Kate Boyd is a cheer leadership coach — giving cheerleading coaches the expertise and know-how they need to competently and confidently build their teams. She cheered from junior high to college and has coached on nearly every side of the industry — all-star, recreation league, high school, and camp instruction. Through Kate Boyd Cheerleading, she provides practical, online resources that fit into coaches’ busy lifestyles so they can build the program they want and give their teams the season they deserve. In 2015, she was named one of the 50 most influential coaches by CoachSeek.


Did you compete in cheer originally? If so, how did you find the transition from athlete to coach?
I started as a gymnast then switched to cheerleading when I realized I wasn't going to the Olympics so thought I might as well spend some time with my friends and keep up my skills. I cheered from junior high to college and completely fell in love with it. I started coaching it early on in high school, and I found it a little challenging to switch from athlete to coach. I had to learn to teach what I knew and not just do it. It was difficult at first, but after a couple of years it came a lot more easily as I watched others teach, which I did obsessively, and starting learning more of the mechanics of the things that came naturally to me.

What lessons did you learn along the way that are important to your coaching today?
I learned that you always have something to learn and I learned that establishing boundaries is very important. One of my first coaching jobs out of high school was for my alma mater. So I was coaching old peers. It made it very tricky, but we came through after a rough patch. That taught me that healthy boundaries and good communication are the key to just about everything.

You say Heart + Vision + Know-how = Hero. What made you settle on these ingredients? 
I took a little inspiration from Coach Taylor and Friday Night Lights here, but I really believe it's true. You need the heart, the passion, the desire to be better at what you do for your team. You need vision, a clear picture of the future of your program and your goals, especially what you want for the character of your athletes. And you need know-how, credibility, and coaching skills to make it happen. When you put those together you end up becoming the kind of coach people remember because you make a difference in people's lives, and those are the coaches I love working with.

How would your athletes describe you as a coach?
I haven't coached athletes in a few years, but I think they would say focused, creative, and passionate.

You mention running a practice, teaching stunts effectively etc which all require excellent communication skills. What do you think are the key things to keep in mind when communicating with and coaching athletes?
I think it's most important to communicate expectations at all times, and it's important to consider your goal when communicating. Are you trying to inspire, educate, inform, or something else? Then you can frame the communication properly. 

You describe travel as your number one hobby. Why is this? Do you think it has had any impact on you as a person and as a coach?
I can't explain my love for traveling. It's just been one of those desires that I've had since a child. Recently, I've had the opportunity to travel to quite a few places, and I absolutely love it and want more! It has certainly had an impact on me as a person to be someone who has more grace for others and focuses on what's important long-term and not just what seems important in the moment. 

Your website kateboydcheerleading is aimed towards helping coaches - what were you seeing out there that made you feel you could be of assistance? 
I was a rare case that was able to coach cheerleading part-time at a school. Many coaches I encountered were full-time teachers who happened to be cheerleading coaches, and many of those were handed cheerleading whether they had experience or not. I knew that I had a unique combination of skills that could help them with their trouble spots as a professional communicator, skilled teacher, and tech-savvy person. So they could get the education they desired from their home or their classroom in an affordable format.

Your website helps to educate coaches. Is there any form of official/formal Coach Education within the sport of cheerleading?
There are a few safety certification programs for school coaches through National Federation of State High School Associations and American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors. However, these aren't required or formal. All-star coaches have their own certification programs through the US All-Star Federation that are level-specific, and this is a very formal process.

Are there any common themes that you see younger and less experienced coaches seem to struggle with?
Younger and inexperienced coaches tend to struggle to get organized at first, especially for such a long season. They usually have a lot of questions about stunts and they are encountering cheerleading parents--famous for their passion--for the first time. So they're learning to communicate, teach, and be administrative which can be tough all at once.

Interesting that you released your Guide to Problem Parents. I'm sure this is something coaches in all sports have struggled with at times. It mentions, among other things, how you introduce yourself, expectations of both you and them too. I know of a few schools and Academies within Rugby here in the UK that run parent forums to do a similar thing and it works really well. Why do you think it is so important to establish that 'working relationship' with parents?
Most of the time in cheerleading, you're relying on parents to get your athletes to and from events, practices, and games, and you need their permission for their child to participate. So it's important to have them on the same page from the beginning and also try to establish a relationship with them so they trust you and want to work with you rather than against you.

