MVP MENTALITY SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

Cheerleading ranges from yelling to intense physical activity for sports team motivation, audience entertainment or competition based upon organized routines. The routines usually range anywhere from one to three minutes, which may contain many components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting in order to direct spectators of events to cheer for sports teams at games or to participate in cheerleading competitions.

Cheerleading originated in the United States, and remains predominantly American, with an estimated 1.5 million participants in all-star cheerleading. The presentation of cheerleading as a sport to a global audience was led by the 1997 start of broadcasts of cheerleading competition by ESPN International. Due in part to this recent exposure, there are now an estimated 100,000 participants scattered around the rest of the world.

Cheerleading require a large amount of mental toughness in order for the athletes to push their bodies to the physical demands of the sport. Often times, the largest obstacle faced by cheerleaders are fear and anxiety- especially by the ‘flyers’. When fear enters the gym, other factors such as self doubt and confidence become important factors to assess. There are many techniques to help cheerleaders overcome fear, as well as the other mental blocks that might be interfering with their performance.