Grab Your Opprtunity

Grab your opportunity If you haven’t already, you should be doing a lot of observations. Attend as many competitions and as many different types of competitions as you can. Go to your schools, attend peewee games. Ask questions.. a lot of questions. Talk to fellow coaches, talk to sports parents, talk to cheerleaders and listen to everything everywhere.   The OACC New Start Manual covers the detailed minutia to get you started and keep you growing successfully. Here are some jump start areas that will need careful consideration: Banking and Finance Record keeping & rosters Human Resources & Insurance Reduce Risk Hiring coaches & Training staff Policies & Procedures Education & hospitality Professional Services and associations Gym equipment and mats Office Equipment, sound and video equipment Uniforms & props Parent club Student Discipline & Personality types Building teamwork Integration of program components: Motion, facials, jumps, dance, tumbling, stunts, transitions, choreography Integration of athletic training Strength and Conditioning, Exercise Physiology, Sports medicine, Sports Psychology, Sports Nutrition       LOCATION Safety and visibility Is the space you have chosen safe at night with good lighting, does it have ample parking and street signage, and is it easy to find? Transport and distance Is the facility within close driving distance for most of your student base? Is there public transport nearby: buses, trains, a safe night transport service? Nearby cafes Is your location near shops and convenience stores or a cafe so students can get a bite to eat after class? Is there something for parents to do? Studio location and cost Is the area relatively inexpensive and slightly further out, perhaps in an industrial area where students would need to drive to. Weigh up the costs. Rent or buy Weigh up how much you would be paying in rent monthly. How many years do you plan to run this gym or studio? Does it work out better to invest and buy the property. Make a five-year plan and see what makes better sense financially in the long term. Renting and Subletting options Consider sub-letting to dance, fitness and yoga groups. If you are renting, make sure your lease allows permission to sublet space. Physical layout & logistics of location How many people can you accommodate? Will these numbers cover the costs of running the studio, advertising, paying expenses, and paying coaches or yourself? Flooring and mirrors Does the facility have a cheer and dance-safe floor? Is it wooden, concrete, rubberized or special flooring? If not, how much will it cost to convert, and are you allowed to change or cover the flooring? How much do mirrors cost? When installing, unless you own the property, it is wise to have mirrors mounted instead of siliconed to the wall so they can be removed if you leave. Comfort and safety Is there a place to get changed and store bags so they don't create a safety hazard? Is there a comfortable place to sit, especially for spectators? Ventilation and lighting Is there adequate ventilation, heating, and cooling available? It may be necessary to install a reverse cycle air-conditioning system – each person omits 100 watts, so a room of ten people can heat up quite quickly, especially when cheering. Is the lighting conducive to practice safely? Make sure the coaching and practice areas are well lit. Decorate with style Choose colors and images that reflect a certain theme: cheer, dance, gymnastics, safety, sports motivation, character and success! Creative spaces make people comfortable.     TEAM How many members will you have? Do you need more than one team? Create a name your squad(s). Choose your squad colors. Select or design uniforms, Poms, flip cards, banner/flags, mascot, and creative props. Set clear enrolment dates and class sizes Apply a cut off date for try-out applications or enrollment. If the number of tryout applicants is large, see if it is viable to start another squad. If not, students quickly learn to enroll on time. Your quality and value will increase in the eyes of your participants. We suggest holding Try-outs even if you have open enrollment or have an open enrollment squad amongst your team line-ups. Recruit Members Advertise in your local county and city newspapers. Contact your once a month publications and freebee newspapers. Place flyers everywhere… schools, local businesses, local fitness clubs, women’s groups, grocery stores, etc. Tell everyone you meet, tell everyone you know about your new facility and about the new squads. Tryouts All (most) applications may already be submitted to you. Be prepared for an onslaught of cheerleaders who arrive with paperworks in hand. A pre-tryout clinic to teach and observe may be a good idea for you. You can see who catches on quickly and has good memorization skills, who has the motivation and who has the skill. This will make your team selections and divisions easier to determine. Be sure that a parent has signed all documents, paperworks and release forms prior to tryouts. You may want to include: Your philosophies and goals, policies and procedures, cheerleader ethics and parental roles and responsibilities. Be sure medical health history or physical exam is on file as well as a release to allow medical attention as well as a waiver of responsibility for allowing participation in a vigorous athletic activity. Judges The OACC has a list of unbiased judges for many areas. If you need volunteer judges or a paid professional judging panel, contact the OACC. You may also enlist your own coaches or locals. Be sure they are versed in your goals and to be completely fair in the selection of your teammates. Competitions invite a neighboring gym to a "jump off" or "tumble off" just to get prepared. Try a full dress rehearsal in full uniforms performing in front of others. Parents, and maybe invite locals for the exposure and press. Where you compete is endless. Ohio is host to hundreds of Regionals, Open Classics, State Championships and National Competitions. Get outside of Ohio too. Our neighbors in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana hosts dozens of competitions per year. Set your sites on a National competition which you may find as far as Florida, Texas, Maryland and the Carolinas. How often you compete depends on your overall preparedness. You may want to start with as few as four competitions per year. As you gain momentum, experience and skill, you may find yourselves at more than a dozen per competition season.   