The Importance of Homework

The best and fastest way to get better at something is to practice multiple times a week. For our athletes to become better cheerleaders, tumblers, and dancers we suggest that athletes take two classes each week and attend at least one open gym. This allows our athletes to get at least two hours of structured practice a week as well as one hour of less structured practice. The less structured practice, or open gym, is important because it keeps the sport fun and keeps the kids interested in what they are doing without becoming burnt out. The structured practices are important because the athletes are learning new skills and working the muscles that they need to strengthen or gain flexibility in to obtain harder skills.

Ideally, this is the best system for athletes to get better faster. We however understand that many of our customers cannot make it to the gym that many times a week. Many people do not have time to commit that many hours a week to being at the gym and travel to and from, and still others cannot afford that many classes a week. That is why we give our athletes homework to work on every day at home. The homework that we give is a great way for athletes to strengthen or gain flexibility in the same muscles they use in class. Thusly the time they spend in class will be of greater value to them.

The homework we give will help your athlete in one of three areas. The first area is strength. We often ask our athletes to do push-ups or some kind of core or leg workout at home every day. This is because if athletes can obtain higher levels of strength in their free time then we can focus more on teaching them technique in class. With added strength, it’s easier to use proper technique in class and thus athletes will be able to obtain skills faster and progress to more advanced skills sooner.

The second area that homework will help your athlete is flexibility. We are constantly telling our athletes to stretch at home. This is for three reasons. The first reason is because many of the skills we ask of our athletes require their bodies to be very flexible to hit the correct positions in their skills. The second reason flexibility is important is because of the way it helps an athlete gain strength. The more stretched out the muscles are the easier it is for your body to stack muscle on top of each other. A good analogy for this is thinking of how many pieces of paper can fit in a box after being wadded into a ball, versus how many pieces of paper can fit lying flat. The wadded up paper is un-stretched muscle and the paper lying flat is stretched and flexible muscle. The last reason that flexibility is important is because it will help your athletes to refrain from getting injured. Muscle that moves easier is less likely to get strained or tear during athletic activity.

The third area that homework will help your athlete is with their technique. We often ask our athletes to do simple skills at home that can be done safely without direct instruction. With athletes practicing the basics on their own they are becoming stronger and gaining body awareness and flexibility that will make their harder skills easier in the future.

We think homework is very important for the success of our athletes. That is why we take time out of class to not only give homework, but teach our athletes the proper way to do the exercises at home. Soon, we will even be handing out homework cards that our students must bring back with a parent signature to let us know that they did their homework. This is just another way we are being dedicated to making our athletes the best cheerleaders, tumblers, and dancers in China!

 The authors： 

- former High School Cheerleader

-former University of Missouri Cheerleader

-UCA staff and Head instructor 7 years 

-10 years experience coaching at the High School, College, and Competitive level of Cheerleading