For starters, one must understand that being an athlete is not easy. It takes passion, dedication, discipline, patience, tolerance, time management, and optimism in the toughest of losses. If you are an athlete, you know exactly what I am talking about.
Some people may not consider all-star cheerleading and dance to be sports or associate them with “athletes” per say, and that is OK. You don’t have to agree with me.
I am simply going to state that for me, it has been the one sport unlike any other that has transformed me into who I am today, influenced what I have done up until this point and encouraged me how to live my life in the best way possible.
From the friends I've made, the skills I have gained, the atmosphere's I have been a part of and the mentors who have challenged me to my fullest extent, I couldn't think of anything else that would have prepared me for who I am now.
I've been dancing since I was three-years-old. I started in a ballet studio, began all-star cheer in my family’s own gym, started all-star dance when I was about nine or ten and continued my cheer and dance career throughout two more all-star programs when my family shut ours down.
I stopped doing cheer when I was 16 because I wanted to focus more on dance and school. I even debated on collegiate dance when I was a senior in high school and then decided to pursue it here, at the University of Kentucky.
Even after 16 years of the same sport day in and day out— getting the same bruises, sore muscles, aching joints, extraneous pain that came with every step up a staircase after a 12-hour practice, jet-lag from traveling, and a maximum capacity of mental and physical frustration— I am still dancing.
Why?
Because I realized that dancing has taught me that I CAN and I WILL.
The passion I felt every time I stepped foot on stage to perform, I am able to apply to the program I am in at UK.
The patience I gained from the teammates and coaches I just couldn’t stand at the time, I have applied to the helping skills I have learned to exercise in my personal relationships.
The time management I gained from balancing school, practices, competitions, and more, I have applied throughout my entire academic career.
The discipline I have gained from the endless amount of rights and wrongs I endured in my progression of dancing, I have applied to those I teach now.
And the optimistic perspective I gained from any loss I have been a part of, dance or personal, I have applied to my ability to wake up every day and say “I can do this.”
Dance may not be a sport to some people and that is totally fine. But, what is your definition of a sport?
There is no right or wrong to the question. It is simply a chance to take a step back and ask yourself that all that you do for the sport you participate in— baseball, basketball, softball, football, whatever it may be— do you not share the same trial and tribulations I have already expressed? I know you do and I see it every day.
The softball player in my eight AM that struggled to get up from the tough loss against Alabama but was one of the first ones in the class anyway. The swimmer from last semester that came straight to class from an open practice in the middle of the day, hair drenched from the chlorine. The basketball players that I pass on my way to six AM practices as they head to theirs.
You all are noticed. I see that your sport has done for you what mine has done for me — it has made you, you.
I have considered myself an athlete just like anyone else and I have been one almost my entire life and I can tell you with a whole heart, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Amongst many other factors in my life, I thank dance as my most influential because of who I am today.
Therefore I say, athletes of all dimensions, you may not recognize it yourself, but your growth as a competitor creates an even greater growth as a person. Embrace the progression and strive to wake up every day saying “I can do this.”
