”HEY!” “GO CHARGERS!” “D-E-F- (clap clap) E-N-S-E- (clap clap) D-E-F- (clap clap) E-N-S-E-!” “LETS GO CHARGERS!” Although we are the chargers, this is not where cheer began. Cheerleading’s roots are traced as far back as in the late 19th century. The University of Minnesota gets the credit for the first organized cheerleading. Johnny Campbell got some of his buddy’s together and got the crowd to yell for their team which encouraged many other universities to do the same. A few decades later the women began to join. Today, most of the teams are made up of a greater amount of females but males are still involved. I have joined the ranks of thousands of past cheerleaders, and throughout my life cheer has helped my social skills, leaderships skills, and helped me to gain respect for others grow tremendously and make me who I am today. …show more content…
One thing that has made me who I am is the social aspect of cheerleading. When my teammates and I are leading the crowd we are always interacting with the fans as well as the players out performing. Being with my teammates cheering on others builds a bond that is unbreakable. Friendships are made and many different people are involved in so many different things. The cheerleaders on my team as well as the opposing team’s cheerleaders interact also. Even though our teams are going head to head we, as a squad, still have to be kind and lift others up. Being around so many important people that are doing the same things as I am is so cool and reassuring. When I am always involved with others I build a bond and that helps me build my social skills to become who I am right
For competitive cheer you have to athletic if you want to be good. The cheerleaders are non stop tumbling, stunting, jumping, or dancing for more than two minutes. They never have a break in the routine that is pushed to the max with all the difficulty you can make and all of the legal things you can do in a routine. The sport
When I arrived at my new and enormous high school, I got lost. It was June, and since classes had just ended for the day, large crowds of kids filled up the hallways, and I got bumped around like I did not exist. Thankfully, a cheerleader saw me and figured that I had come there for tryouts since I wore shorts, cheer shoes and a big bow in my hair. She took me to the gym where at least sixty girls had shown up for the competition. The first things I saw were cheerleaders doing high level tumbling on the gym floor with no fear. The upperclassmen led us in warm-ups, and they seemed nice. A lot of the girls I met had been cheering since they were five and six years old. I saw a lot of talent in the room, so I knew it would not be easy to
Ever experienced cheer camp a famous college? Surround by its famous color orange and blue? Well, I did! A tremendous amount of people have their different ideas an exciting experience in their life. Although out of all of the exciting experiences I’ve ever experienced , I would have to say my favorite is when I visited The University of Florida for cheer camp my sophomore year. I was overly excited about spending four days at The University of Florida; I stayed up all night the night before packing and getting ready to finally stay at a college for four days with my fellow cheer sisters. From that experience I learned a lot about sticking together as a team, and friendship! But, most importantly, I learned that bonding together as a team is what got us to finish strong at the end. Those four days really opened my eyes to a lot of different things and I’m glad I can say that I really enjoyed myself.
Ironically, cheerleaders get the name of a “snob” or a “brat”, however a cheerleaders job is to bring positivity and spirit to their school. To be conceited or a bully is the complete opposite of what a cheerleaders job is; which means their primary responsibility is to pump up the student body for the big game or to get others involved and support school functions. Aside from the stereotype that cheerleaders are snobby, another assumption is that cheerleaders only hang out with other cheerleaders, that they are very exclusive. In films, cheerleaders are seen as the girls that always sit at the same lunch table and no one else is allowed to sit with them, or the ones that walk the halls in the same cluster while they laugh and gossip about other girls. A cheerleader is taught to be inclusive and to get others engaged in activities throughout the school, and if cheerleaders are pushing others away by being exclusive they are not doing their
Cheerleading is fun! Of course we cheerlead because it’s fun! From cheer camp to laughing on the sidelines, cheerleading is always a good time, especially with your friends. The memories made my cheerleaders whether they be from practices, games, or spirit activities (like decorating for senior night or baking treats for football players) are memories that will be cherished for a cheerleaders lifetime. Cheering is such a positive and happy experience because we are always doing something fun or accomplishing something new, like learning our new pyramid or mastering our routine. I get to get dressed up in my uniform with my bow in my hair and my white, red-track stained cheer shoes and not only cheer on my favorite football team but run around and cheer and stunt with a team of fun-loving girls and bring my community
Have you ever just thought and engaged on curiosity on how it feels like to stand and balance on hands of people? Being thrown high in the air with just trusting three people to catch you? Lifting people together while exhibiting strength and trusting that the stunt won’t completely fall? Lastly, having the guts to cheer, shout and to put on that cheerful smile despite all the pain and sacrifices you made just to complete the routine? These people are extraordinary athletes. These athletes just don’t perform difficult stunts but they also uniquely combine the factor of performing and getting the crowd’s attention through their routine. They are called Cheerleaders. Most of the people who aren’t familiar of the content of the sport would think that Cheerleading is just for the purpose of performing and cheering for their own team or school, but to Cheerleaders, it’s more than just those conditions. It’s just something more special than that. It’s a vision and of course, pure passion.
