Two years ago when I first started competitive cheerleading, I was very nervous and shy. It was my first year cheering, and I knew no one on my team and had no clue how to do any of the skills we were being asked to do. It was tryouts and most of the kids in the gym had cheered before and knew what they were supposed to do. Meanwhile, I on the other hand, felt very lost and confused. The coach asked us to do a stunt and put me as backspot. There were lots of very experienced kids watching and I felt intimidated by them. I knew the general idea of what to do, but nothing beyond that. I was too afraid and shy to ask how to do the stunt, which was not a smart decision. Because I was too afraid to ask, I messed up the whole stunt, causing me to
Competitive cheer is two minutes and thirty seconds of pure adrenaline rush and craziness. School cheer is all year round and happens once or twice a week and these cheerleaders are known as the "raw raw" cheerleaders. Both competitive cheer and school cheer have many things in common but they also have many things that are different. But, many people think that competitive cheer is more of a sport than school cheer is.
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
To make it even harder to focus, we could hear the music of another guard’s performance throughout warmup. I encouraged my team to stay focus on how we want to perform. As we prepared to perform, several girls began crying and hugging as if we were already done. I talked to each girl I passed and told them that it was time to focus and to show this crowd how good we are. That performance was the perfect ending to the season; it was everything we had worked for. However, we weren’t done yet; we still had to fold our floor, put away our flags, and get ready for the awards ceremony. On our way to put away our equipment, one of my girls started crying and apologizing for a mistake she had made, afraid that she compromised the show. I told her immediately that whatever score we made, we earned it as a team. I comforted her with my own struggles of perfectionism and feelings of inadequacy, but those feelings don’t necessarily reflect our
In cheer I am known for being the fun and goofy one but it never affects what I need to get done. I do not think my personality sets me back because when I know it's time to work I focus on what needs to get done. I have many skills that I have worked hard for so I see myself as someone other teammates could look up to for work ethic. During cheer there has been many days where I tried a skill over and over and always fell, but I just got up and kept going. Many cheerleaders have seen me go through this and not catch an attitude or just stop trying, so maybe they learned something from me after
“They’re snobs.” “They’re ditzy.” “They are just brats.” Cheerleaders. There are many problems with stereotyping, and cheerleaders are no strangers to it. Every cheerleader could probably tell you a time when someone stereotyped them, whether that be them as a person or an athlete. While on some occasions cheerleaders really do fit the stereotypical vision of a cheerleader off of a movie, most are not your typical “cheerleader”; intelligent, polite, and athletic are all characteristics of these individuals. Making judgements about a person based on what sport they played is not deserved. Most people in high school would say they knew, or thought they knew how cheerleaders were, but if taking the time to get to know the kind of people they are, then people’s opinion would change.
I had eaten great all day and I was ready for hell. I got there and didn’t realize there were 100 kid trying out for 2 teams. Mikey and I started off by doing line drills and I wasn’t the best but I was doing what coach had asked everyone to do. I was the only one giving it 110%. Then long field passes were next. Again this was all new to me and I was just going with it. Thirty minutes into practice I felt a bump on my shoulder. It was coach Haven. He asked me, “Hey La Garsssa how long have you been playing lacrosse for? I responded with “oh you know 30mi…. he was shocked and wasn’t ready for the response. I did have great ball handling skills and I was working my ass
That was my favorite part of cheerleading because a bunch of squads from different schools come to compete against each other to see who’s the best. We would put up flyers around the school so people might come to watch us but they never did and some were even taken down. Now as far as our cheer squad went, we weren’t that good still because we had an inexperienced coach who did not know how to choreograph dances or cheers. So we continued to be made fun of and not taken seriously by our classmates, which was extremely annoying because we just wanted some respect for the work that we put it. When sophomore year came around we were starting to get a little sick of never placing at competitions and to our luck, we got a new coach the next
RAH! RAH! GO TEAM! This is what most people think of when they hear the word cheerleading. Movies usually give people the impression that cheerleaders are just stuck up blondes that rule the school and cheer at football and basketball games. Although there are still stereotypical cheerleaders just like the ones in movies, cheerleaders are not just on the sidelines anymore. There are now competitive teams who only compete and do not cheer for anything. This is called competitive cheerleading. This type of cheerleading is very different from the cheerleading on the sidelines and is much more athletic. Competitive cheerleading is often underrated because cheerleaders make it look easier than it is. Society should consider competitive cheerleading a sport because it fits the definition, requires incredible strength and endurance, and considering it a sport would help prevent injuries.
