Episode #63
John Knowles: Building Winning Teams
Nationally recognized choreographer, educator and former Cheer Athletics All-Star Director John Knowles joins Megan on Here 4 Cheer for an incredibly honest conversation about leadership, culture, communication, athlete buy-in and what it really takes to build successful teams. John shares lessons from more than 15 years at Cheer Athletics, including how he learned to lead staff, build trust with athletes and parents, create competitive team cultures, and motivate coaches and athletes beyond wins and losses. He also gets candid about the mistakes that shaped him as a coach — from learning when to stop criticizing every rep to understanding parents differently after becoming one himself. One of his biggest lessons? Athletes can tell when their coach is truly invested in the journey with them. John also takes us inside That Cheer School, the coaching community he created to share the systems, practice strategies, choreography tools and resources he developed throughout his career. In this episode: • Building trust between coaches, athletes and parents • Creating genuine athlete buy-in • Developing and motivating coaching staffs • Why coaches need to explain the “why” • Creating value for yourself as a coach • Balancing accountability with confidence • Lessons learned at Cheer Athletics • Why great coaches never stop learning • The story behind That Cheer School • Why sometimes the thing that scares you is exactly what you should run toward Whether you're a gym owner, coach, athlete or cheer parent, this conversation is packed with ideas you can immediately bring back to your program. #Here4Cheer #Cheerleading #AllStarCheer #CheerCoach #CheerAthletics #JohnKnowles #CheerCoaching #AllStarCheerleading #CheerLife #ThatCheerSchool
