... RUNNING QUALITY PRACTICES ...

Many times campers and fellow coaches will ask me, "How many hours a week do you practice?" Very seldom does anyone inquire about how much we ACCOMPLISH during each practice. With the hectic lives we lead, it is important to USE YOUR PRACTICE TIME WISELY. There is an old saying... WORK EXPANDS TO FILL THE TIME ALLOWED TO DO IT. I would rather work harder when my team is together and have more time to spend with my family. Here are some suggestions to help you do just that:

1. Organize your practice times in advance. Have a set amount of time for warm ups, review, polishing, learning new material, etc.

2. Start on time. Five minutes wasted each day adds up to many hours by the end of the season.

3. CAPTAINS need to be strong leaders and keep things moving if you need to step out.

4. WARM UPS need to be pre-planned and organized. We have a calendar in which three dancers per day sign up to lead aerobics/warm ups. They are given a sheet as to how to do it. They lead about five minutes of aerobics to get the blood pumping, four songs of slow stretching, sit-ups, wall kicks and individual stretching. This is followed by 20 minutes of high kicks.) We alternate skill/technique days with kicking days.) This works well because the dancers know exactly what to do next.

5. All routines should be choreographed outside of practice. If you have several people choreographing you can have more than one routine in production at a time. Routines should be written out and practice tapes can be made for each dancer. TIME SPENT WITH CHOREOGRAPHERS/CAPTAINS IN ADVANCE WILL SAVE TIME LATER.

6. Create an atmosphere that promotes a strong work ethic. By always using time to the fullest, dancers will be more cooperative. Naturally, when the leaders are unorganized, the dancers get frustrated. CUT THE TALK!!! Think of a penalty for talking and enforce it!

7. Always make the dancers feel you have MORE to do than TIME to do it in.

8. PRACTICE LIKE YOU WOULD PERFORM.........with all of the ZEST, VIGOR,
AND POWER!!! Smile, kick high and visualize an audience watching.

9. Expect more than you think they can do....and they will surprise you! (A quote I stole from Kay Crawford. It works!)

10. Make dancers WANT to work hard with the POWER OF PRAISE. "You're looking great, that's getting better, it's coming, etc." Make sure that every statement you say comes out positive, even critiquing! Instead of saying "We look terrible", say, "We have a lot of work to do!" When you practice your competition dance, imagine yourself at the competition. Visualize the crowd and the excitement. Rehearse it with all the energy you'll perform it with that day. When the big day finally arrives, you won't be nervous because you'll have already been there.

~Cindy Clough~