Little did I know my whole C-Squad season would come to this. School had finally let out, and we began to play summer ball for the VFW team, I was playing with older kids and the varsity coach, which both really intimidated me. Out of my element, I had lost all of the confidence I had in me, and possibly played my worst baseball ever that summer. I was so shaken and angry with myself, I truly began to contemplate the pros and cons of even playing ball anymore. After many days of thinking, I told myself, I will work harder and play harder than any other person on my team. After that season I had began something very new to me, which was lifting weights. Afterall I thought how easy can it be, it’s picking up weight and putting it back down, and i’ll be jacked in no time. Quicker than a flash reality hit me, and lifting was way more difficult than I had first thought. There was all the form and different types of lifts such as: Clean, Deadlift, Squat, Bench Press, all of the basics. My sophomore year began, and I was still far behind on my new goal, and that’s when I went to one of my best friends, John who is very stocky and strong, practically a pro
On my first year of middle school, I was so excited because I finally could try out to be on a school softball team. I never played travel ball, only recreation softball so I've never actually been on a team that I tried out for. Over the summer I went to batting practice and fielding to get ready for the year. This is my year, I thought ready to tryout and make the team. The day came to where I had to show what I could do to the coaches. It took a while for the tryouts to actually commence because there was so much rain that week that it kept getting pushed back. This made more nervous, I just wanted to get it over with. I worked hard throughout the tryouts, but when I went up to bat I could not hit the ball. I tried many times but I couldn't do it. I felt terrible because everyone else hit great. I was embarrassed. I freaked out, this is what could ruin my chance to be on the team. Even then I still tried my best.
Next year, as I embark my first year at university, I hope to fully integrate myself into the community by getting involved in the Students' Union, joining the cheer team, volunteering where I can and making many new friends along the way. At university, I hope to maintain a high grade point average, granted that my education is extremely important to me and that I am extremely ambitious about achieving my goals.Therefore, I will commit lots of my time to my studies in hopes of being a successful student. Nevertheless, I am still looking forward to being a part of the community by devoting my extra time to helping those around me. In classes, I intend on being an active learner, a respectful student, and a helpful classmate; someone who is always willing to lend a hand to others. Through engaging in my community, I hope to bring joy to others around me by spending my time supporting local events, volunteering for fundraisers, and helping plan and organize campus activities.
Four years ago during the summer before my first year of high school, I started volunteering as coach of a fourth grade cheer squad with three of my friends. We needed to teach twenty-eight girls a one-minute dance and a hello cheer before their first game. I went into that first practice very naive, believing the girls would listen and do as I say. That practice turned out to be a complete mess. The kids jumped all over me, would not pay attention for more than three motions, and repeatedly asked me random questions about the things I liked. That two hour practice was one of the most hectic and frustrating moments I have experienced, but, at the same time, it was new, exciting, and entertaining. The past years of coaching have allowed me to form strong relationships with these girls to the point where I see them as my little sisters. Being their coach involves more than just teaching them cheers and dances, sometimes I have to settle their differences, comfort them, and let them have fun. When the girls reached sixth grade, the team started to go through drama. One practice, two girls
From an outsiders perspective one may see brainless and beautiful robots, which scream and perform neat tricks. This is not the case from the inside; cheerleading is so much more than that. Many people are under the impression that cheerleading is not a sport. I am the voice of reasoning that will let you in, and I will show you that cheerleading, in fact, is a sport. Cheerleading requires much physical demand from the body just as any other sport would. Cheerleading, in general, is a team effort. There are many sides to cheerleading, which make it a versatile sport. When it comes to cheerleading there’s more to it than what meets the eye.
This happens every new year, you make a goal for yourself and you do it for the first couple days and by the next month you are doing the complete opposite. But for this year it’s different I will keep this resolution. I would love to improve my flexibility not only for cheerleading but to do things that I couldn’t before.
A jolt of energy rushed through my body and hit my heart when they call me up to get the team trophy. Not fourth, third, or second, but first place for the third year in a row. Being a captain of a team is an amazing experience. You get to see your team physically, mentally, and emotionally prepare for competition. It's a lot of hard work, but if you try your hardest, make all the practices and have a passion for cheerleading its worth it. Every year we take a few weeks to build a competition routine, the out come is incredible, but the celebration is the best part.