 By David “Dirk” Smith, M.Sc., SDL (He/Him)
Working with the professional soccer team during our preseason training, we’ve had a few matches already contested with other teams around our local area as is normal in the preseason. These matches don’t count for any points or rankings, but instead offer us coaches and sport psychologists insight into how our athletes are performing in match conditions so we that we can adapt our training plans accordingly. One of the biggest things we noticed regarding our team is that, while they were able to execute the tasks and drills, we conducted during training and even performed well in inner-team scrimmages, once it came match time it all fell apart. The athletes were hesitant and less willing to engage with the opponent. In short, they were lacking confidence and were having difficulties in being aggressive in their gameplay.
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  I (Dirk) recently attended an event called the Sin City Classic; it is the world’s largest annual LGBTQI multi-sport tournament in the world. The Sin City Classic offers 20 different sports and brings out anywhere from 8000 to 10,000 athletes a year to compete in Las Vegas, Nevada. One of the sports offered at the Sin City Classic is competitive cheerleading, spearheaded by an organization called the Pride Cheerleading Association or PCA. The PCA is an umbrella organization that supports cheerleading squads all over the United States of America who perform cheer routines and stunts in their local communities, especially at LGBTQI pride festivals, local sports events, and exhibition performances. What sets PCA apart are two important things, the first is its emphasis on inclusive cheerleading that invites adult volunteer athletes of all shapes, sizes, colors, national backgrounds, gender identities and sexual orientations to try out and become cheerleaders. The second, and the most important of all, is what the PCA calls “Charitable Cheerleading” in which the main mission of the PCA is to use cheerleading as a platform to raise money for local LGBTQI oriented charities within the communities that they are performing. To date, PCA squads have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars LGBTQI charities within their local communities. Thus, PCA’s participation at the Sin City Classic isn’t just about organizing a cheer competition, it also is about doing what cheerleaders do, attending other sports events to cheer on the athletes as and to raise money for a local LGBTQI charity.  With 13 member teams (and several more in development) all over the US, the Sin City Classic is one of only two regular events that brings the different PCA squads together to compete, but also to form a PCA wide squad of athletes to support the other sports at the Sin City Classic. With each athlete wearing their own team’s uniform when the PCA wide cheer squad comes together, it shows off the diversity of its membership. After my own sports competition at the Sin City Classic was cancelled this year due to Covid, I was invited by PCA’s marketing coordinator, Sara Toogood to join the PCA for the event and to document their journey. For this weekend, the PCA had two important missions, the first was to get on a bus with six different PCA squads, Cheer San Francisco, Cheer Los Angeles, Cheer Salt Lake, Cheer Portland, Cheer Seattle, and Cheer Tacoma where we would travel to four different sports tournaments at the Sin City Classic. Each stop’s goal was to show off some excellent cheer stunts, fundraise for a local Las Vegas charity called the Golden Rainbow which provides housing and emergency financial assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS, and to perform a 60 second cheer routine set to music, choreographed and taught by Colyn Fiendel-Milani of Cheer New York. The second was to join them for the cheer competition the next day at the Sin City Classic. This article focuses on my journey with PCA on what I call the “Cheer Bus”.
By Dirk Smith, M.Sc, SDL (He/Him)
When the news dropped just hours ago, that the seemingly unstoppable gymnast, Simone Biles, the darling of the Olympics who was heavily favored and poised to take Team USA’s women gymnastics right to the top of the podium, pulled out of the women’s gymnastics team final in the middle of the event. Following her performance on the vault, Biles left the arena and Team USA went on without her to claim silver in the event. Why did she pull out?  By Dirk Smith, MSc, SDL (He/Him).
When it comes down to the nitty gritty of coaching, whether it be in sport, business or elsewhere, there is always one consistent thing it comes down to: motivation. How do we motivate our athletes? How can we, as coaches, get the best performance out of our athletes that will ultimately help us be successful as a team? 
By Dirk Smith, MSc, SDL (He/Him).
