As I know many of you have been very successful into turning your coaching and choreographing skills into a career, do you have back up jobs? what was your college major? since i'm interested coaching. i'm very interested to hear how you all got started.
Ive know sivce forever that i want to do something that has to do with cheer for the rest of my life Right now im loving cheer and coaching but the whole school and youth cheer thing isnt working for me anymore. I really really want to coach all star. Ive been coaching youth for 6 years and school for 2 and i think im ready for all star. Everytime I talk to people and ask for tips on how to get started with all star the first thing they say is ask to coach the tiny/mini team at your gym. The only problem with that is i dont cheer anymore and havent for like 2 or 3 years now so i dont have a gym to ask to coach at. What are some things gym owners look for when hiring new coaches? What are some other tips you guys have to help me get started?
Just submit a resume to all the local all-star gyms in your area or the ones that you feel comfortable driving to. Most gym owners look for any cheer experience and job stability.
We get resumes all the time at our gym. One key is never lie about where you coached/ cheered or what you know how to do. We always call the gyms they coached at to do a brief background before we do the F.B.I. background. We then place them as an assistant coach under one of our senior coaches for one team and usually as an assistant coach under one of our younger coaches on another and basically watch how they coach, how they complement our staff, and how they interact with the athletes. We do this for a month of practices and then if we feel they will be a great addition to our family, we make them an offer. If not, we part ways and go from there. No one expects you to be this amazing Level 5 coach from day one of your career. It takes time for people to learn their style of coaching and how to deal with the numerous personalities within a gym. Our staff knows we are here to build a program and they give us everythnig they have. They are amazing.
Now for the other part of your question, I have staff who have other jobs, or are in school and they coach in the evenings. I work full time at a law firm and run the gym at night. My business partners all have full time jobs as well. Coaching cheer as a career can be very hard depending on your situatition. It also depends on the market. If our gym was in South Carolina, then we could afford to pay our coaches what a person can live off of comfortably. Markets like Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, etc where things are extremely expensive all weigh in on what coaches make and how much they need to make to live. That is why you see many All-Star coaches also doing choreography and coaching school cheer and working for Competition Companies because the market isn't good enough for them to make enough from just one aspect. Now this isn't always true as I am sure there are many people who make amazing money just coaching teams.
1.) Volunteer. Find a gym where they would be willing to let you come in and learn how to coach. There is much to be said about preparing any ground before you plant in it.
2.) Know Your Role and Stay in Your Lane. Handle your assignments and complete them instead of critqing what the other coaches are not doing right and how you would fix it. Teach classess until they invite you to coach teams. Take as much pride in teaching a forward roll as a double full. There will come a time if you are blessed that you will be in that position, but rarely is that in your first 5 years of teaching.
3.) Educate Yourself. There is a big difference in doing it and teaching somebody else to do it. Learn as much as you can about your chosen field. Read, research, go to conferences, sit at the feet of respected indivudals in the sport not to fawn over them but to learn from them.
4.) Maximize Your Abilities. Know the area you are best in and market that (without being bragadocious) while shoring up your weaker areas. This will make you a better overall coach if not for that job, for future jobs.
5.) Certification! Get certified for yourself. They can never take that away from you regardless. USASF, First Aid, Dance...wherever...get it done.
6.) As mush as humanly possible do not burn bridges behind you. Every job will not be a good fit for you and that is fine. But how you leave is just as important as where you end up next. In this community everybody knows everybody (Six degrees of separation) so to tick someone off royally in Minnesota could def affect you if you try to get hired in Alabama. Even many years later.
7.) Don't Lie on your Resume. Don't embellish it. State the facts and be able to back them up. There is nothing sweeter to me than to have somebody call my references and have them give a great report. Nothing troubles me than to call to verify employment and to find out that a prospective employee was fired from their last job and had not merely quit.
8) Have a back up plan. If you could not coach anymore due to injury, illness, economy, family, etc. what would you do? Have that on lock just in case things do not work out, or as something to keep the money rolling in while you are launching your coaching career. This will also keep you centered to your dreams.
Right now im loving cheer and coaching but the whole school and youth cheer thing isnt working for me anymore. I really really want to coach all star. Ive been coaching youth for 6 years and school for 2 and i think im ready for all star. Everytime I talk to people and ask for tips on how to get started with all star the first thing they say is ask to coach the tiny/mini team at your gym. The only problem with that is i dont cheer anymore and havent for like 2 or 3 years now so i dont have a gym to ask to coach at. What are some things gym owners look for when hiring new coaches? What are some other tips you guys have to help me get started?