Get Organized Programming and gym schedule Work 3-6 months in advance. It is wise to make an overall annual plan for your year, looking at the program in terms of school terms or in course blocks, and then revise and refine your schedule. Implementing programs; setting you apart from the rest Invest in your skills and credibility Educate yourself and expect that coaches working with you continue their education. Make sure your research is up to date and your skills are polished. Continue to study and research if you wish to grow as a coach and business owner: read regularly, attend workshops, clinics and seminars. Take courses in coaching, safety and business management. Plan your programs to include basic skills and specific focus areas Offer solid programs with the basic cheer, dance and tumbling skills required for everyone, and then follow with more specialization of skills, along with progressive stunting and killer choreography with smooth transitions. With student development in mind, a cheerleader can progress within your control and your teams can be Elite teams. Complimenting classes You introduce fitness, tumbling classes, community activities, pre-natal, yoga, specialized dance, children's and senior's classes. The cheer related ideas are endless. Find the balance of a core set of classes and then introduce something special -not all at the same time. Policies philosophies procedures Set clear standards. You are the gym owner and administrator. Make sure all coaches, trainers and support personnel working with you understand your basic principles. State and write them clearly and then get the staff to repeat back to you in the way they understand. What do you expect from coaches (and yourself) in terms of coaching standard, quality, outcome, repeat students, follow through events? Create a mission statement and review it regularly. What is fixed policy and what is negotiable? Coach qualification: What levels of qualification do you have? Do you and all coaches and support personnel working with or for you have good experience? Are they of good character? Have you all studied with professionals and updated your coaching skills? Have you obtained levels of certifications and credentialing? Do all coaches working with you have a first aid certificate? No coach should be working without one. Make it a pre-requisite to obtain one. CPR Certification is available through local ambulance service or The American red Cross or at OACC seminars. First Aid and coaching principals are all available thru the OACC and our network of affiliates. First aid certification and level I Coaching Principals only takes a day. Do coaches agree on teaching styles? If students move between coaches or classes, it is important that coaches liaise with each other and understand how everyone else works. A conflict of coaching styles can be unsettling for students. As a necessity, you must hold regular meetings. Finances Develop a workable payment system for your student. Decide on your system. Up-front payments usually provide an overall discount and have an early-bird option available; this makes sure your cash flow remains steady. If you choose to run pay by the month classes, you can use your competition fee payments as your cash flow. it is advisable to offer bulk classes with a good discount or free gift incentive to get payment up front to cover your costs. Up-front payments equal commitment. Get a good accountant and banking system. Seek an accountant who deals with small business and related fields. Find out what you can and can’t claim as tax deductible expenses. Keep records and learn basic bookkeeping, or pay someone to do these jobs for you. Set up a credit card merchant facility and even online payment. Behind the scenes. Keep good records. Records of attendance, records of skill progressions, accomplishments, injury reports, uniform orders. Keep notebooks binders up to date. Your support personnel paid or not paid can be the most beneficial person in your organization. Lists. keep a history of lists of cheers, chants, routines. Use these to draw from, use as safety and liability back up, use it to make scrapbooks at banquet time. Archives are a great tool to use in promotion and advertising! Delegate. Your coaches, support people and parent volunteers and parent boosters are all willing to help and feel pride in their accomplishments. They will feel a needed member of your organization. Keep their loyalty. No matter how good you are at multi-tasking, you just cannot do everything yourself. Use them. Marketing and advertising Develop an identifiable style in your marketing material. Design a flowing market spread of business card, cheer flyer, program updates, web page, basic advertisement copy, email signatures, etc. Use the same general font, pictures and style so your studio is identifiable and creates a string image. Keep wording succinct and powerful. Include all class information and contact details. Everyone loves a freebie. Offer something free once in a while – not too often, but use this as promotion; for example, a free class for a friend, a free CD with a course, or a free evening event if people bring four guests. If participants are loyal to you, it is worth acknowledging their loyalty with a special gift or discount several times a year. Other options to boost your business revenue and profile Workshops and sponsorship of "big names" This will add to your revenue and generate more business even outside your immediate school area. Invite other gyms, studios and schools to participate and watch your business expand! Hosting a workshop or clinic boosts your credibility as well as your staff’s knowledge. Sell products. Buy wholesale cheer and dance jewelry, trinkets, gifts or even apparel and sell items in your facility. Food and drinks – from vending machines to a snack bar. Your cheerleaders and parents eat and drink. Should you open a snack bar, you must contact the local health department for approval. Events and charities Hold several events annually and at least one fundraiser or charity event each year. Charities are firstly a great cause, secondly a wonderful way to promote your event in the media, and thirdly a way to make people feel good about participating