In team sports, 'identity' is an important and influential factor to anybody, and everybody associated with the team. Everything from youth sports all the way up to professional teams and even non-sports teams all have people, athletes, coaches, parents and fans all who proudly associate themselves with the team for a variety of reasons and motivations. Team Identity is an important part of team sports, from sharing victories, defeats, team cheers, colors, mascots, inside jokes, rituals, traditions, and culture all come together to represent who and what the 'team' is. Rather than being the sum of its parts, every athlete, coach, parent, fan and individual associated with the team help make the team greater than the sum of its parts and add to its identity. Rather than cogs in a machine, each individual is a bird in the flock. The identity of the team is shaped and influenced by every single element associated with it. A 'team' for all intents and purposes, is a complex adaptive system. 
By Dirk Smith, MSc, SDL (He/Him).
In 2020, gay men and women are living in one of the most progressive periods in modern gay history. With same sex marriage legalized in many western countries and general attitudes towards gay and lesbian people becoming more accepting, why do we still face the struggle of having so few, if any openly gay male athletes in professional team sports? 
By Dirk Smith, MSc, SDL (He/Him).
At the 1980 Winter Olympics, Team USA went up against the Soviet Union in one of the nation’s most chair gripping, thrilling hockey matches ever seen on American television. The Team USA underdogs going against the brute force dominant Soviet hockey team that had won every Olympic gold medal in the four previous Olympics. Anybody who has seen the movie “Miracle” knows the story of course. What made this hockey match different than all the other matches wasn’t the extension of the Cold War into a proxy on ice, nor was it the indomitable spirit of a bunch of rag tag college kids that played for the first time only seven months prior. It came down to the team organization and playing style lead by head coach Herb Brooks that took Team USA to a gold medal. So, how did he do it? 
By Dirk Smith, MSc, SDL (He/Him).
What is coaching? Coaching is teaching, coaching is training, coaching is managing, coaching is growth and development, coaching is so much more than can fit in the five letters that spell “coach.” Athletes look up to their coach for guidance, leadership, mentorship. Coaches look to their athletes for drive, motivation and a will to learn. It’s a relationship that helps both athlete and coach grow within their athletic, professional and personal lives. Yet, the intra and interpersonal complexities of coaching exist within each interaction, decision and observation that represents the fluidic nature of the activity are not always well understood. Understanding the complexities of coaching from a social cognitive perspective starts with an examination of the limitations in our current reductionist approaches to coaching and a reconsideration of our own internal schemas; our biases that represent the structure of our ability to think, analyze and understand the ambiguous and personal aspects of coaching. This way we can understand the context and constraints that influence our behavior and how we can manage these behaviors to improve our own coaching capabilities. 
By Dirk Smith, MSc, SDL (He/Him).
Over the last few years, there has been an increasing emphasis on the psychological and mental well-being of athletes and how it impacts sports performance. The topic of sports psychology is becoming increasing relevant as we are learning that performance outcomes are rooted in the mental capabilities of the athlete as much if not more than the physical. Many studies have shown a relationship with mental health and sports performance, making the field of sports psychology and the tools to coach athletes through Psychological Skills Training ever more relevant. Have you ever felt the butterflies in your stomach before stepping up to give a speech in front of a crowd? Nervous before a big game? Worried about embarrassing yourself on a date? Perhaps, feeling like your heart is about to beat out of your chest when all the pressure is on you to perform, unable to cope with the anxiety and stress. These are things we’ve all experienced and serve as the basis for Psychological Skills Training. 
By Dirk Smith, MSc, SDL (He/Him).
Swimming is considered a low-impact sport, meaning that there are few forces either from ground contact or other players and the risk of developing a traumatic injury is low. The kind of injuries most commonly seen in swimmers are overuse injuries which are injuries that result from repetitive movements. Overuse injuries are caused by the repeated stress and tension on muscles, tendons and ligaments that without proper strength and tension can lead to inflammation and pressure build up within the tissue. Inflammation and pressure can lead to pain, reduced flexibility, mobility and strength while impeding general performance that could lead to a prolong recovery period in which you will not be able to continue training or competing. This is why it is crucial for athletes to include training exercises that reduce the risk of developing overuse injuries. Common injuries that swimmers experience include... |
Dirk SmithDavid "Dirk" Smith M.Sc, SDL, CSCS, (He/Him) is a sport psychology expert, strength & conditioning coach, swimming coach, sports diversity leader, published research scientist, teacher, writer, journalist, and athlete. He brings over 12 years of experience, education, and training to empower athletes to build self efficacy, strength, confidence, and express themselves through sport. Archives
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