The Pre-Competition Checklist Every Coach Needs (But Most Don't Have)

20+ years of competition days taught me one thing: chaos at a meet is almost always preventable. Here's the system I use with every program I work with.

The teams that look calm and dialed-in at competition aren't lucky. They're running a checklist. Competition day has too many moving parts to keep in your head, and the moment you're improvising logistics is the moment your athletes feel it. Steal this system.

One week out

• Confirm schedule: warm-up time, performance time, awards time. Write them down.
• Finalize the roster and have a clear plan for any alternate scenario.
• Do a full-out in competition uniform to catch wardrobe and hair issues early.
• Send parents a one-page logistics sheet: arrival time, location, what to bring, what NOT to bring.

The night before

• Pack the team bag: extra bows, hair supplies, first-aid kit, tape, safety pins, makeup, snacks, water.
• Charge everything that plays music and have a backup of the routine track in two places.
• Confirm call time and travel plan with every family. Build in buffer for traffic and parking.
• Athletes lay out everything the night before. Nothing decided in a rushed morning.

Arrival

• Check in as a team, get your bearings, locate warm-up and performance floors.
• Walk athletes through the timeline so everyone knows what happens when.
• Hydration and light food early — not right before they perform.

Warm-up

• Run your warm-up progression the same way you do in practice. Familiar routine calms nerves.
• Hit each skill section with intention. The goal is confidence, not exhaustion.
• Reset the team's focus right before they leave warm-up: one clear cue, calm tone.

Right before they take the floor

• Short, steady, positive. This is not the moment for new corrections.
• Remind them of one thing they do well, not five things to fix.
• Let captains lead the final huddle. Hand them the moment.

After

• Acknowledge effort before scores come back. Separate the performance from the placement.
• Note what to review at the next practice while it's fresh — but save the deep film session for later.

Print this. Laminate it. Run it every single competition. When the logistics are handled, your athletes get to do the one thing they came to do — perform.