Who would have thought there would be so many guidelines to cheering!!!
Well, during a synchro ROUTINE competition, cheering is highly encouraged. In fact, it actually looks bad upon a team that doesn't cheer. (There is no cheering during the figure competition).
We're super lucky, because we have the largest team, therefore, our cheering should be the loudest!!
Perhaps the most important thing to realize, (and I believe this goes for most things in life): when you hear cheering for you... it spurs you on!
The girls are swimming hard routines, and when they come up out of the water and hear cheering, it renews their energy and their spirit. Think about something hard you've done. Maybe you ran a race recently. You're getting to the end, you're literally pooped, and you can't find the energy to finish the race strong and fast. Then you come around the corner, and BAM! people are cheering! Suddenly you get a kick of adrenaline to finish the race strong!
Cheering goes a long way! I promise you! When the girls come up and hear you, see your smiling faces and waving your flags they'll feel incredible. How can they not smile, (which is required in competition) when they see your smiling faces!
Elizabeth Cluff is our new Cheer Captain! She has graciously taken on this task for us.
At the competitions, she'll be following the routines and whenever one of the AZD routines is about to swim, she is going to round up all the athletes and parents, remind you to grab your flags we made and CHEER!
Here's the guidelines to follow:
Make sure you are not seated directly behind judges when you cheer. It's very distracting!
Make sure your cheering is not a high pitched squeal. (Lots of little girls do this...)
Please refrain from saying a girls name while cheering. For example, please don't cheer, "Go Becky, you rock!!" I do love to hear that I rock, but saying names while girls are competing is not appropriate.
Cheering should take place for most of the routine. But especially when girls just complete a difficult or long hybrid, whenever something has been done well, and after highlights like lifts and throws.
You don't need to cheer when girls are under the water unless something was spectacular. They can't hear you, so it's best to wait until they surface and can.
We always encourage our parents to sit together to promote team unity. This meet, we will set up in a different place than at the one in Jan. We will be setting up on the building side of the pool, (opposite of the covered bleachers). There will be 3 tier bleachers there, and we're asking that parents that have canopies bring them. We are hoping to line our canopies over the bleachers for the parents to sit under, and then use more canopies to put directly behind the bleachers for the girls and their stuff. That way all parents and athletes are together, and we're all shaded. The team has a few canopies, and we're hoping that we can get 2 -4 more brought to the competition. We have over 50 athletes competing, so we need lots of canopies! Please let me know if you have one that we can use.
Thank you all for reading this and making an effort to cheer for all AZD routines. And thanks to Elizabeth for taking this task on and rallying up our troops!
It's going to be a great competition! It's a great week to be a Dolphin!!
The Coaches
