McKenzy Espy
When I was eleven years old I made a decision that changed my life forever. Ever since I was three years old I did gymnastics and I loved it. My dream was to become really good and win the olympics and become a world medalist. But this dream quickly was changed. After my eleventh birthday, I was starting to realize I didn 't want to do gymnastics anymore. I told my mom and she was heartbroken but let me do what I wanted, so I quit. Once I quit I decided I wanted to try something else, cheerleading. My mom was thrilled and found a allstar gym in sumner called React.. She emailed the coach but I already missed tryouts. The coach said I could come to practice and see if they needed me and if I would like it. I instantly fell in love and wanted to join. The coach liked me and loved that I could tumble. I made the team that night and my life hasn 't been the same since.
Allstar cheerleading is completely different than gymnastics, and sideline cheerleading. Allstar cheer is closer to being like acrobats. “Competitive cheerleading is when cheer squads compete against each other at a competition. At a typical cheerleading competition, teams perform a 2 and a half minute routine with music that includes stunts, jumps, tumbling.” I
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Volleyball was the main sport I wanted to do. I also really wanted to try soccer and softball. I tried doing lacross one summer but had to quit right away because it was too much with cheer. I never got to experience the same thing kids did and I still don 't. I don 't get the same experiences as other teenagers. I can 't go to all the volleyball games or basketball games because I have practice. I can 't go out to concerts or do anything like that because, not only do I have no time I have to save as much money as I can. Allstar is expensive, and cost a lot for extra things. It cost about $10,000 total to do cheerleading and all the traveling
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
Being a cheerleader means setting an example. Cheerleaders conduct themselves in a respectable way and are very proud so that they can be good leaders on and off the sidelines. We are proud to represent our school and proud to be cheerleaders. We are the epitome of school spirit and we lead the other students in our school to be more spirited and show what it means so be enthusiastic in school. We lead the crowd and of course, we lead the cheering!
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.
To stay on the JMU cheer team or to quit was a very hard decision that I had to make this past month. Knowing I had leadership responsibilities as a third year veteran on the team made this decision extremely difficult for me. I had to consider all the parties involved which consisted of myself, my teammates, and my coaches. Several factors fell into play when deciding what was best not only myself but for my team as well. The first and most important factor I had to consider was my physical health as I have back problems that requires annual back procedures in order to be able to cheer. A relatively new factor in my decision making progress was the hiring of the new JMU cheer coach, which was extremely difficult for the upperclassmen to adjust to. My last few personal factors that played a role in my decision consisted of getting a job and focusing more on my school work. Next I had to consider what was best for the cheer team. I knew as an upperclassmen I needed to support the cheer program to help keep it strong and consistent during the coaching transition. This was hard to do when several other upper classmen were quitting the team due to this change. I also knew I had a responsibility to teach the incoming freshman new skills the same way the juniors and seniors taught me when I was a freshman. Not only did my team need me but I also took into consideration the contract I signed when making the team my freshman year. After taking everything into consideration
It all started freshman year of high school. I really wanted to get involved in some kind of sport or club. I couldn’t decide what to do. Many people said I should join the lacrosse team and my response was “I have never played before, how am I suppose to make the team”. I always had an interest in lacrosse however I was scared to go out and buy all the expensive equipment and not make the team.. I went home that night and asked my parents what I should do. My dad encouraged me to go out and try. He said it doesn’t hurt to try. That next morning of school, I raced to the athletic office and signed up for lacrosse, and when that bell rang after school I went to the lacrosse store nearest to me and bought all of the gear so that I could make the first tryout. The fist tryout was the day after I bought all of the gear.
Competitive cheerleading is where a team has exactly two minutes and thirty seconds to present a routine that incorporates jumping, stunting, tumbling, and dancing choreographed to music. Teams consist of anywhere from 5-36 boys and girls who compete against other teams that have a similar level of ability as well as number of athletes. Teams compete against other teams at a competition just like a match, meet, or game. Competitions can be at the regional, state, national, or world level (Yes, this means that there are competitive cheer teams all over the world). At the competition, experts use a point system to judge the routines based off the difficulty and execution of each skill performed (What is Competitive Cheerleading?). This type of judging is similar to that of gymnastics. There is then an awards ceremony where the judges total up the scor...
“Cheerleading involves skills which require the strength of football, the grace of dance, and the agility of gymnastics” (“Sport”). Many categorize competitive cheerleading as just an activity without any skill needed: there is nothing further from the truth! Competitive cheerleading is a sport that is dedicated to competition, fits the definition of a sport, and possesses a goal.
