Cheerleading
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.
Preparing for competition is easier said than done, you need a passion to complete the task. Competition is extremely stressful, but amazing at the same time. It?s a process of mixed emotions, not knowing if it?s importance will have a meaning in the end. Having practice six times a week allows us to work on our jumps, cheers, dances, tumbling, and the most difficult, stunting. Just the counts and lifting people in the air is traumatic enough, but repeating it over and over again it gets strenuous. Dancing is relaxing when you have counts to them, but when you have to learn the dance to the music people get confused and don?t know when to leave to the next formation. Team members start getting fed up with each other at the closing stages of practice, it?s just a natural human reaction after practicing with the same fifteen to twenty girls for three hours.
At last we had brought all our practicing skills into work at the final stages. After working hard for three solid months it all paid off, the competing mat was beneath our feet. It was as if I could almost hear the girl?s hearts thumping before we walked onto the mat. I couldn?t stop smiling, I had the biggest grin on my face as if I were the cat who just ate the canary. Only when I thought that was enough, my facial expressions were amazing, all the nights I spent in front of the mirror or watching my self through the reflection of the glass door in my kitchen. It?s hard to go first because watching all the other teams compete makes you think, how did I do?
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.
I’ve been doing competitive cheerleading since the third grade. Competitive cheerleading being the third most dangerous sport in the world, I was going to get injured at one point or another; it just depends on when and how bad the injury is. Most cheerleaders hide injuries from coaches and other athletes to continue with the season, like if the athlete has a broken rib, jammed finger, sprained ankle, or wrist. Some injuries just cannot be ignored, like a torn ACL, achilles, obvious broken bones, concussions, or a jammed back. No athlete wants to be injured, but sometimes that’s the best thing that can happen to them.
While we headed down to the mat, I could see all the other cheerleaders nervous as can be. Because all the teams in the arena had to go down on the mat, it was very crowded and hot. When my team found a spot on the mat, we danced like animals along with the music that was playing. After all the teams got on the floor, we all sat down and listened quietly while we heard the announcer announce the awards. Because of all the teams in each division, the announcer only announced the top three so it will go faster. After a while, it finally got to the division that my team was in. As we bow our heads and hold each other's hand tightly, we listen carefully. As each name was called, I got more and more nervous. After the last team name was called we let go of each other’s hand and looked around and cheered for everyone who did make it in the top three. Even though we didn’t make the top three, we were still excited for the other
Over the years it has been debated many times whether or not cheerleading is a sport or a club so what is the verdict? Is cheerleading a sport or is cheerleading not a sport? Truthfully, there are two types of cheerleading, sideline cheerleading and competitive cheerleading. There are multiple distinguishing factors of competitive cheer and sideline cheer. The hours of practice, the level of skill, and the end goals of the two types are what set them apart. While there is a lot of heavy debate on the topic it is obvious that competitive cheerleading is a sport and is one of the most difficult sports to do well and sideline cheerleading is not.
It’s a time out, all of those Friday night lights, shining in your face as you toss your best friend into the air as she kicks and twists and lands right back in your arms. Football season, every high school cheerleaders favorite season. Down on the track, lined in perfect lines, they yell at the crowd, “Are you proud to be a Tiger?” and the immediate reaction from the football fans in unison was, “Yes we are!” Most people say they’re at the games for the attention during school, but if you’d take the time to ask the cheerleaders why they do what they do, you’d get the same answer that I got from my sister when I interviewed her. She took the time to explain to me why she became a cheerleader and then progressed into saying, “I stick with it [cheerleading] because
The Discourse Community that I am a part of is the Lake High School Cheerleading Team. I was on Varsity for all four years of high school for football and basketball seasons. We are not your typical high school cheerleading team however; we stunt, tumble, and compete. We break the status quo of being dumb blondes and we work hard to be the athletes that we are. The crisis of the Lake High School Cheerleading Team is the stereotypes that our high school students and administration makes towards us. This crisis is important because we, as cheerleaders, take offense when people tell us that we are something we are not. We are tired of having these false accusations made towards us, so we want to let our audience
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.
Imagine you see something or someone you thought you would never see before. I had that experience it before at the Ultimate Cheer Marathon. It was so breathtaking watching my favorite cheer squad face-to-face inside the big stadium, where the audience roared as they stepped on the mat. You seen amazing tumbling, perfect choreography, and the concession stand had excellent refreshments. Watching cheer in real life is such a fantastic experience. You should give it an attempt.
It’s the oldest story in the world. One day you’re 17 and planning for someday. And then quietly and without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And then someday is yesterday. And this is your life. - One Tree Hill
Tryouts. Tryouts. Tryouts. Tryouts were in five days for one spot on the varsity basketball lineup. All I could think about twenty four seven was about how I needed to perform on thursday. I was freshman at Calvin Christian high school. If I was able to get on the team I would be breaking Calvin Christian history; never has a freshman been pulled up to varsity before the season. It was sunday afternoon and when most kids are watching football on tv, I had my mom drive me to MVP. MVP is a sports complex in cascade. I had basketball training session at 4:00 with Abdou my trainer.
Sweat, aching muscles, and green spread out before me. I’d been practicing, I went hard and did my best to improve in every possible aspect. I worked not only on my form, my precision, and my power, but also on my mind; my mental game. I had to tell myself I could do it, I had to be confident in myself, no reassurance from others. I was told I had no chance, how could I win. I was expected to lose, and I thought I would.
Beep, the buzzer has gone off, now all eyes are on you. You and your teammates pull all the tricks you know. One girl is being lifted by three others, standing on one leg high in the air. Another is hurling her body through the air flipping across the ground; a thud is heard every time her hands or feet meet the floor. You have a large megaphone in your hands and you are yelling through it with everything you have. This is cheerleading. It is a place to compete, but there is also a place on the sidelines. It is a place for friendship and teamwork. Cheerleading of yesterday is nothing like cheerleading today. Cheerleading may not have started as a sport, but now it has grown into a full-fledged sport that is enjoyed by many.
Cheerleading has affected many lives in a positive way and proven that sports can help build character and change a person for the better. I have been an all-star cheerleader at Cheer Extreme all-stars for the last two years but have participated in all-star cheerleading since I was three years old. Through this sport, I have become a summit champion, triple crown champion and bronze medalist at the 2017 world championship. While these accomplishments may have seem important at the time, I quickly learned that cheerleading is about more than the jackets and the rings. Winning has become a huge part of any sport but in a survey of seven cheerleaders they revealed the true meaning of the sport. When asked the
My hands get clammy and emotions are running wild. When they call my team we all run out frantically and realize there's one last chance with this team, one last chance with this routine, some athletes final shot at the state championship! The lights gleam bright and it is time to do my job and put faith in my team to do the same. Two minutes and thirty seconds go by and that's the end of it all… walking off the mat knowing I did the best I can do and the rest is in the judge's hands. Sitting at awards, waiting desperately as they call each team third, second, and first place goes to Carrollton high school! The drop of my stomach and the tears that ran down my face. I was so shocked all the fame and victory made all the hard work worth
October 25th, the day of the 2014 Beach District Cheerleading Competition and our chance to go to Regionals. I woke up that morning with a knot in my stomach because I knew our time had come. We worked so hard those past three months to perfect our routine; we knew we were ready to win. As we were in the waiting area for our team to get called, my heart was pounding in fear and excitement. While watching the other teams on the projector, which I would prefer not to do. In a cheerleading competition I worry if the performing team is perfect, because the competition is more serious. Just my luck, it's our turn to warm-up. At that point, I'm terrified, my body became numb. I hate when my body does that because I feel as if I would pass out. Our