I spent half my life cheerleading, and to be completely honest, I wouldn't trade one second of it. Despite injuries and hardships, this sport will always hold a special place in my heart because of the invaluable lessons it taught me. My experience with cheerleading taught me about myself and the world. If you find something you love, I advise you to pursue it wholeheartedly because you never know exactly what you might gain from it.
1. Fake it 'till you make it.
One of the most important parts of cheerleading is pretending to know what you're doing. It is incredibly common for routines to be reworked, rearranged and for changes to be made. We don't always remember to snap on three instead of four, but if you hit your motions with the confidence that you're doing it right, the audience will believe that too, right?
2. Faith over fear.
Many of the stunts attempted in cheerleading can be, if not dangerous, daunting. I can think of more than one occasion when I thought, "You want me to do what?" It's nerve-wracking to allow a group of teenage girls to lift you 10 feet into the air. However, it teaches you how to trust people. It's hard to open ourselves up to trusting other people, but I promise you it gets easier with practice and it's one of the most worthwhile skills you can learn.
3. Falling doesn't mean failing.
Sometimes you fall. Sometimes you fall, a lot. Falling doesn't mean failing, I've been to many competitions where a stunt falls and the team still takes first place. Life is like that, too. You make mistakes, but these mistakes don't affect the value of the hard work you've put in along the way. When we fall, we are merely presented with the opportunity to get back up. When we fall, we learn from our mistakes and grow to be better than we could've been before.
4. Never stop smiling.
Your legs may feel like they're going to fall off if you throw another handspring or toe touch, but you smile through the pain. That's because cheerleading is about enjoyment, both your own enjoyment, and that of the crowd. A smile is part of the uniform, but the more you wear it, the more genuine it becomes.
5. It's ok to take pride in yourself.
It's OK to wear a lot of makeup. It's OK to spend hours doing your hair. It doesn't make you a "try hard" or full of yourself, it just means you spend time on yourself. Part of cheerleading is putting on a full face of makeup and poofing your hair. Not many sports teams do their makeup together in the bathroom, but that shouldn't take anything away from the sport. It's OK to spend time on yourself and it's OK to be you.
6. Making sacrifices for the things you love.
Cheerleading requires a certain amount of time commitment. Just like any varsity team, a cheerleading team should be practicing three to five times a week. Even when you don't have practice, it's often encouraged that you attend an open tumble class in order to further progress that skill you've been working on. Practice can come before other activities such as after school hangouts, homework and sometimes even sleep. The commitment is well worth it though because it teaches you the value of putting in the effort for the things you care about.
7. How to handle anxiety.
It's not easy to get up and perform in front of people. It's especially not easy to flip, jump and stunt in front of more than 100 people. Even the most extroverted person can find this task a bit daunting. You have two minutes and 30 seconds to execute everything you've been working on for months and one shot to do it. It's important to keep your nerves in check in order to present the best performance possible. The best way to do this is to realize that it's OK to be nervous; it's actually a natural reaction. Everyone else might not show it but they're just as nervous as you are. Take deep breaths and realize that a little bit of anxiety is normal, if not helpful, to keep you on your game.
8. No pain, no gain.
Conditioning again? No one likes conditioning but it's essential to being a well rounded athlete. An athlete who is in shape is an athlete who will perform better, no matter what sport they happen to play. Cheerleading has shown me the value of having a work ethic. What you put into things is what you get out of them and that applies off the mat as well.
9. The importance of Queen B.
Every once in awhile, everyone needs to channel their inner Beyonce and no one knows that better than a cheerleader. Beyonce is the fiercest woman out there and a great role model for girls. Her confidence is contagious and her dancing is phenomenal. Beyonce is the perfect blend of confidence, fierce dancing and all around bad-assery.
10. You're too legit to quit.
This last one was a line from one of my cheer mixes freshman year of high school, but it stuck with me. It's about putting away any feelings of self-doubt and believing in yourself. At the end of the day, it's important to realize who you are and how far you've come.
