Personal Narrative: My Cheerleading Team

It felt as if everyone was against me, even the cheerleaders on the team weren’t my friends. In the middle of high school, I only had a few friends left who didn’t judge me for being a cheerleader. But because majority of the girls would involve themselves in a bad situation outside of school everyone assumed I was involved too. I would never put myself in a situation where people were doing something I don’t. A lot of the cheerleader’s would underage drink on the weekends and tried peer pressuring me into doing it to. Because I wouldn’t do it they shut me out and wouldn’t talk to me. It felt like I didn’t exist. Each time cheerleaders were involved in something they shouldn’t be doing the whole school would find out and judge me along with them because I’m on the

In hindsight, I have come a long way since my first day of band. There have been many friends, many failures, many victories, and many beautiful moments in the wake of my fateful decision in sixth grade. I can say without a doubt that being in band has strengthened my integrity and provided me with memories that I will cherish throughout the remainder of my

Hi, I am Arabella, a junior in high school and a varsity cheerleader at Siesta Key High School. I am four feet and eight inches tall and a flyer on the cheer team. I often dress like a nerd, and do not care what other people think. I am dating the star football player at SKHS his name is Tom. Tom was not only a star football player, but he is also very good at soccer, basketball, baseball and volleyball. He is a liar and a cheater too. Anyways, people just call me Bella. I love sports and love spending my days off at the beach. I especially love Major League Baseball; Tampa Bay Devil Rays is my favorite team. I am a happy person most of the time. Who’s dedicated to my cheerleading career; and I want to get a scholarship for Northwestern

When I was 9 years old, I started this thing called competitive or all-star cheerleading. My goal at the time was to make it on a level 5 team and compete at the World Championship. Within my first 5 seasons I had a lot of trouble with my tumbling, which prevented me from moving past level 4. Before my sixth season I switched cheer gyms. My parents believed in my goals so much that they drove me an hour and half to and from practice two to three times a week. Within my first year at Tribe which was my new gym, my tumbling issues never got resolved. That left me on a level 3 team where I never believed I was good enough. The next year I was again put on a level 3 team. Now in my eighth season I was put on a level 3 team yet again. I wanted to quit, but my coach showed me that tumbling did not define me and allowed me to fall in love with the sport all over again.

Cheer Athletics in Plano is one of the most prestigious competition gyms in the country. There are other Cheer Athletics’ branches in other places like Frisco and Austin, but not one is as successful as Plano. It is the absolute best place to go for a serious cheerleader. The best and most experienced coaches work there and they are hungry to win. They expect every ounce of energy and athleticism to be left on the floor when we are finished performing. I have never had any problems with an authority figure until I started at Cheer Athletics.

I believe joining my high school lacrosse team was an influential part of my high school career. Having social anxiety, it was not always easy for me to be around others kids. Joining the team thought me to face my fears and that sometimes it is better to stop thinking and just take that “leap” into whatever you're afraid of. Secondly I learned to push through challenging times even when I wanted to quit. Lacrosse also allowed me to meet people who I would come to look up to, and cause me to want to improve myself for the better.

“Heyboer, you’re at first. Head on out there.” As my coach said that, my nerves started rushing up my back. I was at Bicentennial park with my dad and my softball team for our last softball game of the summer. I was so nervous. Tension grew and my heart was about to burst out of my chest.

For the most part, I didn’t enjoy the early stages of marching band. The practices were long, and without any friends to interact with, the length of those practices intensified. Marching band became tiresome and boring. I wasn’t having fun, and I considered quitting after

In my life I feel like I've been very successful, whether I was playing sports or working hard for school. When I regress to my glory days during middle school, I feel very euphoric, almost as if I was boasting to a group of my friends. I look back and see myself as if I was practically infallible. I remember how my attendance was merely perfect up until the first time I had gotten strep throat at the end of my 7th grade year.Or how my pop warner football team went 9-0 for the season, winning the championships of the Big Island.

Ever since I was seven years old playing t-ball I dreamed of playing high school softball. Every year I waited not so patiently for the season to start. My junior year in high school I was the second basemen for my school softball team. That year my team and I were more determined than ever to get our team to the state finals. Before the state tournament we had to win conference, sectionals, and super sectionals. My junior year my team and I had our hearts set on being the first team in Somonauk history to ever win to the state championship.

Summer band wasn’t easy but it did teach us lessons such as discipline, teamwork, resilience, and time management. Being in band is commitment all year round and through that commitment you are taught skills other people aren’t exposed to. Learning how to adapt to others is a skill you need to survive in a band. There are 200+ people in a lot of high school marching bands, which means over 200 different characters you have to work with no matter any difference. With most of us coming from different backgrounds of course there are going to be differences. Two years prior to high school there was a school split between and I lived on the edge of the zoning border. I lost most of my friends the following year and thought I would be by myself all throughout high school. When I joined band I knew that wasn’t going to be the case. The band was essentially my family and my directors were my parents. My school had a large band population so I never had a class without at least two other band kids. Also, the band kids were considered to be the smarter kids and since we all took Per-AP/AP classes we all had classes together. You couldn’t separate us because it was just that strong of a bond. Band on top of that was all

Fifth grade was intimidating, it was where all four elementary schools combined. Fifth grade was also when you could start band. I had taken piano lessons in the third grade and had loved learning to play an instrument so I was extremely excited to join band. I was particularly looking forward to being able to play another instrument. I had no idea what to play, my mother had hoped I would choose the drums instead I had defied her wishes and picked the clarinet. I had two reasons for picking the clarinet, the first reason being I thought it looked really cool and decided I wanted to learn to play it. The second reason was based on the suggestion of Stephenie, our original plan had been to play the cello together but at the last moment she decided to play the flute. It was after this shift in instruments she suggested I play clarinet so we could play across from each other. Without any sort of idea as to what

Although it isit's very typical one might say that they belong in a sport, especially cheerleading, it's what makes me different because of all the experiences I’ve gone through and learned from while in the sport. Like most young adults, I never really had much self-esteem and confidence in myself so I thought that cheerleading could boost that up. I dedicated most of my high school career in this sport in the hopes of me transitioning into a confident woman. However, I didn't only learn how to be confident, I also learned how to take the initiative and speak up for what I believe in. Cheerleading distinguishes me from my peers because of the woman I then became, I was more loud and proud kind of a girl. In my school, cheerleading is the most

​In the fifth grade, I was introduced to my district's band program. The moment I was shown the instruments and allowed to take one home has changed me over the years. I along with the other students, my peers and friends, experienced the trouble of learning a brand new thing, an instrument. I was given the task of just playing one note and holding it for a certain duration. For the next few days the tasks assigned to me increased in difficulty, as well as how I should structure my schedule around practicing my instrument and school work. Then, from fifth to sixth grade my middle school experience separated the wheat from the chaff. This small transition of just one year showed a willingness or commitment to what I and my peers, my friends

This year I was captain of the varsity cheerleading squad at my school. We trained through the summer and trained to do extensive strength and cardio training to prepare for the difficult stunts and tumbling needed throughout a routine. We began choreographing our routine in July. Our first competition was in November, but we needed to prepare for football games. So, during July and August, we really buckled down to learn cheers and the beginning of our routine to perform during halftime of the homecoming game. I prepared a cheer video consisting of twenty cheers for the girls to learn for football. They were able to learn the cheers online and then perfect them together, and it took up much less valuable practice time that we needed for our