Alright cheerpeeps, it’s that time of year: tryout time! I don’t know about you, but I find that whenever tryout time rolls around, there’s a lot of ‘standard’ advice being offered:
Practice, practice, practice!
Be comfortable with the appropriate skills
Give it 200%
Smile – it’s all about confidence!
I think all of these are important, but it’s the last that I’m going to focus on today. When you walk into tryouts, you shouldn’t need to be reminded to smile so you look confident – you should naturally be smiling because you ARE confident. So, just like you practice and train your body for tryouts, we’re going to train your brain for tryout confidence!
Challenge your weaknesses!
How-to: We all have a skill, a pass or a routine bit that shakes our confidence. Turn it into a personal challenge! If you challenge yourself leading up to tryouts, you’ll not only get in some extra practice, but you’ll just see tryout day as another regular day of your personal challenge. You’ll do your best for you, not just try to put on a show for your evaluators.
Recognize and appreciate your strengths every day!
How-to: There is a place for humility, but try-out prep is not the place. It’s important that you are reminding yourself of your amazing skills every day because you build up your self-worth and confidence at the same time.
Carry yourself with confidence!
How-to: Watch confident people you admire – observe how walk, talk, sit, stand, and carry themselves. Next, train your body to do the same thing – be aware of your posture, tone of voice, or walk, and make changes accordingly. How does this help with tryouts? You have to walk in, stand and receive instructions and walk out right?
See yourself being the best you can be at tryouts!
How-to: VISUALIZE! Every day! Multiple times! You know that saying “seeing is believing”? Well, you need to believe in yourself to be confident. Visualization is a very useful tool to accomplish this task. My favourite time to visualize is when I’m brushing my teeth (this is also when I like to get in some extra squats).
For more tryout ready tips – check out our 1, 2 or 3 month tryout prep programs! www.cheerfittraining.com/tryouts
Aaaaand break!
Your Ambassador,
Brieanne
Brieanne
Brieanne is a graduate student and community developer from the Great White North (i.e. Canada). Our first Canuck Ambassador, Brieanne is best known for her happy, supportive and high-energy personality, and her ardent belief in the power of ‘(positive) energy hugs’. A fitness enthusiast, she also dances (everywhere, anytime), runs, practices yoga, and spends as much time outdoors as possible. If she’s not sweating it up with CheerFIT, you can find her addressing social inequities and structural violence with(in) various communities or baking away for parties and pleasure alike while blasting Taylor Swift.