Welcome to our first official Upside-Down-Time article that isn’t an introduction. This month’s article will be a little different. Because let’s be real, everything is a little different.

To the cheerleaders who had their seasons cut short, to those that never made it out onto the competition floor, to the athletes who were due to compete at worlds for the first time, to the athletes due to compete at worlds for the last time, to the university cheerleaders who missed out on their last competition with their cheer family, to those heading off to uni who missed out on their last All Star competition, to the coaches whose hard work was never seen, to the coaches who didn’t reach their end-of-season goals because there was no real end-of-season, to parents who have seen the heartbreak of their own, to anyone affected in the cheer world as their season was cut short – your time WILL come. Whether that be in cheerleading, or whatever the next stage of your life involves, your time will come. The silver lining is that we are all in this together. Through the highs and lows, our teammates are there for us.

But COVID isn’t the only thing to have shook up our year.

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

Off the back of the stress and strain that COVID had created, the world opened its eyes to the relentless systemic racism that has been apparent for hundreds of years. The Black Lives Matter movement is nothing new. It absolutely should not have taken this long, or something so tragic to open our eyes to the world we live in. The cheerleading world is not exempt from this, and we still have a long way to go to. BUT, the only time we have is the present. Therefore, we must work together, learn together, push together. Change happens when we have uncomfortable conversations. Cheerleading is for EVERYBODY. So once you get back into that gym/school/hall – make sure all your teammates feel like they belong.

THE GYM’S ARE OPEN

Well, some are, depending on where in the UK you are located, and the type of premises you train in. Again, this news comes with its highs and lows. It’s fantastic that we can finally see our teammates, we can leave our homes for something other than the weekly food shop, but there are still many questions and fears moving forwards – and rightly so.

You may be nervous because you’ve not really seen people since March. Whether you’ve been shielding, or strictly following government guidelines, getting back into the swing of things will feel a little daunting at first. We’ve naturally adapted to a slow and quiet pace of life throughout the coronavirus restrictions. And if I’m describing cheerleading, slow and quiet aren’t exactly the two words I would use! The one good thing about being born a human, is that we’re naturally good at adapting to new environments. We adapted to the coronavirus restrictions, and we’ll adapt again now those restrictions are lifting. It’s ok to feel nervous, you’re not alone. The whole point of this blog segment is to allow yourself to feel upside-down after all! Your coaches will have your safety and wellbeing as a priority. I would always advise speaking to your coaches with any worries or concerns. As talented as cheerleading coaches are, they’re not mind readers. Communication is key.

Another common worry I’m hearing is the loss of skills and strength.

Wouldn’t it be ideal if we all had home gyms, big gardens and an air tracks to tumble on? If you’ve got those luxuries, great. If you’ve been doing basic conditioning, fantastic! Of course our coaches are expecting us to have been stretching and conditioning at home – they want the best for us and our teams after all. If however, you’ve not found the motivation to keep up with your skills, you won’t be alone. We’ve just been through, and still are living through, a global pandemic. Some of us have been hyper-productive, other will have been extreme-nappers. I’m yet to have come across a handbook for living in such a time period.

Have I been eating more cookie dough than usual? Yes. Have I been slacking on my jump conditioning in recent weeks? Absolutely. So it’s up to me to get back on the wagon before I head back into the gym. And when I get there, I’ll have to work twice as hard as my teammates who have appeared to be hyper-productive during lockdown. I’m prepared for that to happen. Training will be TOUGH when we go back. It’s more than likely that we’ve not been lifting our family members day-to-day, so we may have lost some of our strength. It’s a fact that we lose muscle mass faster than we gain it. But let’s not forget, WE’RE CHEERLEADERS! And the most important traits of any successful cheerleader are determination, commitment and hardworking.

If you’re feeling nervous, anxious or panicky about returning to training, check out this below:

When we experience anxiety and stress our bodies can go into fight-or-flight mode. Our body perceives there to be a physical threat and is therefore preparing us to either fight the “threat”, or run away from it. This sends more blood to the muscles and narrows our attention, so we are only seeing the “threat” and not the wider picture. This mechanism served us well when we were living in caves and fighting off tigers, not so much today. Each month I’m going to share a different grounding technique to help settle your senses. Whether you have performance-anxiety, corona-anxiety or you’re just nervous to get back into the gym; give each one a go and see which works best for you. With these types of exercises, it’s not one size fits all. Some may work for you, some may only work in certain situations, some may not work for you at all. Give them a try anyway and see which suits you.

Grounding Technique: Body Scan.

Now you can do this in 30 seconds or 30 minutes. If you search “body scan meditation” on YouTube, you’ll find quite a few videos where they guide you through. The basic premise of body scanning is that we only have control of our present. Yet when we’re anxious, we’re thinking about either the past or the future. So we need to bring ourselves back to the present and he’s a little technique to do so:

Whatever position you’re in, feel your weight press into the surface your sat/stood on (be it a chair, a bed, or the floor). We’re going to breathe in counting 1-4, and then breathe out counting 4-1.

Now relax the top of your head, breathe in 1-2-3-4, breathe out 4-3-2-1.

Soften your facial muscles, breathe in 1-2-3-4, breathe out 4-3-2-1.

Relax your jaw, breathe in 1-2-3-4, breathe out 4-3-2-1.

Relax your shoulders, breathe in 1-2-3-4, breathe out 4-3-2-1.

Notice any contact you have with either your back against the chair, your legs on the ground, your hands on a surface etc. Notice your stomach, if it is tight, let it soften.

Relax your hands and fingers, breathe in 1-2-3-4, breathe out 4-3-2-1.

Soften your hips and thighs, breathe in 1-2-3-4, breathe out 4-3-2-1.

Soften your legs and feet. Feel your feet touching ground and make that connection. Notice that your whole body is present. Be aware of your whole body.

I like to think of this as a scan running from my head to my toes, relaxing each body part along the way. Once I get to my toes I’m truly only thinking about my present self, and I’m ready to get on with the task ahead.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s blog post. We’d love for you to get involved with our new upside-down-time feature. If you have any questions or would like some tips relating to wellbeing and resiliency, send us a DM. Before you do, be sure to read our disclaimer to safeguard yourself. Also be sure to tag us in your handstand/inversion photos using the hash tags #cfhtt and #upsidedowntime . See you next time!

Written by Rachel

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