One week, the cheerleader can perform the skill.
The next, they run into the pass, stop, step out or stand completely still. They know how to do the back handspring, tuck or twist. Their coach knows they can do it. Yet their body will not initiate the movement.
This is often described as a tumbling mental block.
It can be deeply upsetting because they appear to have lost access to a skill they already owned.
Is Cheerleading Really a UK Sport?
British cheerleading is much larger than many people realise.
Rather than only the sideline activity shown in American films, competitive cheer combines tumbling, jumps, stunts, dance and synchronised routines in gyms, clubs, schools and universities.
SportCheer England estimates that more than 89,000 athletes participate recreationally, competitively or at elite level. British teams also compete successfully at European and world championships.
That matters because tumbling mental blocks are not a distant American problem. They affect young athletes and families throughout the UK.
What Does a Cheerleading Mental Block Look Like?
An athlete may experience:
- Losing a back handspring, back tuck or full twist.
- Running into a pass but stopping before take-off.
- Tumbling with a spotter but not independently.
- Performing on a tumble track but not the competition floor.
- Needing additional mats for a previously secure skill.
- Becoming frightened of moving backwards.
- Blocking after a fall, injury or awkward landing.
- Throwing the skill in private practice but not with the team.
- Losing one element while other skills remain available.
- Feeling their mind says “go” while their body says “no”.
Searches often contain urgency and frustration: “Why have I lost my back handspring?”, “how to overcome a tumbling mental block”, “scared to throw my back tuck”, “my body won’t let me tumble” and “cheerleader relying on a spotter”.
Why Tumbling Blocks Feel So Serious
A blocked skill can affect more than one practice.
The cheerleader may worry about team selection, upcoming tryouts or whether a routine must be changed. They may believe they are letting down teammates whose positions depend upon everyone performing together.
Parents also watch a child become frightened and discouraged by something they love.
The athlete may think:
- Everyone else is progressing except me.
- My coach thinks I am not trying.
- I will lose my place on the team.
- I should be able to do this.
- What if I never get it back?
This connects the block with sports confidence, identity and fear of failure.
Is It Psychological, Technical or Physical?
Not every refusal is psychological.
The athlete’s strength, flexibility, timing, take-off, body position and landing mechanics must be assessed by a qualified cheer or tumbling coach. Growth, fatigue, pain, concussion, injury and changes in equipment or surface may also affect a previously reliable skill.
A medically significant injury requires appropriate healthcare and rehabilitation. Mindset work must never persuade an athlete to override pain, physical unreadiness or an unsafe technical progression.
However, once the skill is physically and technically appropriate, the athlete may begin consciously supervising every stage. The automatic sequence becomes several urgent instructions. This can become overthinking in sport rather than useful technical attention.
How a Mental Block Develops
The cycle may look like this:
- A skill produces a fall, frightening sensation or unexplained hesitation.
- The next attempt carries greater anticipation.
- The athlete becomes tense and monitors the movement.
- They stop, alter the take-off or reach for the floor.
- The experience appears to confirm that the skill is unsafe.
- Every subsequent attempt becomes a test.
Research describes a mental block as an inability to perform a previously learned and automatic skill. A cheerleading study examining athletes’ lived experience of mental blocks found complex interactions between fear, confidence, coaching and the mind-body experience.
The response is real even when the athlete cannot explain it clearly.
Pressure from Coaches, Parents and Teammates
Repeated questions—“Did you throw it today?”—turn every session into an examination. Extra private lessons may add more opportunities to fail if the psychological pattern and progression remain unchanged.
Punishment, embarrassment or accusing the athlete of laziness can associate the skill with even more threat. Parents do not need to become the technical coach on the journey home. Sometimes the most helpful message is:
I know this is difficult. I care about you whether the skill happens today or not.
Rebuilding the Skill Without Constantly Testing It
The technical progression belongs with a properly qualified coach.
