Trusting the Process: A Parent’s Role from the Viewing Room

The parent viewing room is a special place. It allows you to watch your athlete grow in real time—cheering them on as they master new skills, work through frustrations, and experience the highs and lows that come with competitive cheerleading. But it’s also a place that comes with responsibility. What you say, how you act, and even how you communicate with coaches can have a lasting impact not just on your child, but on the team culture as a whole.

Trusting the Process

Cheerleading is built on progressions. Skills don’t appear overnight—they are the result of conditioning, drills, corrections, and repetition. From the viewing room, it might seem like the same stunts or tumbling passes are being repeated endlessly, but every rep builds muscle memory and consistency. Coaches have a plan: they know when an athlete is ready to move forward and when the team needs to spend extra time perfecting the details.

Trusting this process means letting go of the urge to second-guess. Your child’s coaches are experienced, and they see the big picture. What may look like “standing around” or “not learning something new” is often part of a bigger strategy to ensure the team hits zero at competition.

The Viewing Room Code of Conduct

The viewing room isn’t just a place to watch—it’s also a place where parents model behavior for their athletes. Children hear and absorb more than we think, and negative talk can quickly filter back to the team. A few reminders:

• Talk positively. Celebrate effort, not just perfection.

• Avoid comparing kids. Every athlete learns at a different pace. Comparing your child to someone else’s undermines confidence and creates unnecessary competition.

• Respect privacy. What another athlete struggles with in practice is not your story to tell. Talking about other people’s children—whether it’s their skills, attitude, or progress—is inappropriate and harmful.

A supportive parent culture in the viewing room helps build a supportive athlete culture on the mat.

Before You Text a Coach

It’s natural to feel frustrated or worried at times. Maybe your child came home upset, or you didn’t understand why a skill wasn’t thrown in practice. But how you handle that frustration matters.

A good rule of thumb: sit on it for 24 hours before reaching out.

• If you’re still upset the next day, then calmly send a message.

• If the concern has passed or feels smaller with time, then it likely didn’t need immediate attention.

• Unless the issue involves another athlete and requires coach intervention for safety or well-being, give it time.

This “24-hour rule” protects both parents and coaches. It allows emotions to settle so that conversations are productive rather than reactive. Coaches want to support your child, but they can do so best when approached respectfully and with trust.

Building a United Front

The ultimate goal is for athletes to feel supported. When parents and coaches present a united front, athletes learn the values of respect, resilience, and teamwork. They see that while cheer is challenging, they are surrounded by adults who believe in them and trust the process.

From the viewing room, your role is clear: cheer loudly, speak kindly, trust the coaches, and model the sportsmanship you want your athlete to embody. By doing so, you create the kind of environment where kids can not only succeed but thrive.

The viewing room isn’t just about watching practice—it’s about shaping culture. Together, let’s keep it positive, respectful, and focused on the journey of growth that makes cheerleading so rewarding.