Ashanti W.

I have been coaching for five years. I have coached high school and assisted with level 4 all-stars. The places I have coached are Sandhills Academy of Gymnastics Inc, Pinecrest High School and Shape American High School. At Sandhills I worked with 8 years and the high schools students were 14 years. I hold AACCA Spirit Safety Certificate, National Safety Certification, NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching, First Aid for Coaches, Concussion in Sports- What You Need to Know, Accredited Interscholastic Coach, NCSSE Program Management and Cheer Fundamentals and Cheer and Dance Coaching Principles and Ethics.

As for myself, I was a Junior College cheerleader for two years. I did not compete as a cheerleader. When I was coaching I did take several teams to compete. Four of my high school cheerleaders has move on to college cheer teams.

Safety is my biggest concern, so the first 20 minutes will be warm up. We do that by stretching the muscles and hang drills for stunting. With the focus on stunting I will start the cheerleaders with the basics. I want to see and make sure they are completing these stunts in the proper manner. Then we will move to more advanced stunts. With the more advanced stunts, I would want each stunt group to perform these stunts one at a time. I am looking to make sure that the cheerleaders have the correct form to execute the stunt correctly and safe. Once the stunt groups are adjusted to perform single stunts. I would move to group stunting. At this point, the cheerleader will be taught how to build a safe pyramid.
When it comes to the dance portion I prefer the cheerleaders to choreograph the dance themselves. This allows them to have the investment the 2min 30 sec routine. On a dance day, we will start with the typical stretching of the muscles. Next we will start with the first 8 counts of the dance. We will go over the first 8 eight until the majority of the team has it with and without music. Then we will move on to the other counts of the dance repeating the learning process as the first 8 counts.
Once the dance and the stunts are learned then we will put it all together with music. We will make adjustments when needed.