When I was in middle school, I used to be a cheerleader (I was involved with it for five consecutive years!). I had the time of my life being a part of a team of girls who had the same passion as I did. For the record, cheerleading is tough. The amount of upper body strength it takes to jump in the air, "tumble" (back flip, back-walk-over, round-off, backhand spring, etc.), lift girls in the air, and still put a smile on your face is difficult. Cheerleaders do not just stand there and look pretty. There can be serious injuries involved that people do not think of when mentioning the subject of cheerleading in general. As I became more interested in singing, I made the decision to quit the cheer team and focus of using my voice in a different medium. I do not regret my decision entirely, but I do miss it.

The things I miss about cheerleading include hearing the cheer mix for the first time, going to competitions, getting ready for competitions, wearing my uniform at school and on the sidelines, and bonding with fellow teammates. To this day, I still listen to cheer mixes on YouTube because it reminds me of what my cheer routine would look like. Even though competitions were long and boring at times, I miss performing with a team. I miss waking up early and putting on makeup with my teammates. Though I do not miss spraying half of my mother's hairspray bottle on top of my head before competitions. I miss wearing my uniform during the school day because my team would promote a basketball game later on that evening. I remember when the other girls on my team thought the basketball players were cute yet I just thought they were normal guys who threw a basketball into a hoop. I miss performing during half time during football or basketball season.

What I miss most about cheerleading is the bond that we all had on our cheer squad. I was always shy and a tad awkward in middle school and always felt like I did not fit in with the other students in my grade. When I joined the cheer team, my confidence increased and I started to break out of my shell. I won't deny, some of the cheerleaders were bitchy or catty at times, but at the end of the day we were a team and we all had each other's back no matter what. As I get older, I miss this atmosphere more and more as I look back on my cheerleading days.