Really enjoyed one of your blogs called "3 Keys to Your Parent Plan", think it would be a good read for any coach who works with young athletes. Particularly agree with the points of over-communication and trust. Do you think there is any aspect of dealing with parents that you still need to work on and improve?
I think there is always room for improvement! I'm not always the best connector and tend to shy away from reaching out without a good reason, but I still worked on it because I know it's important for me and for athletes to have solid parent relationships.

Having gone full-time as a coach in January 2014 I felt I had some catching up to do following 18 months at a desk in the City. Whilst I had been running Edge alongside this role, I knew I need to invest properly in my coaching career and start reading up again on all manner of coaching topics. It was in this capacity that Jamie Taylor's excellent blog ( here ) became a vital part of my reading, leading to constantly scribbling notes down in my chosen notebook. I knew that he would be a good person to visit and had seen through his tweets, and the articles that he shared, that he is an outstanding, progressive and forward-thinking coach. Fortunately I was able to organise a trip up the M1 to Denstone College (a school with an ever-increasing reputation on the national rugby scene) for the day to get an insight into what they are doing, how they are doing it and why. Some highlights are below.

What is the basis of the rugby program at Denstone?
For me, it is all about challenge and support. We want to put our rugby players out of their comfort zone in training, with their S&C, in matches etc. We present them with that challenge and support them as best we can to achieve it. If they are unable to meet the challenge as an individual or as a team then again, that is where the support comes in to help them build that resilience to go again.


And how does that feature into the overall objective for rugby?
The main objective is not to attain glory for the school. We play as tough a fixture list as we can to challenge the boys because our key aim is based around development and the educational benefits of rugby (such as teamwork, leadership, grit, respect). We want to provide the best school rugby experience possible so as to ensure that our boys continue to play and enjoy their rugby once they have left. The elite environment we seek to provide for our students has led to a number of students being involved with Academies such as Leicester, Worcester and Sale. Leavers gaining Academy contracts and playing to a very high level, as well as general participation at University and beyond, is an important driver and measure of success for us. We focus on competition, and all that brings, rather than just winning.


What have you put in place in order to foster than environment?
Across the board we apply elite principles to the school environment but the first key point for us is Character and Values. Within this we focus on Teamwork, Pride, Commitment and Enjoyment. The boys are aware of this but the challenge lies in ensuring that we all live those values rather than just be able to recite them. That's something that as a collective - staff and players, we strive to maintain. Second for us is Athletic Development. Our Strength and Conditioning (S&C) team do a fantastic job in co-ordination with us as rugby coaches to produce physically robust players who can cope with, and dominate, the demands of the game. We now have Movement Lit as a PE module in Years 7-9 and welcome all our students to the gym, and field-based athletic development sessions, so we can educate them in how to train in a safe manner. Third is Psychology, and finally Tactical and Skill Development. It's a whole-school initiative with an educational focus - encouraging our students to think about, and understand, the nature of their sport and training.


How does this approach manifest itself within the rugby environment for training and matches?
I have to say I'm a very competitive person, as are many of the boys. However there is a bigger picture. We focus on their development and rising to the challenge. Challenge Point Framework (Guadagnoli and Lee, 2004) talks about the optimum challenge for skill acquisition.  We have established a continuum for the acquisition and retention of skill  that we can apply depending on what stage of skill acquisition they are at - subsequently some sessions will have a theme of either Explore or Perform whereby the focus is either on learning, thinking and developing or performing and executing to a high level what has been covered in training. 

It was certainly interesting to hear first-hand what is driving Denstone College forward as a force in schools' rugby. It is also thanks to Jamie that I have now downloaded the apps 'Pocket' and 'Evernote' which are already proving useful in keeping on top of various coaching articles and maintaining my own time management! With two full-time S&C coaches at Denstone, and Jamie's comments regarding the prevalence of Movement Lit and use of the athletic development resource for all ages, it was fascinating to hear from Daniel Pyke how they actually put this into practice. 

