Starting a Team…Friendly First Days

By Robin Yates

We all remember our first day as a new drill team director.  The emotions went across the gamete from excitement to fear.  “What if I make a mistake?” “Will the girls like me?”  “What type of parents do the girls have?”  “Where do we practice?”  The questions go on and on.  With a few friendly pointers, though, most directors can make it through these trying days with ease and success.  But, what if the team is new, along with the director.  That could be the recipe for a trying and tiring year.  The first thing to do, though,  is break your days, months, and year into sizable chunks that are manageable and easy to handle.   List your expectations and needs according to importance.  Let’s look at a few possible categories first:

·          Officer requirements and expectations

·          Line member requirements and expectations

·          Practice (warm-up, discipline, skills, weekly/daily/yearly schedules)

·          Finances (district money requirements, payments, budget division)

·          Football Season (schedules, buses and transportation, parents, district rules)

·          Recognition (newspapers-school and town, announcements, booster clubs)

·          Other requirements (sports, schedules, duties, festivals, etc.)

·          Competition (where, when, how)

·          End-of-year or yearly/monthly activities (banquets, fund raisers, booster club, awards)

Officers:  For most directors and coaches, having an understanding with your team leaders is the first step to success.  Meet with your officers and listen.  Take time to digest and consider what you have heard.  Look over any past documentation and constitutions or request them from other successful teams.  Consult with experienced, successful directors.  Then, make your plan.  (Discuss any major changes with your supervisors.)  Remember, the more the team officers feel a part of your decisions, the more support you’ll have from them and the line.

Line Members:  When considering your line members requirements, your plan of action needs to be the same as with your officers.  What are your expectations of these girls?  Consider everything from grades to practice to games.  Remember consistency and simplicity are your friends.  The less time you have to spend looking up every rule for demerits and merits, the more time you have to accomplish goals. 

Practice:  Once again, consistency is the key.  You will accomplish much more if daily and weekly routines are established and followed.  You may want to try the following for football season:

·          Monday:                          Review and check music and tempo with the band

·          Tuesday:                         Tryouts and set on field

·          Wednesday:                    Polish in squads and as a team

·          Thursday:                        Band practice and team polish

·          Friday:                             Review and Performance

·          Weekend:                        Officers need to know the next dance.

Your team can do anything if you set a reasonable schedule and stick to it.  (It is even helpful to provide a practice “list-o-leotards.”  No questions asked!)  Remember to consider discipline and repercussions into your schedules.  If there are repercussions and no time to take care of demerits, then your system is flawed.  Also, it is never too early to begin scheduling your entire year.  THINK, THINK, THINK!

Money:  The point of despair for most directors.  How much and when is it due?  Always check into district policies on collecting money for the school and for vendors.  There are laws and requirements that must be followed.  Due to the amount of money many directors handle, this becomes serious very quickly.  Take your time to avoid mistakes.  Document everything.  As you look over your budget, consider your schedule and what you would like for your team to do.  Usually, these two ends do not meet.  It is now time to contact your booster club and parents, along with your principal.  Can your desires and goals work?  Now is the time to know, not after you have promised the team something that cannot be delivered. 

Football Season:  Traditions.  What is important and what is not?  Ask other coaches, teachers, and your principals.  Avoid stepping on toes unnecessarily, but if it is time for a change, request this change tactfully and appropriately.  Once you figure out your game expectations and requirements, it is now time to order the buses.  Did you request and schedule the buses to take the team to the game?  The time to do that is three weeks before the first away game, not the day of the game.  There are not bus drivers living at the bus barn waiting for the opportunity to drive your team, just like teachers do not live at the school waiting to teach children.  This consideration needs to be remembered throughout the year when the team travels, and do not assume that they know the directions.  Odds are the drivers do not have any idea where the locations are.  Buses need to be thought through.   Will the team be allowed to or have to change clothing on the bus?  What if the driver is a male?  Does the team ride the bus home?  If not, what documentation do you need and when?  What are the district policies?  Does the district provide a cell phone for directors and coaches?  Are there phones for students to use when the bus returns to the school?  Who waits with any team member not picked up?  Do you take them home?  (preferably not)  The “to’s and fro’s” of football season can be trying.  Establish your rules clearly and firmly for both the parents and the students.  Often, it is the safety of these teenagers at stake.

Recognition:  Everyone enjoys accolades!  The more your team is recognized the better, and it doesn’t have to be for something big, either. Find out how to do this through the school and through the town.  Remember:  the more positive your team is seen, the better the team feels.  When the team feels good, the members are happier.  And when the members are happier, the more members your team will eventually have.  Enlist parents to help with this, but make sure everyone is being recognized, not just a few.

Other Team Responsibilities:  When are you expected to perform and at what events?  Is there anything special?  Does your town host any parades or festivals?  What about pep rallies?  What about performing for other sports?  Try to explore as many avenues as possible to find these answers.  Are there places that you’ve discovered  where you would like to perform?  Check with a supervisor, the team, and go ahead.    It is always good to try new things, just don’t overwhelm your schedules.

 Competition:  Does the team go and when?  If you want to attend competition, the planning needs to begin the year or summer before you plan to go.  Are the finances available?  Is there anything special you need? Costumes?   Who will choreograph the dances?  What skill level do you want from the girls?  When planning and scheduling for this type of endeavor, everything must be carefully considered.   Do not make the mistake of asking your team to do something they are physically unable to do.  If you want special tricks, then you must train for them accordingly.  A clean and visual performance will score higher than a messy technical one.   Also, give your team sufficient time to polish what they have learned.  A hectic and unfair schedule will do nothing for the January slump and competition moral. 

Other activities:  What else is there to do?  Do you have a booster club to help plan?  If not, it is now time to consider one.  Most directors are lone teachers trying to work miracles within a fixed time frame.  Use your pool of parents to your advantage, but be careful not to let them run the show.  Plans should be made for the team for whom you are responsible with your permission only.  Once that is established, parents and booster clubs can be an effective and useful part of your organization.  They can help with planning, costuming, banquets, awards, publicity, finances, fund raising, supervision, props, and with the ends-and-outs of running an organization of this size.  Remember, “One parent on your side is worth ten who are not.”  Welcome the help and use it as an asset for you and your team.

There is no one way to establish and run a drill team.  No two drill teams are alike and no two girls are alike.  Each is an individual.  Your students are all human beings with hearts and emotions; thus, it can be expected that your job is much more than just being a director.  Be prepared to ride the roller coaster with your team and individual team members.  It can be fun and rewarding.  You will never be paid what you deserve and for the time commitment you will make.    It then becomes important that you only become a director only if you want to and not for any other reason.  These tips will help you get started and headed in the right direction!  

Robin Yates