Mentorship

Literal
· Mentorship Log.
· Grace Contreras: 626-333-1145

Anabel Delgado: 626-222-0499

Interpretive
The most important thing I have gained from this experience has to be the relationships I created with my girls and boys. Getting to know each of these young athletes was one of the most rewarding experiences, because each person had a different story. Some of the girls showed promise early on and some showed the potential of being easily taught. The boys were the rockstars of the team, both of them had absolutely zero experience cheering, but came in ready to learn. They caught on quickly and surprised all the coaches with their determination and desire to be the best. These young athletes showed me the importance of relationships in this sport and how they can change the mentality of an entire team with one mood swing.  I learned how the emotions a coach gives off, will influence the way the athlete responds to a demand.

Applied
Through coaching these young kids as they learn new skills and perfect the ones they have, you pick up a few things. I picked up ways to make sure these kids stayed safe and through speaking with the other coaches, ways to be a better cheerleader. Almost everytime I looked at the way we practiced, my answers were right there in front of me. It was very reassuring to have them be clear as day, and to be able to insure that these answers were enough to satisfy my EQ. I wish that all seniors get to experience their answers coming to life as they are studying first hand exactly what they want to. 

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 hours check

1. I am doing my mentorship hours at Starlite All-Stars Cheer and Dance Company in the city of Industry.
2. My contact is Grace Contreras, owner of the gym.
3. I have a total of 45 hours, with more to come as the season goes on. I will make more of a dedication to go, I missed 4 weeks due to work and other engagements with school.
4. The last 10 hours of service I did, I helped the girls clean up their motions, choreographed a dance for the boys on our team, I helped a stunt group learn and understand how to do a show and go, and I helped a girl on team black make progress in her back-handspring. I learned from my coaches that you have to be stern with the athletes to get things through their head, but you also have to be compassionate, supportive and relentless. Effective coaches never give up on their athletes, they possess an undying love for each and every one of them, as well as a huge amount of trust for them. These traits make an effective team atmosphere and a potentially successful outcome.
Mentorship Log

Senior Project Update.

MENTORSHIP
I have been looking into the way my coaches have been coaching and seeing the different ways to deal with athletes. I missed about three weeks of practice due to illness and various other things that took precedence. However, I was with the team before and on their first competition day November 17th. I was with the girls and two boys who are knew for the whole day. The competition lasted 8 hours. When it was time to warm up Anthony(teammate and fellow coach) took the team to go stretch and warm up before going on stage. The athletes were really nervous so we had numerous huddles with them to calm them down and pep them up. It was exciting to be a coach waiting for my team to go out there and leave everything on the mat. They got third place which the coaching staff knew would happen since we didn't push them to learn harder skills. After that day we decided they were ready for harder stunts and tougher handling.

INDEPENDENT COMPONENT

After talking with one of my mentors, I have found out that the number of hours required before you can apply for USASF certification is well over 250 and I won't be able to complete that during this year. I will continue my mentorship which will help me work towards it and do whatever I can to get closer to being certified like first aid certification and possibly going through other companies to get certified to coach a highschool team by chance.

SCIENCE FAIR

I am going to begin conducting my experiment soon to start retrieving data and begin writing out my lab report. I will receive the Vernier force plate and all requirements from Pittman this week.

Blog 1: Mentorship Experience

  Literal (Know)

·    Mentorship Log
·     Starlite Allstar Cheer and Dance Company - (626) 333-1145
      Grace Contreras (Owner) - (626) 333-8788

   Literal (Need to know)   

• What is the best way to deal with children 13 and under.
• How can one effectively get across a lesson without losing the attention of the pupil?
• What is the best way to gain the respect of your students?
• What are the key components to creating a successful cheer-leading routine?
• What is the best way to get a student to achieve the skills they want?
• Is there a better way to get through to those pupils who just can't grasp the lessons? 

   Interpretive

    This experience has only been the beginning to my coaching career. I'm sure that I will be helping out around starlite for many years to come, and maybe even take a team of my own one day. I have learned that  there is a certain way to talk to the younger girls, which consists of rewards as well as not being too lenient. The little ones seem to take in all the things we say when we reward them with water breaks. The older girls demand a more authoritative tone of voice. The trick to getting them to take in the lessons is playing around with them a little and making them enjoy what they're doing. It also doesn't hurt you to be the object of a crush. They seem to pay attention to you when you are smooth and authoritative. Being coached by two tough coaches has shown me that amazing things happen when you constantly push your pupils, when they know you support them, and don't let up; they respect you. This has been a wonderful learning experience and has only furthered my love and passion for this sport. I can't wait to see it get the recognition it deserves.

   Applied

     Well what I did is coach an up and coming Allstar Cheerleading team, which has been what I thought would be a good senior topic since sophomore year when I joined a team. The sport is so fascinating, passion driven and incredibly difficult. It hardly receives any recognition for what a rigorous workout it is, and I believe it should be exposed to the world as more then just the stereotyped, stuck up, slutty, skinny, and slightly stupid high school girls.  I think that having cheer as my topic would open a world of possibilities for components, experiments and papers. I believe that it is a very suitable topic as I will have access to many people to interview and tons of information. Coaching a cheer-leading team would even be a good route to go.