Cheer Captain Research Paper

For the past four years, I’ve been a cheerleader for Van Nuys Senior High School, granted that for two years I’ve been the captain. On surface level, a captain’s only job is to be the communicator, and representative for the coach as well as the team. As captain I performed responsibilities such as leading team conditioning, choreographing for the team, in addition to making sure the team is always ready. However, through cheer-leading I’ve learned that, holding the title “captain” is much more than that.

It was the day, that day, that special Friday, game day. Game day not only meant that there was a football game, but there was a pep-rally, where our team would be performing. The routine was one minute and thirty seconds long , and I knew

the girls and boys on the team were ready. We had been hitting our stunts solidly, throughout practice, and they were all confident, we were all confident. We performed the routine, and the ending pyramid didn’t hit, my flyer fell straight into my arms. However, as leader I encouraged them “PUT IT UP” and so they did, and yet again it didn’t hit. The team brought their stunts, with discouraged looks, but before they could walk off I yelled “LET'S GO VAN NUYS LET'S GO”, and we began to do one of our cheers.

That cheer was is what I felt they needed, the team needed a pick me up. Our job as cheerleaders is to keep the crowd motivated, and pumped,and as a team if we’re not happy, we couldn’t manage to do that. In times of anger or sadness, as people we tend to shut down, above all we have to push through. Soon after, the crowd began to clap for us and the team had smiles on their faces as they rallied off. In tough situations, people need encouragement, they need to be supported. I learned that one significant key to exceptional leadership is perseverance. I’m now better equipped to make wise leadership decisions, I’m able to more successfully contribute to the community, the positive energy and perseverance needed in any tough situation. As a college student, situations will get tough, but i’ll always be there to encourage my peers.