What does it take to build a legacy of champions?
Interview with University of West Georgia’s Cheerleading Head Coach, Nicole Nichols.
The Legacy of West Georgia Cheerleading
The University of West Georgia Cheerleading has won a total of 28 UCA National Championships. Most recently, the All-Girl Cheerleading team won the Division I All-Girl competition for the second year in a row. This title marked the 14th championship for head coach, Nicole Nichols, since the beginning of her reign in 2011. Join us in a personal interview with Nicole, as we learn more about what it takes to build a legacy of champions.
"How many years have you been a coach and what initially got you into coaching?"
“This is my 12th season at University of West Georgia and I formerly coached at a high school for 3 years. Being a coach was not my original career path, but I started coaching because of my interest and passion in cheerleading. I was always a leader on the team and wanted to take that leadership further. I truly wanted to make an impact on the sport. The kids that wanted to be involved in cheerleading genuinely got me started to want to be a coach.
"What are the difficulties involved in coaching an all-girl team vs. a coed team and how do you navigate building confidence in them individually?"
“The way you’re coaching the kids and the type of feedback and reinforcement that you’re using is obviously going to be just a little different. However, that’s not just with genders, that’s just overall with any kid. You genuinely have to get to know your athlete so that you can see how they react and what they respond to. They are not all going to respond as well to the same positive reinforcement. What positive reinforcement looks like to one kid, looks different to another kid based off their previous experiences and other factors of that nature. You need to get to know your athlete because every single athlete is different and is going to need to be pushed and coached in a different manner.”
"What is your “why” behind coaching?"
“Specifically when it comes to West Georgia, I wanted to be able to make a bigger impact on the program and where it was coming from. We always talk about the program being bigger than any one person. To be able to be involved in that is huge. The amount of support that we have and the new support we are gaining is the daily motivation for me.”
"How do you measure your success as a coach and what would you consider is your biggest accomplishment in your career thus far?"
“The way I measure my success is what the kids are like when they leave the program. Are they able to be successful in society beyond cheerleading? And to me, that’s the biggest way to measure if you were a successful coach. The wins and loses are great and that’s an obvious way to count up success, but for me, it’s much deeper and bigger than that. As for my biggest accomplishment, that would be the way my coaching staff and I have genuinely built up this program year after year with the help of our alumni and our community. We have taken this program from being small, to maintaining kids, to increasing budget, and to having more community exposure. I think the way we continue to improve it year after year is a huge accomplishment.”
"What would you consider your biggest failure in your coaching career and how did you overcome this challenge?"
“Being realistic, I fail at something every year. Whether that is a piece of communication, whether that’s losing, or whether that’s not having a kid wanting to come back. I fail year after year, but that’s what makes me become a better coach and a better person. I learn through those failures and try to not make that same mistake again. My coaching staff and I consider ourselves lifelong learners. If we aren’t lifelong learners, we aren’t getting better.”
"Do you do any extra personal development? If so, what authors or books would you recommend?"
“I do read a lot about leadership. Right now, the author that I’m reading and following on Twitter is Kevin Deshazo. He just put a book out called, “Keep Chopping Wood.” It’s a short read but he puts out a lot of good information on leadership, following standards, and buying into those processes. He talks about committing to the process and seeing the process through. That’s a lot of what we live by day-to-day at West Georgia, so I currently find him very relatable.”
"If you could give one piece of advice to someone starting their coaching career, what would it be?"
“Be patient and wait until it becomes yours. It usually takes about 3 years for it to genuinely become your program. Be patient and be adamant about what you stand for and what you don’t stand for. Pick your non negotiables and stick to them so that your standard becomes the new standard.”
Can you expand on what you think sets UWG Cheer apart?"
“So I think for us, it has a lot to do with our process and getting the kids to buy in from day one. That’s a huge piece of it. We found a calendar that works for us, as far as a timeline for our preparation and things like that, and we stick to it. We make adjustments as we need to in the moment, but for the most part, we try not to deviate from it too much. I also have an amazing coaching staff. Together, we compliment each other and I think having a good coaching team is a huge piece of our success. We also couldn’t do what we do without all of the support from our alumni and community.“
“Christel goes above and beyond. I worked as a sales rep for Varsity Spirit in the past, so I understand the ins, outs, and the grind that it takes to be a rep. She truly bends over backwards for us, whether it’s trying to find a style that we want or just going and doing the research. Because we have such a wide range of sizes in cheer uniforms, it’s really hard to find the right stuff. Christel works hard to get us the right cheer apparel in the right sizes and everything else we need. She is really really great!”
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