There are many physically draining sports in this world. There is football, soccer, lacrosse and swimming just to name a few. These sports take a lot out of a person and ask that you maintain an active lifestyle to be good at the particular sport.
One sport that people often take as a joke is cheer leading. Just the other day I had a basketball player ask me, "Why do cheerleaders even need a scholarship? They don't do anything but scream and shout." Usually I probably would have been like, "I don't know man...." but given the fact that I have at that time been an official cheer leader for all of 3 weeks and already endured the severe mental and physical drain that the sport takes on a person I was quick to defend my new found sport.
Cheer leading is a fun sport and it is really great making a new family and friends that I will have for a lifetime but it is also a very trying sport. It is a lot for those who fly and for those who base. We have to be coordinated and have rhythm. These are two things I naturally lack. We also have to trust in each other and accept that sometimes we are going to get hit. I dare to say that cheer leaders get hit more often than football players. The difference is that their sport is based on getting tackled and ours is based on not making mistakes during our performance so our finished outcome is different.
The point of this article is to say that now that I am an actual cheer leader I am very proud to be one. Out of all the sports that I have played this is the most physically challenging one I have ever done and I respect each and everyone of my team mates especially the girls who have been doing this since the beginning of their lives.They are really amazing and I am so proud of them and it is really cool learning from them.
The best thing about cheer leading is that it teaches you to be responsible and makes you realize that you have to care for others. When you are holding a girl in the air your main concern isn't to not make a fool of yourself it is to not hurt that girl because that would make you the biggest jack ass in the wold. So that is what i focus on. I imagine it as one of my sisters in the air and I know I wouldn't drop them or hurt them so I try my damndest not to do it with one of my cheer leaders.
At practice I often say no pain no gain and that is what I live by. I have accepted sometime I am going to get hit I have accepted that sometime stuff is not going to go right but I know when we get it it we got it and that is the best feeling of all. So the next time you see a cheer leader high five him or her and tell them they are cool because they work hard to perform at sporting events and at their own competitions.
It is not just a sport where you dress up cute an scream and shout. It is actually very intense. But its worth it. I love cheering and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. HILL YEAH!