Depending on the athlete, it may involve lead-up drills, spotted skills, tumble tracks, pits, additional mats or returning temporarily to an earlier movement. The objective is not to demand the full skill repeatedly until fear disappears.
Useful principles may include:
- Agreeing the planned progression before practice.
- Recording successful lead-ups, not only complete skills.
- Keeping blocks purposeful rather than exhausting.
- Increasing one demand at a time.
- Allowing a regression without calling it failure.
- Gradually reducing assistance when readiness is demonstrated.
- Reintroducing team observation and routine pressure later.
Confidence is built from credible experience through rebuilding confidence in sport, not pretending the athlete is unafraid.
Self-Talk, Attention and the Final Seconds
Before tumbling, the athlete may hear several instructions:
Jump high. Stay tight. Do not stop. Do not fall. Everyone is watching.
Five commands cannot all guide one movement.
A technical coach may choose one simple cue connected to rhythm or intention.
Better focus in sport is selective. Developing Inner Voice Awareness™ may be especially useful when one part of the athlete is commanding “go” while another predicts injury.
Competition, Tryouts and Team Selection
A skill may return during a quiet private lesson but disappear when teammates watch or a tryout approaches.
The athlete begins calculating what the skill means: a position in the routine, promotion to another team or qualification for a competition. The movement becomes a judgement of worth.
This can create performance anxiety in sport. Progress eventually needs to transfer into observation, routines and competitive pressure, but not by adding every demand simultaneously.
Can NLP or Hypnotherapy Help?
NLP or hypnotherapy may help when an athlete replays an injury, anticipates disaster or uses language that strengthens fear. Work might explore the meaning attached to the skill and calmer rehearsal.
Parents online describe trying hypnosis with mixed results. I found no strong cheerleading-specific evidence that it reliably removes tumbling blocks, so it should not be presented as a guaranteed cure.
These approaches must complement qualified coaching, safeguarding, medical care and appropriate rehabilitation. They should never be used to force a young athlete through a skill. My page on NLP and hypnotherapy for sports performance explains these boundaries.
How Sports Mindset Coaching May Help
Mindset work may include:
- Identifying the moment commitment changes.
- Separating technical feedback from anxious interference.
- Reducing shame and catastrophic thinking.
- Changing the response after a stopped attempt.
- Developing a simple pre-tumbling routine.
- Preparing for tryouts, routines and being watched.
- Supporting emotional control in sport without demanding total calm.
- Helping the athlete trust their training again.
Responsible support remains individual: what maintains one athlete’s block may differ from another’s.
Coach’s Insight
The athlete often asks:
How do I make myself throw it?
A more useful question may be:
What would help my body recognise that this stage of the skill is prepared, supported and safe enough to attempt?
Frequently Asked Questions
Why has my child suddenly lost a tumbling skill?
A fall, injury, growth, fatigue, pressure, coaching experience or conscious interference may contribute. Technical and physical factors should be assessed first.
Should we book more private tumbling lessons?
They may help if technique or progression needs attention. More repetitions alone may intensify a mental block if every lesson becomes a test.
Is my cheerleader simply refusing to try?
Usually the athlete wants the skill back intensely. Their protective response is interrupting an intended action; shame rarely solves that conflict.
Should an athlete be made to perform the skill?
No athlete should be forced through a skill that feels unsafe. Progression should be led by qualified coaches with appropriate safeguarding.
Can mindset coaching guarantee the skill will return?
No. It may help with fear, attention and confidence, while technical readiness, physical health and coaching remain essential.
Getting the Skill Back Without Losing the Athlete
A tumbling block can become so dominant that adults focus entirely on recovering the skill.
The strongest approach takes the fear seriously, checks technical and physical readiness, reduces unnecessary pressure and rebuilds confidence through manageable evidence.
The objective is not to force one performance. It is to help the cheerleader develop a safer, more trusting relationship with their body, training and sport.