impossible to attain and maintain desirable physical condition without first achieving mental and moral condition."
~ John Wooden
Rest, diet, exercise must be considered. Moderation must be practiced. Sure, that's important. It's important to run, do crunches and push-ups, run eight-count drills, and give 100% every practice and 110% every game.
But it's also important to be balanced and well-rounded and self-disciplined. I think Coach Wooden would agree, that means conditioning your whole person, mind, body and spirit.
You must PRACTICE self-control, alertness, risk-taking, goal-setting, cooperating, being loyal, being a friend, working and being enthusiastic. It takes work and it takes practice.
If you haven't set any New Year's resolutions yet, I challenge you to resolve to exercise your mind, body and spirit.
1) Read something at least three times a week- no? okay, how about sudoku or crossword puzzle 3x a week?
2) Walk/Run/or Exercise at least 20 minutes at least three times a week
and
3) pray/meditate/worship/or serve at least three times a week
Check out an interactive version of the pyramid at Coach Wooden's official website: http://www.coachwooden.com
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