Dan, can you explain the S&C provision at Denstone?
We have two full-time S&C coaches and we work both with the sports teams as well as with the students in general. Teams do have specific slots at times, and the older athletes are on more specific conditioning programmes which they complete during the course of the week. But we see it as a whole-school thing - Movement Literacy is a module in PE for our Year 7-9 students and lunch-time sees the Performance Centre open to any and all students of all ages. We apply high performance principles in a school environment with movement, education and enjoyment at the heart of our practise.


How do you ensure students are doing the right things and in a safe way - sometimes you must have to hold them back from getting on the bench press ASAP for example?
Sometimes, certainly initially we occasionally had to hold them back. But it is all about education. At Denstone now they are educated about how to treat their body around their training or in a nutritional sense. By no stretch to the younger pupils just come in and do what they want throwing the weight around - the educational side is informed in many ways by the Athletic Motor Skill Competencies (Rhodri Lloyd, 2013). So we have a programme in place called 'Earn The Right To Progress'. With various movements and levels of achievement we can progress the pupils in a safe manner as and when they are individually ready. 


How does this tie in with the rugby at Denstone College?
We both work closely with Jamie to monitor the development of our athletes. The Performance Centre is a great opportunity to build and re-inforce the culture that we have established as well as to build the psychological characteristics that we want Denstone pupils to possess - resilience, determination and a desire to improve. Here, through S&C, we can provide the challenge for them in a physical and mental sense as well as providing the support necessary. We can keep things competitive and fun so that their health and fitness doesn't have to be seen as a chore. Again, it all comes down to education and enjoyment.


As the boys get older they'll have school rugby, maybe club/Academy/County involvement and also the S&C sessions - how do you manage to ensure they don't burn out?
One of the important values for having us here is that health & safety aspect to make sure the boys are progressing safely with their gym work. Part of this, of course, is to monitor them to ensure they aren't doing too much. They are in the habit now of entering the gym and using the laptop to record their soreness, tiredness and energy levels for each session. This gives us really important data that we can monitor so that, when required, we adjust their programme or tell them to rest. Likewise I may have to speak to Jamie to alert him to certain players' fatigue levels so that it can be accounted for in pitch sessions too. 


It's incredibly impressive, and very clear that the students are buying-in to it all. It is also, from what I have seen, pretty rare in a school environment - is it something that will stay rare in your opinion?
It is rare to an extent. There are other schools and colleges who are also doing great things with their students in this respect. However I think it is about to explode and become much more commonplace. Whilst it does provide a competitive advantage, it is most importantly about education and challenging the students to improve.

 From my brief visit, even during exam period, it was clear that the students certainly do buy-in to culture that Jamie, Dan, Thomas Williams (Director of Sport) and the staff have built. The lunch-time session had a mixture of age groups, boys and girls, working on their specific stage of training. Furthermore, they were working together and helping where needed with the older boys assisting younger in understanding the nature of the warm-up exercises. From my point of view, this cross-age interaction is vital in establishing, and spreading, the culture of a school on the whole and in a sporting sense. Beyond this, without them even realising, the pupils are developing their leadership skills as a mentor and coach. The hours for the staff are long and tiring, no doubt, but the students can only benefit. Indeed, many may not quite be aware how fortunate they are to have this information, education and support available to them until they have moved on from Denstone College.

One of my main goals for my personal development in 2015 is to meet, watch and chat with as many coaches as possible from various different sports and backgrounds. This blog provides a great opportunity to organise my thoughts as well as share these experiences with others.

With a number of meetings lined up for the next couple of months, I thought a good place would be to start with a friend of mine who I have played with, worked with and been coached by over the years. Myles Stringer currently runs the Strength and Conditioning, and coaches rugby, for all pupils at St Benedict's School - historically one of London's strongest rugby establishments. He also assists with the S&C at Wasps, runs S&C for Old Priorian RFC in London 1 and works with private clients to help them reach their S&C goals and improve their speed. Our informal chat featured a number of discussion points as detailed below:

Are there any particular aspects of S&C and/or rugby that currently frustrate you?
Definitely the 'gym monkey' aspect that is prevalent within rugby. It is slowly changing, however there is a pressure on rugby players to be BIG. This filters down to young kids who feel that pressure too and make poor decisions as a result - starting the wrong type of training too young or doing the wrong things. It can wreak havoc on their bodies and lead to injuries that are both serious and unnecessary. I've already encountered two young players with potential spinal injuries this season alone and feel that some of their gym work in the past has contributed to these issues. Unfortunately, it has come from clubs, schools and academies in the past to put such a focus on pure size rather than movement, speed, power, skill, spatial awareness etc. It is starting to change which is good to see.


