Squad Safe is written for coaches and gym owners to keep cheerleaders safe. It is actually applicable to a far wider audience though; coaches working with female athletes in any sports, commercial gym staff, S&C coaches and Sport Psychologists.
It is evidence based but super readable. You can feel the psychology of high-performance organisations permeating through it to make the case for always following an ‘athlete first’ approach of wellbeing before winning. I strongly believe (as does the books author) that wellbeing before winning creates happy athletes who have psychological safety. Athletes who feel safe are able to perform better and so become more likely to win. In fact, one of my favourite quotes from the book is “It is not a critique of competition, rather of the toxic behaviours that can sometimes accompany it.”
The book is a mixture of organisational psychology, leadership development, culture change and safeguarding tools. Gamper Cuthbert is excellent at taking a psychological or leadership theory and putting it into a very clear and common Cheer scenario so that readers will be able immediately see the context and importance of the point she is making.
I loved the female health section covering elements like menstrual cycles, sports bras, injury prevention, concussion, mental health, social media and the ‘ambassador’ scams to be aware of. It also discusses the importance of uniform choices and how athletes are used in marketing. This section should be essential reading for any coach in any sport coaching female athletes.
When the book moves onto the darker side of safeguarding the author makes a point that I would love every coach to remember: ”Coaches often don’t realise the power they wield. They can lift someone or cut them down with a single sentence, a sentence that could stay with them for life.” As a Sport Psychologist I cannot tell you the number of times an athlete can repeat word for word statements coaches have made to them. Sometimes it is something positive and the memory of it still keeps them warm today but sometimes it is negative and they have never forgotten it. One thoughtless comment can remain with an athlete for life.
Chapter 5 is the eye-opening chapter, bluntly but openly addressing abuse within Cheer; physical, emotional, neglect and sexual. Again, at the heart of everything is showing clarity, transparency and always being athlete centred. Every point made here would equally apply to gymnastics and trampoline gyms.
Chapter 6 teaches you (almost line by line) how to write your own safeguarding policy.
Chapter 7 gives you all the other policies you need to run a safe club.
Chapter 8 is Gamper Cuthbert’s call to action to use the tools and information in the book to make cheer safer, better and happier for athletes and coaches.
In summary, it is clear the author has lived, worked, studied and reflected on the ways to improve safety within Cheer squads for years. This book is like getting all her consultancy advice but for a fraction of the price. It helps gyms move from compliance of doing what they must to the culture of doing it automatically.
There are lots of great places to buy it depending on the country you are in: Look here on Gamper Cuthbert’s website to find links: Book launch! | Squad Safe
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