This episode comes straight from all of you, I've had many people ask me to talk about having alternates on the team. It's a tricky situation, mentally and logistically but I didn't feel like I could talk about this topic on my own. Instead, I interviewed 5 successful high school coaches to get their insights and perspectives on using alternates in their programs. As I hoped and expected, there are some themes running through the interviews, but also some unique ideas and different approaches. 

Here are some highlights:

[1m 58s] Kevin Mathis, Lake Central High School, Indiana

[12m 22s] Ta Fett, formerly Frazee High School, Minnesota

[23m 30s] Jennifer Cryder, Joliet West High School, Illinois

[38m 17s] Renee Buchholz, DC Everest, Wisconsin

[52m 46s] Jana Blue, formerly Denver East High School, Colorado

[1h 04m 28s] Chelsea's summary

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Mentioned in Today's Episode

Dancer-Fitness.com: https://dancer-fitness.com/membership

Erin Manske & The Tiers System: Ep. 25- Bringing Stats and Analytics to Dance Team – with Erin Manske

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Did you enjoy today's episode? Please leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts!

Be sure to snap a screenshot and tag me on instagram @dr.chelsea.pierotti as you're listening to the episode. 

In my opinion as a sport psychology consultant, a positive motivational climate is the holy grail of teaching and coaching.  Every class you attend has a climate… a feeling… a sense of energy in the room.  Your job as a dance educator is to make sure that every day practice climate is one that fosters hard work, self-discipline, fun, and progress.  

So how do we achieve this ideal positive motivational climate?!  One of the research-based ways to increase intrinsic motivation comes in six steps, and many sport psychology consultants use the acronym T.A.R.G.E.T. to remember all of the areas you can use to improve your team's motivational climate. In this episode, I'll walk you through these six strategies so you can apply them to your work as a dance educator and enjoy more self-motivated dancers. This episode is one you'll want to reference in the future so take notes, or go to https://chelseapierotti.com/30 to download the cheat sheet that goes with it!

Mentioned in Today's Episode

Growth Mindset Podcast: https://chelseapierotti.com/18

Positive Reinforcement Podcast: https://chelseapierotti.com/23

Dancer-Fitness.com: https://dancer-fitness.com/membership

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Did you enjoy today's episode? Please leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts!

Be sure to snap a screenshot and tag me on instagram @dr.chelsea.pierotti as you're listening to the episode. 

Check out the full Show Notes, including episode highlights, key takeaways, exclusive resources, and more: https://chelseapierotti.com/30

Do you have a young dancer in your life with big dreams of a professional ballet career? Knowing where to go for advice and how to choose the next step can be daunting for the young pre-professionals in our lives and I hope today's interview helps you guide them.

I had the pleasure of working on a project with a woman who serves as a wonderful ballet mentor recently and I'm so excited to share her advice with you today. Caitlin Sloan is a former professional dancer and founder of the Brainy Ballerina. Here's my interview with Caitlin about mindset and finding intention in your dance career.

Mentioned in Today's Episode

Caitlin Sloan instagram @TheBrainyBallerina

The Brainy Ballerina Mailing List  ​​

Brought to You By:

Dancer-Fitness.com: https://dancer-fitness.com/membership

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Did you enjoy today's episode? Please leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts!

Be sure to snap a screenshot and tag me on instagram @dr.chelsea.pierotti as you're listening to the episode. 

Check out the full Show Notes, including episode highlights, key takeaways, exclusive resources, and more: https://chelseapierotti.com/29

What lessons did you learn from 2020? It's time to reflect on some of the mindset lessons I've learned last year and I want to share those lessons with you. The last 18 months have disrupted our normal routines and in different ways, our work-life balance. One of the important lessons psychologists have taught us is the value of reflection. It's a chance to pause and notice what's different and how you truly feel about it. We know reflection is a powerful way to learn and grow. So before we dive headfirst into whatever this next school year brings, I'm going to share 3 mindset lessons I'm glad to take with me into the 2021 dance season.

Mentioned in Today's Episode

Starter Journal Prompts for Dancers

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Did you enjoy today's episode? Please leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts!

Be sure to snap a screenshot and tag me on instagram @dr.chelsea.pierotti as you're listening to the episode. 

Check out the full Show Notes, including episode highlights, key takeaways, exclusive resources, and more: https://chelseapierotti.com/28

In this episode, I talk with a registered dietitian and former competitive dancer Jenny Accettura. As usual, I bring the mindset perspective into the conversation and Jenny shared a major mindset shift about nutrition that might serve you if you're a former dancer...aka an adult who doesn't train as many hours as you used to! We also discussed the challenging food rules you learned as a dancer and how they may not be serving you now, and how you can talk to your dancers about nutrition if you're nervous to bring it up because you aren't an expert. Because I know it was a conversation that intimidated me as a young teacher. And finally, we end with some practical advice about helping our body recover after a long dance day.

Mentioned in Today's Episode

Centerstage Nutrition for the Recovery Guide: https://centrestagenutrition.com/

Jenny Accettura on Instagram: @centrestagenutrition

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Did you enjoy today's episode? Please leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts!

