After nearly a decade running the all-star program at St. Peters, MO-based Spirit Elite, Karrie Tumelson is on to a new adventure doing choreography, camps and clinics—with plans to eventually open her own gym. Nominated by The JAM Brands as “Coach of the Year” in 2010 and USASF certified through Level 5, Tumelson has learned a lot in the trenches about inspiring athletes to achieve their best. For our “Athletes” issue, we asked Tumelson to share her hard-earned secrets for coaching success:

What are some coaching flubs you’ve made throughout the years, and how did you learn from them?

Tumelson: [I’ve learned that] skipping steps in the foundation of skills to progress is definitely not a good idea. In stunting, it’s important to make sure kids have solid foundational Level 1 skills before moving on to Level 2 skills. You might have kids that come [onto] a Level 2 team, and you may just start working at the beginning of that season on Level 2 skills instead of going back and reinforcing the foundation of a level lower. Over time, I’ve learned to take time in the summer to reinforce those skills rather than jumping right in.

Do you often encounter parents who think their child should be on a different level team? How do you handle that?

Tumelson: Education is key in getting parents and athletes to understand proper progressions, as well as the different levels and how the scoresheet works. It’s also important to build strong relationships with parents so that they trust your opinion. We’ve had people leave because they wanted to be on a different level, but you have to be consistent and do what you believe is right. A lot of times, they go to another gym and, in time, the concerns I had come to fruition. When you put a young one on a senior team, they’re often burnt out in two years—they’ve already done all there is to do.

What are the issues you most often encounter around athletes?

Tumelson: The biggest obstacle is getting athletes to understand the nature of a team sport and accept all teammates for who they are and tap into everyone’s strengths. Obviously there will be personality clashes on every team, but a team who can’t see the bigger picture will struggle. A team that gets along can do great things.

One of your athletes at Spirit Elite, Janie Pascoe, dedicated the winnings from her America’s Best “Athlete of the Year” award to Sandy Hook Families. How do you encourage athletes to give back?

Tumelson: We always talk about providing for the less fortunate, and every holiday season we adopt a family to provide for kids that are less fortunate [than] they are. We do a lot of volunteer work; we’ve always done the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure every year as a gym. We’ve also done food drives. I think a lot of it, too, is just awareness. Cheerleading is a very expensive sport, and not every child can afford it. So we continually remind them of being appreciative of what they do have, and remind them of those children that don’t have these opportunities because of financial stabilities or whatever the reason may be. [We] try to expose them to that so they do appreciate what they have more, and it also encourages them to get involved and give back.

–Mandi Hefflinger