Case Study: The Grace Cheer Squad

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.

In the early 1990’s, All-Star teams emerged. These are cheerleading teams not associated with schools or sports leagues, whose main objective is to

One of the reasons that the DCC are so good is that more than 500 girls tryout.On the first day of tryouts in May, more than 500 women from all over the world, such as: New York, Miami, Australia, and Japan show up to audition. They arrive at the AT&T Stadium all hoping to become the next member of the DCC. Jerry Jones’ daughter, Charlotte Anderson, has been in charge of the tryouts since 1989 when her family bought the team and is very active in the selection of the team. Most cheerleaders have full-time jobs in addition to their cheerleading responsibilities. They definitely do not do this for the amount of money that they make. They are responsible for rehearsals, calendar shoots, guest appearances, or whatever the organization may require. Out of the more than 500 women who tryout, only 36-39 will be put on the final roster for the season.

Junior Varsity Cheerleading as a Freshman - I cheered for the junior varsity football and basketball teams and competed in three competitions during the year. (May 2014 - March 2015).

Tennessee football fans may be interested to learn that a former New Orleans Saints cheerleader is suing the team over gender discrimination. The complaint was filed with the assistance of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The students at CHS show morale in a variety of ways. The school’s cheerleaders sponsor and work with a group of girls with disabilities dubbed the Sparkle Cheer Team. Sparkle’s extra-special, young ladies show extraordinary courage by stepping out of their comfort zones and cheering on the sidelines. As they proudly chant, “Are You Proud to be a Cavalier?” fans show their full support toward their school.

Hard work and dedication pays off for athletes but goes unnoticed for cheerleaders. The hard work that is put in by cheerleaders needs to be recognized. Allowing cheerleaders to earn an athletic letter but not be a part of the Chillicothe High School (CHS) C Club, like the other athletic letter recipients, is being unjust to the cheerleaders. Cheerleaders should be able to be a part of the CHS C Club because cheerleaders are able to receive an athletic letter, dedicate personal time, and follow Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) regulations.

Cheerleaders stand out for their exuberant confidence; It takes someone special to be able to stand in front of a school and a community. The most important attribute to being a leader is confidence. Personally, I have struggled with anxiety for years, which does not exactly scream “cheerleader material”. Cheerleading has taught me how to be in front of crowds, be comfortable and be a leader, which will be necessary for my future as I head into a career in Sports Broadcasting. Anxiety has stopped me from joining clubs, going out in public and even from hanging out with friends.

The cameras were rolling. The stadium was brimming with thousands of people. As a scrawny eight-year-old, I was petrified, along with the other ten junior-peewee Pop Warner cheerleaders on my squad. The stench of sweat and cheer shoes surrounded us, although I barely sensed anything through my fear. I could almost feel the pressure building up around us; it was nerve-wracking. We had come this far, making it to nationals; now it was time to bring it on. After waiting in the back hall for what felt like hours, I finally hear the announcer call, “And next up in our Pop Warner Junior Peewee division is… the Kankakee Valley Kougars!” I, along with my diminutive team of eleven, ran onto the blue mat whooping and cheering. The booming music fills

Determination, teamwork and perseverance is what it all came down to. The biggest time of the year was approaching. Being in cheerleading means many sacrifices. The constant traveling, missing school events, staying till practice until 10pm and getting very little sleep, practicing 3-4 times a week with competitions on the weekend. Exhaustion overcame my body countless times. We have worked all year for these two competition days. The most important two days of my cheerleading career were just a few short days away.

My sophomore year I made the cheer team. I couldn’t explain how excited I was. It was

Heather attended Duke University after graduating high school and tried out for the university 's football team as a walk on kicker. She was the very first female to ever try out for the team. She did not make the team, instead becoming the team manager. The next spring she was allowed to condition with the team and was chosen by the seniors to play in an intra-squad scrimmage. During the game Heather kicked the winning field goal, a 28 yard field goal. After this the head football coach at Duke made the announcement that Heather, had indeed, made the team. She was listed on the team roster and pictured in the yearbook as part of the team. She was asked to give numerous interviews, including appearing on the Tonight Show (Sawyer).

During cheerleading practice, I was taught how to fly. At first we started with the standard prep cradles. Once my stunt group became familiar with these, I was taught how to do a full-down. A full-down is like a normal prep cradle for the bases of my stunt group except they needed to throw me higher so I could physically turn my entire body while still in the air falling. In order to succeed at doing a full-down I have to be completely concentrated and my mind had to have been on something else that day because I had no luck. I once was practicing full-downs and I came down too fast for my bases and back spot to catch me that my head smacked against the ground. There was nothing more embarrassing to me than having people watch me emotionally suffer because I letting it get to me. couldn’t figure out how to get my body to spin while I was in the air. After that, I felt like I couldn’t do anything right. I continued to mess up on stunts but no one could see that I was getting bothered by it. I was upset at myself for letting it get to me, but I couldn’t help it. Even after the most terrifying moment in my life, I’ll never forget the years following.

Hey guys! It's Parker again and this week in my blog, I am talking about the changes to come for the new season regarding cheer music mixes. So if you are a competitive cheerleading you probably are heard little floats of gossip, or comments about the new rule I am going to talk about. Many of you will not be happy, but it is not as horrible as you would think. In this case the All-Star Cheerleading Industry is not involved, it is strictly the copyright law. According to https://www.cheersounds.com/blog/all-star-music-changes/ they say, “The first point that must be acknowledged is that this industry (including the music producers, the gyms and the event companies) has rarely ever licensed music properly. The past reasons for infringement

Now every “I can’t” has turned into an “I can”. Before I started working with Eye of the Storm and Storm Chasers, I didn’t believe I could win a cheerleading championship. After the 2015 cheerleading worlds in April, I reached the lowest point in my cheerleading career. F5 experienced a terrible loss, dropping three stunts, causing us to lose the world championship. A new season has already begun and I have been pushing myself not only to be physically stronger for my team, but also as a senior, to be a stronger leader to my teammates. Eye of the storm has shown me that all my dreams are possible as long as I persevere through the struggles I face. I’m now certain that my cheerleading team, Maryland Twisters F5, will have all the spotlights shine on us as the announcer says “Your 2016 world champions are Maryland Twisters F5” at the 2016 cheerleading worlds.