Be sure to snap a screenshot and tag me on instagram @dr.chelsea.pierotti as you're listening to the episode. 

Check out the full Show Notes, including episode highlights, key takeaways, exclusive resources, and more: https://chelseapierotti.com/27

The Confident Dancer Summit kicks of Friday, Aug 6th 2021

Grab your free ticket: https://confidentdancersummit.com

• The summit will run from Aug 6th through Aug 8th 2021
• Each day will be packed with amazing speakers who are ready to help you improve your own confidence and learn the tools to help your dancers
• We've got a pop-up Facebook group where you'll find all of our experts, connect with other dance coaches and teachers, ask the speakers questions, and whatever else we come up with!
• You can attend the summit absolutely free, but you can choose to grab the All-Access Pass at any time that will give you an all-access pass to the summit (meaning you get all the videos for a year, a private podcast version of the summit, membership trials, discounted video critiques, other downloadable resources and more!

This is part 1 of a two-part series about improving confidence and for part 1, I focus on where confidence comes from because if we understand where it comes from, we are in a better position to change it. And to help explain this in the episode I share a story of one simple competition day that changed my coaching career. Then I cover the 3 sources of confidence and a takeaway for how you can use your everyday practice time to improve your dancers' confidence.

Mentioned in Today's Episode

The Confident Dancer Summit: https://confidentdancersummit.com

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Did you enjoy today's episode? Please leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts!

Be sure to snap a screenshot and tag me on instagram @dr.chelsea.pierotti as you're listening to the episode. 

Check out the full Show Notes, including episode highlights, key takeaways, exclusive resources, and more: https://chelseapierotti.com/26

Do you ever wish your dancers would focus more on individual growth rather than being the best? I know many dancers who only found success in the win or in being the best, when I know they would go so much further and enjoy their success more if they defined success differently. For this episode, I brought in Erin Manske because she has a unique background and take on dance team. She developed a way to bring a little objectivity to our sport without losing the artistry.  She used her background in research and data analysis combined with her dance training to build a skills tracking app called The Tiers System. The Tiers System helps coaches build the best possible team by bringing data and statistics to the dance team world. Through The Tiers System, Erin has helped coaches across the country improve consistency, transparency, and equity in their coaching while empowering their dancers to be more motivated, independent, and intentionally focused on team culture. 

Throughout our conversation, we talk about her new app, and we cover some of the challenges many of us face like motivating our dancers and building confidence. Erin even shares an exercise she does with her team to help them build trust and confidence in each other that I know you're going to enjoy. 

Mentioned in Today's Episode

The Tiers System: https://thetierssystem.com

The Confident Dancer Summit: https://confidentdancersummit.com

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Did you enjoy today's episode? Please leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts!

Be sure to snap a screenshot and tag me on instagram @dr.chelsea.pierotti as you're listening to the episode. 

Check out the full Show Notes, including episode highlights, key takeaways, exclusive resources, and more: https://chelseapierotti.com/25

Have you ever heard of the self-fulfilling prophecy? It's the phenomenon where an individual's or a group's expectation for the behavior of another individual or group serves actually to bring the expected behavior. As a dance educator, it means that your expectation of your dancer's behavior and ability can actually bring about that expected behavior… good or bad.

Here's one example where it plays out as a dance educator… There are so many decisions I wrestle with when I'm preparing a competition routine.  I seem to spend a lot of time deciding which skills to include, and once I've decided, I then struggle to choose who should perform those skills. What should be a team trick? What should we do as a highlight trick? Who can I COUNT ON to perform that trick when the pressure is on? It's one of the bigger coaching decisions we all have to make. 

What I didn't always realize is that my expectation of who could do the skill (and who couldn't) would actually influence the end result. That's the self-fulfilling prophecy and as coaches and teachers, it's a scary but important reality. Our expectations can become an athlete's reality.

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Did you enjoy today's episode? Please leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts!

Be sure to snap a screenshot and tag me on instagram @dr.chelsea.pierotti as you're listening to the episode. 

Check out the full Show Notes, including episode highlights, key takeaways, exclusive resources, and more: https://chelseapierotti.com/24

Whenever I discuss the negative side of punishment, and why you should always avoid physical punishment I get questions about what to do instead. The focus is usually on the side of consequences. Coaches want to know, how do I get them to stop doing that bad behavior? How do I get them to listen, how do I get them to work hard, how do I get them to remember everything. Punishment is only part of the equation. I believe the flip side, focusing on positive reinforcement will have a bigger long-term benefit and it creates a very different team climate. So in this episode I'm explain how to shape the behavior you want in your dancers using positive reinforcement

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Did you enjoy today's episode? Please leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts!

Be sure to snap a screenshot and tag me on instagram @dr.chelsea.pierotti as you're listening to the episode. 

Check out the full Show Notes, including episode highlights, key takeaways, exclusive resources, and more: https://chelseapierotti.com/23