Movies portray cheerleaders as the popular girls that everyone likes and aspires to be. But when reality hits at Salem High School, it’s a completely different story. Cheerleading was taken as a joke by the other athletes and even students. It was considered a hobby, but to me it was a passion and something I worked hard to be. Being on the cheer squad in high school was difficult to deal with in school because we were constantly being snubbed by the other athletes and students in our school ever since we were kids in junior high which should not happen because everyone has the right to do what they love and they should not be judged for it being different than everyone else. It was always us versus them up until my junior year of high school when we finally earned the respect of our peers.
The young people of the cheer world have helped create a new and exciting way to show spirit, which needs to be recognized. Cheerleading is a sport. A sport that is still coming out of the wood work. This sport is only going to grow with or without recognition. To cheerleaders it's official, and now it's time for the whole world to be on the same page.
BEEP! BEEP! The alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning. Ana could barley open her eyes, she was up all night over thinking about the competition. It was spring break and she was all ready settled on waking up in the afternoon everyday. She knew she had to get up right away, she was not going to have enough time to get all of her make-up done. She got up right away and headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water, thinking that would make her wake up a little.
Cheer is a competitive game for girls and guys. It is not just a sport for girls and boys also do it and they do it together as a group not like football or soccer ect. were they have their girls and boys team separate. They also
In Amy Moritz’s article, “Cheerleading: Not Just for Sidelines Anymore,” also explains this by saying, “For decades, female athletes were relegated to the sidelines - physically and metaphorically speaking. The cheerleader, the girl who looked pretty and cheered for the boys, became a symbol for many women's sports activists and second-wave feminists of the place athletically inclined females occupied in the sport world” (660). This quote from Moritz proves that the students and administration in my high school didn’t come up with these stereotypes by themselves and it also explains how cheerleaders are stereotyped as girls who only cheer for the skirt and for attention from males. This quote ties into my thesis because these examples are how the students and administration in my high school think of us. The Lake High School Cheerleading team is breaking this stereotype by cheering competitively. In this competitive routine, we have to tumble, dance, cheer, jump and sometimes stunt to music for two minutes and 30 seconds straight without stopping. To be able to do this, we condition daily, go to private tumbling classes to improve our tumbling skills individually and as a squad, and we also practice many times during the week to perfect the routine. It takes great athletic ability to be able to perform a
During the first year of cheerleading, I learned a lot about what it means exactly to be a “cheerleader” whether it be how to act, what to say, how to look, or who I should be talking to. I like to compare this to the symbolic interaction theory. This theory is all about shared meanings or symbols, events, and socialization and how society interprets these interactions. When sharing these symbols and thoughts, common ideas are formed as well as the expectation of them within society itself (Ballantine, 29). I can relate this to my experience with cheer because there almost always is a stereotypical view of a cheerleader. Just because someone sees you wearing a skirt with a bow in your hair, people will automatically make assumptions about you
Soccer has guided me in many ways to become the person I am. Especially in high school, the sport has showed me how to be much more cooperative and open with others. Before high school, I isolated myself from others and had only a few close friends. Rather than being a sociable, I acted as though I was the only person in the world and had the outlook that as long as I do what is right individually, there is no need for me to work with others. This outlook changed when I joined the soccer team at Holy Spirit, my high school. With the way soccer is at the high school level, I had no choice but to cooperate and associate my selves with others. Once on the field, instead of introducing myself as "me" I had to introduce myself as a part of the team. You win as a team and you lose as a team. Sometimes I wanted to drive to games myself, and I was not allowed to because we are supposed to travel together and it would be wrong to the team for me to separate myself from the group.
Cheerleading has been a part of my life since I was seven years old, when I begged my mom to join the local cheer team. Starting out, I was pretty bad, as many would expect. I would trip over my own feet, hit my head while doing a back handspring, and manage to fall on my bottom while doing a jump. I’m surprised I made it past the first practice. Never would we have guessed it would become one of the most influential parts of my life.
By being part of a team, you will give and receive praise. Receiving recognition from a team mate or a coach will boost your self esteem because you have been acknowledged for your efforts. As you are praised for your efforts, you will become more confident, thus improving your self esteem. Often times, the bond formed between team mates on the field translates into a friendship off the field. As team mates come to depend on each other and know that they are depended on, their level of commitment or responsibility to the game and skills needed for the game increases.