They would do very simple routines to make the crowed pumped up and they also just wanted to look pretty for the crowd but now it’s more far from that. A lot of things have changed, there are many types of cheerleading. People say that cheerleading cannot be a sport because the cheerleaders just want to show off their body and because anyone could dance in front of crowds and cheer them up but that is not true. It takes a lot to be a cheerleader, not everyone could do flips, gymnastics and all of the maneuvers that cheerleaders
Every sport has a strategy to win. On a competitive cheerleading team there is indeed is a way to keep score, therefore a way to win. There are many different score categories that make up a total score such as difficulty, style, tumbling, stunting, dancing, and sharpness of motions. When a squad messes up or makes mistakes, judges can deduct points from the overall score to make it known that a mistake occurred. This is similar to a foul or a flag on a play. There is a maximum amount of points that you can receive, but earning a perfect score is very hard to do. In the cheerleading world, the point system that can be so close and differ so little from other teams. Scores can differ as little as a tenth of a point to one hundred points or more. There is a winner and a loser just like sports that are classified as a sport or the ones that are competed on in the Olympics. Colleges are very biased when it comes to giving out scholarships and classifying cheerleading as a sport. It is very hard to attend college on a cheerleading scholarship. Most colleges make cheerleaders pay out of pocket for being on a cheerleading team. The college squads still compete for national titles and high school cheerleading teams still compete for state titles just like any other sports team would. It is all political when it comes to college sports due to the statistics of colleges and how the athletic department divides their money. Sports that are recognized as
Competition cheerleaders and school cheerleaders come from two different worlds with different goals and aspirations from their sports. In the world of competition cheer the members of the team work for hours and hours during the weeks for competitions on the weekends. At the competitions there is an abundant number of teams that are all in competition for the exact same goal, to get a bid for worlds. Worlds is the biggest cheer competition in the country and takes place in Walt Disney World every single year. More than 150 teams from 32 countries go to Disney World and compete to try to come out on top and win and get the trophy for their gym (Flocheer). They practice for hours on end for the biggest competition in the world to only compete for two and a half minutes in front of the biggest judges in the cheerleading business. Sideline cheerleaders practice during the week for hours all week and they put on their uniform every Friday night or every gameday to get to perform their practiced routine. Every gameday they get the chance to practice their main routines and sometimes they put on a half time show. Obviously, cheering during the halftime of a football game or a basketball is not the same as competing in front of the best judges in the country but it does give the cheerleaders a taste of what competition is like. Sideline cheerleaders get a chance to compete every week compared to competitive cheerleaders who only compete every once and
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
Especially in high school, you see and interact with many people on a day-to-day basis. Some are your close friends you know really well, while others you barely know. Therefore, one of the struggles of high school is getting to know people you don’t usually see outside of class. Having to interview Marissa Braddock, someone I don’t see outside of class, gave me an opportunity to learn new things about her. Being involved in multiple athletics, being extremely committed to family, and having dreams and aspirations to travel when she’s older reveals Marissa to be a very well rounded girl.
“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
Cheerleaders are usually referred to as dumb, skinny, and un-athletic. The most commonly known cheerleaders are scholastic cheerleaders, or cheerleaders that cheer for school functions. Girls that cheer for their schools are often ridiculed for wearing too much make-up, or being stuck up. A large number stereotypes are given to cheerleaders through movies. Several people say that the typical cheerleader is skinny, and un-intelligent. Not all cheerleaders have a specific image, they’re all unique. Cheerleaders can come in a multitude of different sizes and shapes. To be a cheerleader being skinny is not a requirement. An innumerable amount of schools have cheerleaders who are bigger, these cheerleaders are the base of the pyramid-literally. Not to mention most cheerleaders are actually smarter than everyone thinks. Many cheerleaders are placed in honors classes and in advanced placement classes. Another stereotype introduced to cheerleading is that boys can’t be cheerleaders, and if there is a boy cheerleader, he’s often called gay ("Omni Cheer Blog"). Uniquely, boys are the sole reason that cheerleaders exist. Boys invented cheerleading to raise awareness and support for sports teams. Likewise, not all cheerleaders prance around in a short skirt, like everyone thinks. There are athletes who take the sport seriously. As of right now the odds are against competitive cheerleading to be considered a sport. People and schools refuse to accept competitive cheerleading as a confirmed sport because the “new” sport will require new guidelines and rules ("Competitive Cheerleading
I decided that I wanted to play a sport, I chose volleyball. Most of my friends played the sport so it wasn't hard for me to adjust and make new friends. Becoming a student athlete was a big adjustment for me, I could no longer float through my classes but I need to excel. And that's exactly what I did. For the first time in my high school career I made not only honor roll, but principal’s honor roll. For the first time my mom was proud of my report card, that made me even more proud. From then on I knew I wanted nothing less than what I earned, good grades and a proud family. From my decision to chose to become a student athlete not only make me work harder but, be great at everything I put my mind to. I had motivation to stay successful, to stay eligible. Three years ago if you were to ask me where I thought I would be my senior year, I probably would have told you low level classes barely making it by. Now here I am today excelling in my education preparing to take the next step in my future, college. Even if we don’t understand why we go through them, we have to be willing to let our obstacles become out