Social Media That Sticks: Showcase Your Gym, Build Your Brand, and Connect With Your Community

If you’ve ever left a convention center thinking “did I just walk 25 miles and emotionally age 10 years?”—same. In this week’s ModUS Edge, Stacy, Cole, Kevin, and Casey dig into the messy middle of navigating events: coaching highs and lows, talking with judges, handling parents, and keeping your staff culture intact when half the table is ordering celebratory cheesecake and the other half wants a rain check on life.Here’s your 3-minute, friendly, slightly caffeinated guide—peppered with real-world scripts you can steal.
The Pressure Cooker Is Real (and Normal)
Large events (CheerSport, NCA, CheerExpo Nashville, pick your monster) compress:
- Months of work → five minutes on the mat
- 10–15 hour days → 30,000–50,000 steps
- Pride + fatigue → spicy emotions
Coaches come out either floating (“I am a genius!”) or spiraling (“Do I even know how to coach?”). Both are normal. Build a Day-After Protocol so the pendulum doesn’t decide your season.
Day-After Protocol (steal this):
- Feel it (24-hour rule): Celebrate or sulk, but cap it.
- Frame it: “We trained well, we learned X, we’ll adjust Y.”
- Focus it: Three fixes for practice #1 back.
- Forward it: Team message by noon: “Proud of your effort. Here’s our plan.”
Dad-joke breath: Which is faster, hot or cold? Hot—you can catch a cold. (…We’ll show ourselves out.)
Expectations: Your Emotional Safety Net
The difference between devastation and determination is often pre-framing.
- Newer programs: Define “win” as
finals made,
zero-deduct routines, or
hitting a season-first skill on stage.
- Established programs: Confidence ≠ cockiness. If “champ or bust” is the only acceptable outcome, you’re one score slip away from a culture crisis.
Huddle line you can use:
“We play to win
and to improve. If we hit our standard, we succeeded. If we also take home metal, that’s dessert.”
Talking to Judges & Event Officials (Without Raising Your Blood Pressure)
Judges want to get it right. They also don’t live inside your choreography brain.
Before you walk up:
- Circle where they’re
right on the sheet. (They usually are on something.)
- Pick
one category to discuss (jumps, stunt difficulty, etc.).
- Bring a clip if allowed; keep it
2 minutes.
Open with this:
“Coach from [Gym], Level [X]. Thank you for your notes—especially on [specific]. Could you help me calibrate our [category] vs. the range you were seeing? Here’s a 15-sec clip.”
Leave with this:
“Got it—so if we [specific tweak], our target range becomes [X]. Appreciate your time.”
No monologues. No sarcasm. No “my kids worked too hard” (everyone’s kids did).
Parent Dynamics: From Squabbles to Support Squad
Fatigue + money + travel = feelings. Set lanes before you load the bus.
Pre-event parent note (edit and send):
- Priority Viewing = cheer zone, not debate stage.
- Scores & placements discussed by
staff only.
- If emotions spike, text the team number “PAUSE” and we’ll regroup after awards.
- Your best job today: film smiles, pack snacks, high-five often.
At the event:
If tempers flare: “I hear you. We’ll review scores and the video and update by [time]. Right now we’ve got kids to coach.”
When It Falls Apart in Warm-Up (and It Will Someday)
An injury, a popped layout, a last-minute replacement—welcome to coaching.
In-the-moment script:
- To the athlete: “You’re safe, we’ve got you. Breathe.
- To the team: “We adjust and execute. Count matters more than choreo.”
- To the score: “Clean > cute.” Strip to the reliable.
Later, honor the athlete and the work. You’re building humans, not just routines.
Dinner Table Diplomacy
One end of the table is planning a victory lap; the other end is googling “new careers.”
- Seat by project, not placement. Pair a coach who’s flying high with one who needs perspective.
- Toast process wins (hit rate, upgraded stunt, best coverage) before placements.
Feedback Is a Gift (Even When It Feels Like a Cactus)
It stings because you care. Make “gift” your team’s reflex.
Staff debrief template:
- 2 things the judges nailed
- 1 thing we disagree on (and why)
- 3 changes we’ll try by next practice
Bonus tip: Record a 2-minute Loom (or phone video) summary for parents: what the sheet said, what we’re changing, how they can help (sleep, nutrition, mindset).
Winning Changes Your Culture—Guard It
Sustained winning sneaks in entitlement if you’re not ready.
- Celebrate standards, not just statuses. (“We hit our expectation for technique,” not “We’re Stingrays, of course we won.”)
- Rotate credit widely: stunt group of the week, unsung hero, best teammate.
- Make “Can I get help?” a
strength, not a scarlet letter.
Quick Event-Day Checklist
- ☐
Expectation email (athletes & parents) sent 48 hrs prior
- ☐
Coach roles for warm-up & mat (caller, fix, spot, calm)
- ☐
Judge plan: 1 category, 2 minutes, 1 ask
- ☐
Parent captain assigned (snacks, seats, smiles)
- ☐ Post-day message scheduled (pride + plan)
- ☐ Day-After Protocol on deck
You’ll laugh, you’ll nod, you’ll steal at least two lines. For the full conversation (and more chapstick discourse than anyone expected), dive into the episode:
The MotUS Edge Podcast – YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@themotusedge
The MotUS Edge Podcast – Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-motus-edge/id1786597546
The MotUS Edge Podcast – Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/63xUjmymxRiXHkSSEjlfOD?si=e5036453706148d9&nd=1&dlsi=02e897fb37a148ce











