Working with college students

I have a few observations from my year of working with college-age ladies and gentlemen. I hope this post doesn't come off as negatively sexist, but I KNOW that working with my guys and girls are two very different things.

Last year, since my cheer squad was not a stunting group, it was mostly ladies, with a few guys thrown in for good measure. The dance team (obviously) is all-female. This year, on the other hand, I have a huge group. In all, I'm working with 26 ladies and 17 guys. So it's a big group.

At cheer practice, twice a week, there are 12 guys and 12 girls. If I need to do some paperwork, or distribute something, or have a conversation with one athlete, it's interesting to see what happens to the rest of the group. The ladies will drop into something productive (usually) like stretching, or rehearsing dances. The guys, on the other hand, will completely lose it and start running around like monkeys. They usually end up trying to tumble (when they don't know how) or trying to jump up to try and reach the ceiling beams.

This is not to say the guys aren't hard-working. I know they give it their all at every practice, but the attention-span is just not there! Two minutes of down time and they are no longer focused on the task at hand. This is partly my fault as coach, not keeping them in line 100% of the time at practice, but I'm learning, and I think I'm getting better about keeping the whole group on task. I just can't help but acknowledge the stark difference between Monday practices (guys and girls) and Tuesday practices (ladies only). Oftentimes, we finish early on Tuesdays because the ladies are so much more on task that we accomplish everything more quickly.

All that being said, college cheerleading would not be what it is without men involved (as we established last year). This year has come with a whole new set of challenges for me, but I am truly loving every minute of it. I was nervous about having a whole team of guys, but I really appreciate them for their hard work, and what they contribute to our team - a sense of collegiate spirit and athleticism.

Also, the girls are terrible at running those huge flags! I'm glad to say that although our football team has looked far less than stellar for the last two weeks, the cheer squad and dance team have really stepped it up this year, deserving all the praise they've been receiving. Here's to my kids for working so hard and adding an entertainment value to games that are somewhat... lackluster. Go Cougs!