Takeaways from the best Ontario Coaches Conference & Why We Need to Keep Learning

We came home from the Cheer Factory Coaches Conference feeling energized and reminded of just how much there is still to learn in this sport. The weekend was packed with ideas we can all bring back to our own work.

The biggest takeaway, though, wasn't from a single session. It was the power of being in the same room with people who live and breathe cheerleading. In a tight-knit industry like ours, networking isn't just about business cards. It's about sharing experiences, learning from other people's mistakes, challenging our assumptions, and moving the entire sport forward together.

Why Coaches Conferences Matter

At Cheer Action, we spend our days working alongside cheer gyms, coaches, and athletes, so staying connected to what's happening inside the sport matters to us.

We also believe that gym owners and coaches should make continued education a yearly priority.

You can absolutely learn through your own experience. You try something, it works or it doesn't, and you adjust. That's part of coaching and entrepreneurship.

But there's a faster way. Learn from someone else's mistakes.

A conference creates a unique momentum. You step away from your day-to-day environment, hear new perspectives, meet people facing challenges similar to yours, and return home with ideas you can actually implement. The Cheer Factory conference this past weekend was a perfect example.

1. Mental Blocks Aren't a Character Flaw. They're Something Coaches Can Learn to Understand

One of the most powerful conversations came from Caitlyn Nelson and Emma Boire of Lyft Counselling based in Ontario Canada.

Mental blocks can be incredibly difficult to watch as a coach. An athlete who performed a skill confidently yesterday suddenly can't do it today. The instinct is to push harder, repeat the skill, or try to convince them they've done it before.

That instinct, it turns out, can make things worse.

Mental blocks can be understood as part of a dysregulated anxiety response, not as an athlete suddenly becoming incapable or unwilling. That distinction matters enormously. The athlete is not the problem. They are struggling with something genuinely difficult while still working incredibly hard to overcome it.

There are things coaches can learn about how to respond, and just as importantly, things to avoid because they reinforce the triggering environment. Mental blocks are part of a normal athletic development journey. They can happen to any athlete. Knowing how to support someone through that moment is a skill coaches can and should develop.

2. Your Practice Plan Should Include Fun

Joe de Guzman from Power Cheer and Tumble and Cheer Canada brought back something deceptively simple: put games and ice breakers into your scheduled practice time.

He has spent years coaching and developing athletes and coaches and his message was a good reminder that training doesn't have to mean being serious every single second. Because at the end of the day, we're still just kids playing a sport we love. Cheerleading should be hard. It should challenge us. But it should also be fun.

3. No Nuggets in the Back of the Floor

This one came from Rhonda Durham, and we loved it.

Her message was simple. If you're in the routine, perform. Don't hide in the back.

You are not invisible. You are, in fact, very visible. And the judges can see exactly what you're (not) doing.

Performance deserves to be trained just like flexibility, tumbling, stunting, and synchronization. Yes, show those teeth. But Rhonda's bigger point was that performance shouldn't look forced. The goal isn't to smile because the score sheet says to smile. It should look genuine. You wanted to be here. Let that show.

4. You Can Do Extraordinary Things When You Commit to the Process

The most inspiring story of the weekend came from Ida-Maria Lehto of Action Athletics in Sweden.

Her story was about committing to a multi-year process to become champions in one of the most challenging divisions: Level 1 at NCA.

Consider the circumstances. In a country with virtually no access to competition-style spring floors, the team arrived in the United States about a week before the championship, giving them limited time to train on the actual floor they would compete on.

Rather than reinventing their routine for 2026, they kept the one that had already received strong feedback from judges in 2025. Then they did something extraordinarily meticulous. They cleaned it for an entire year.

They worked on every centimetre, every count, every transition, every detail.

The team mentally rehearsed what competition day would look like, minute by minute, from waking up in the morning to leaving the floor after performing. They prepared for scenarios. They prepared for pressure. They prepared to perform.

Oh, and their club is called ACTION. We loved that. Because that's exactly what this story was about. You don't need perfect circumstances. You need a plan, patience, passion and the willingness to keep going.

5. The Sport Grows When We Share What We Know

The fifth takeaway wasn't from a specific session. It was the conference itself.

Organized by Chris McLeod, CEO of Cheer Factory Inc. and The Cheer Forge, the weekend brought together coaches, gym owners, judges, athletes and industry professionals from different backgrounds and countries. That kind of room is so valuable.

We especially appreciated hearing about Chris's involvement in developing cheer beyond our North American bubble, from supporting international programs to collaborating with federations around the world.

Keep Learning. Keep Connecting. Keep Moving.

We left with new ideas, interesting conversations to continue and a great momentum for the season ahead.

The sport is evolving. Your business is evolving. Your coaching and leadership should evolve too.

You can learn from your own experience. But when an industry is as connected and passionate as with cheerleading, you don't have to figure everything out alone.

At Cheer Action, we supply custom cheer uniforms, cheer shoes, and gear to Canadian cheer gyms and cheerleading clubs from coast to coast. When your team is ready to take the floor, we're ready to help them look the part. Browse our 2026-27 catalog at cheeraction.ca for custom cheer uniforms built for Canadian competitive cheer.