Being A Cheerleader

I used to be a cheerleader. When I think of cheerleading I think of it as leading the students and players to win and try harder. Being a leader means to take responsibilities and lead the crowed in a positive way. When I was a cheerleader it meant so much to me to lead the crowd and other future cheerleaders and kids that look up to all of the current cheerleaders.

Everything was dark, black and quiet. Nothing felt right and when the flickering light at the end of the hall stopped and stayed lit I wanted to run. Slowly shadows grew on the floor and on the wall, people I knew appearing from the darkness. Zack the cheater, My hate filled mother, abusive father, my brother. Every person that causes me pain appeared even my once best friend Nikki who left me for the cheerleaders. I felt uncomfortable and was slowly suffocating from the blank looks and the little light that shined in the hall.

Amidst cheerleaders of all ages cheering and screaming, I heard a meek voice to the right of me, asking is I was a senior. When I told the young girl I was, she awed about wanting to have my leadership skills when she got to be my age. In this moment of chaos at the UCA Cheer Camp, I realized how my leadership skills have grown over the years of being a cheerleader. Every summer, I went to this cheer camp, where cheerleaders are trained to be leaders not just in school spirit, but in our everyday lives. I, too, had the expectation that I was a leader, but never really thought what made me a leader, until the shy cheerleader talked to me. Over my time at the camp, I was learning what qualities make an outstanding leader. I thought that the only

Getting the phone call that I had just been selected, as the cheer captain of my freshmen cheerleading team was probably one of my favorite high school memories. Cheerleading was something I actively participated in since I was in diapers. I guess you could say I loved being a cheerleader.

Cheerleading varies in many different ways. It could mean yelling, to intense physical activity for sports, audience entertainment, or just for competition. Although it doesn’t seem like it, cheerleading started as an all-male sport. Whereas now, most males think that it is a girls sport. In 1877, Princeton University had a “Princeton Cheer”. It was yelled by the students from the stands. It was also yelled by the baseball and football athletes themselves. Thomas Peebles, Princeton graduate, moved to Minnesota with the idea of organized crowds cheering at football games to the University of Minnesota.

The talent that I have obtained is pushing myself. I am always working hard and perfecting whatever it is that I have to do, and I have to make sure that I did everything to the best of my ability before the task is complete. Since I was young, I have wanted to be the best, and I have been obsessed with being great at everything. Every time I did something well, I told myself that I can do better.

Throughout my life, I have been fortunate enough to be able to participate in many different leadership positions. As a ninth grade cheerleader we decided to do something a little bit different with our position. Instead of it just being 14 girls, we wanted to incorporate the special needs students at our school. We got to include four amazing down syndrome students on our squad and gain four new friends. Whenever we were frustrated when our stunts weren't hitting or we couldn't pick up on choreography fast enough, they were always there smiling and showing us how much we have to be grateful for. Although there were many times that we had difficulty keeping things running smoothly, the rewards far surpassed the struggles and stress.

The crackling sound of my nose as a cheerleader’s elbow snapped the bones in half, I dashed into the locker room. Now you are probably wondering how this happened. Finishing a tiring day of school, I went strolling into the gym ready to start practice. While setting up the mats my coaches walked in with a positive attitude and a speaker ready to run our routine, preparing us for the next competition. After an exhausting practice of hard work, sweat, and tears we had the option of staying after to work on our tumbling. Me being the person I am, constantly stressing, I decided to stay after. Little did I know this tragedy would happen. A cheerleader asked me to spot her on a tumbling pass and, of course, I said yes because I want everyone to

The combination of academics, athletic activities, and extracurricular activities has played an enormous role on my own highschool experience. Now, I cannot say it was all butterlies and rainbows, but also seemed to torment my everyday life.

Competitive cheerleading is very demanding both physically but also mentally. Men and women have to pretty much put their life the hands of their team. When flyers on the team are being tossed into the air they have to trust their team to catch them and not drop them on their face. If hitting the ground wrong it could end your season in the sport or get security hurt. So people might say you could get hurt too bad you just have to get back up, brush it off, and start again. However like any fall it could be fatal it you hit the ground just right. Thank makes you think how many people do you know that you would be will to put your life in their hands. When competing at that level of cheerleading how could not call it a real sport. In Kettle

The New York Times have published that cheerleading is the fastest growing girls sport; however, more than half of the american population will argue that cheerleading is not a sport. When most people think of cheerleading they think of girls standing on the sidelines of a football game waving around pom poms and jumping highly off of school spirit, but those of whom believe that have trouble distinguishing between not only recreational and competitive cheerleading but the hard work and athleticism put into both. As defined by most a sport is something in which you compete in which to them concludes that cheerleading cannot and is not a sport. Although that may be the definition, Merriam-Webster dictionary states otherwise, that cheerleading

In the last ten years, cheerleading has grown so much. People are starting to recognize for what it is: a sport. Cheerleading can be harsh and tough but fun at the same time. In the routine there is a variety of things cheerleaders do in it. Usually people who are not familiar with cheer think it’s effortless to do a two minute and thirty second routine but in reality it’s a lot more. In cheerleading, the routine almost always consists of tumbling, dance, and stunts.

Everyone is or has been a part of at least one community. I personally am a part of a cheerleading community. There is a total of eighteen people in this community, five guys and thirteen girls. Cheerleading is a big deal in my family. All my grandparents, Aunts, and even my mother did cheer all four years in high school. However, I am the only one in my family that decided to pursue this sport in college.

My most important activity in middle school was competition cheerleading. I have moved twice since I was about 9 years old. The first one was when I moved to Utah with my mom. Around that age I was kind of awkward, I didn’t know how to make friends because I had been with the same people since Kindergarten and never had to try. Being on a competition team means the the people that are apart of the team have to trust each other, trust each other to help learn new things, to make sure that we don’t fall on our faces, and to stick together when things get complicated. I think that being on that team got me out of my shell and helped make me the person I am today.

This year (as I already said) I made the cheerleading team again. I was excited to be one of the “leaders” of the new team because the previous 8th graders went on to high school. After try-outs, many amazing new girls made it,