What is it like, therefore doing S&C in a school environment, there must be plenty of young athletes doing programmes they found on the internet?
Exactly, and kids are told different things every day whether by coaches, team mates, teachers or from their own research online into what the professionals do. A good example of this was the David Pocock regime that went round a couple of years ago. I've no issues with the programme as such, but clearly it isn't suitable for everyone, especially young athletes. Within schools and youth sports there isn't enough focus on movement and movement patterns - training in a more functional manner. A lot of things have changed which have impacted how kids learn within PE and sport and they don't have the same freedom to experiment and allow their muscles to develop in a natural way. 


Has this been effected by an increased focus on performance and early specialisation?
I'd agree with that to an extent. Rugby academies are now taking on players at 12-13 years of age. No doubt many are doing good things with their young athletes, but it does encourage an early specialisation toward rugby which is inherently a late specialisation sport. 


Do you think, therefore, that S&C within schools is important or does it just increase the pressure and time demands on teenagers?
I do think it is important. As I mentioned, so many young players feel that pressure to be as big as possible as quickly as possible so would be tempted to do potentially harmful programmes to attain it. With qualified S&C professionals in schools it can mean they are being guided in a way that is far better for their long-term development. Functional movement patterns among young athletes are not good enough and every individual has different needs. Whether it is right or wrong, sport in general is becoming increasingly professional at younger ages. Young players therefore need to be conditioned appropriately so that they can improve with it and avoid injury. At St Benedict's we've seen huge success with the netball players who had previously done limited work in the gym - not only did their performance improve, but we went a whole season with no injuries which I see as a great achievement.


How do you see your role in terms of trying to get teenagers to buy in and attend S&C sessions given the other commitments they have, the changes they are going through physically and as people etc...?
Make no mistake, they are school kids first and foremost, not athletes. As with anything, some are more motivated to take part than others and  they are teenagers at the end of the day. S&C is an extra which they may not have done before. What really frustrates me is the use of fitness as a punishment within coaching - it ruins the mindset towards fitness and makes them associate press ups, for example, with negative emotions. This is something that needs to change so that kids associate health and fitness with positive experiences.


Have any particular coaches been an inspiration to you or impacted you in a way that probably affects the way you coach and see coaching?
The obvious one is Margot Wells. I used to train with her as a client and she was also someone who saw the potential coach within me before I did. Training and working with her at Wellfast had a big impact in terms of coaching speed and the mechanics of running. I follow a lot of the work of Joe DeFranco too. What I like about Margot and Joe DeFranco is that, whilst they do work with elite athletes, they'll coach anyone and help you to reach whatever the goal is that you have. Having been a student and member of staff at St Benedict's I've also really liked the way that both Jesse Coulson (now Director of Sport at Harrow) and Richard Finch (now Director of Sport at Harrow Hong Kong) coach, particularly their ideas about, and approach towards, fitness and 7s rugby.


Are there any elements that you feel are prevalent within how you coach S&C and/or Rugby?
Certainly I always think training should mimic the game itself, or push towards situations that are harder than will be present within competition. I'm a big fan of Kaizen method of continuous improvement and try to stress the importance of improving every session, never look to stay at the same point.


I strongly believe in establishing a culture/identity within a club/team and I'm aware that this is something that has been brought in formally at St Benedict's by the new Director of Rugby, James Coles. What did he introduce, is it working and how important do you feel culture/identity is?
James has introduced the school's Philosophy of Rugby which is based upon work rate, courage and energy. It flows throughout all age groups and all players would be able to tell you these three tenants. It is working well, the kids are certainly buying in and I think we'll start to see the benefits in the coming years. It gives them something to buy into and be a part of which is great. I was lucky to recently be at a talk by James Kerr, the author of 'Legacy' about the All Blacks and it detailed the importance they place on establishing a culture and a structure to stay within. The focus is on the players staying together, showing respect, clearing up their own mess and staying humble.