As a former cheerleader of 14 years, I feel the sport and industry has shaped me into who I am today. Through broken bones and crippling mental blocks, six-hour practices in no air conditioning, this sport taught me perseverance, bravery, and courage. Cheerleading is one of the only sports that has an age gap. The average person's career ends after high school, a few continue on to college, and if you’re lucky, you can continue in the All-Star competitions in certain divisions. But typically, injuries and finding your career and ‘real life’ get in the way of that.

Even if you go on to become a coach, the days of performing and keeping up your skills eventually comes to an end. Knowing that the day it’s all over will come really makes you take everything in while you’re still in it. I still remember the last time I stood on the sideline at a football game, celebrating a touchdown with feet in my hands above my head. For the past three years without cheerleading, I’ve come to realize it not only made me who I am, but taught me important life lessons I will carry with me forever.

Watch your mouth.

When cheering at a game, a little girl comes up to you dressed in a uniform in your school colors to say hi and take a picture. So you do it. But she doesn’t know that you were just complaining to your friend about something that went wrong during half time, and you’re glad the little girl didn’t hear you complaining. She probably aspires to be you one day. —— Imagine you get a new job and you’re telling your friends that you’re not excited to work there while at dinner one night. What you don’t know is your new boss is sitting right behind you, hearing everything your saying. When you go into your first day, you might regret everything you said because all though you’re not excited, you at least had a job. You never know who is listening.

It’s okay to fail.

It’s not fun. Your ego takes hit too. You’ll rerun the moment everything went wrong in your mind for a while. But that’s the good part. Figure out what not to do, and learn from your mistakes.

Take care of yourself. (and your injuries)

I. Only you know how you feel. Physically and emotionally. No one else is going to know. Remember that one time you didn’t tell your coaches you had the flu? Well they found out when you got to the jump section and threw up all over everyone. Then, they didn’t feel bad for you. They were just pissed off.

II. Don’t wait six years to address your injuries because you’ll end up having multiple surgeries to fix it due to the damage you inflicted on yourself in order to push through. While determination is typically a great quality, when it comes to your health watch out. It’s not worth it, trust me.

III. SLEEP, DRINK WATER, and treat your body well.

Everything good comes to an end.

No one wants to think about something they enjoy no longer being a part of them. As humans, we fear loss. But in reality, we can’t. Loss is our reality; Just like people pass away, you have a bad break up, or lose your favorite pair of leggings. That is life. It goes on.

I will forever miss teased hair, big bows, and bright lipstick. I will forever miss finally hitting that skill or stunt we tried forever to get successfully. I will forever miss making ridiculous facial expressions to a giant crowd while they chant along with you. I will forever miss getting a front row seat to football and basketball games. But eventually, you have to put your shoes on the shelf. It's okay to miss something. That it means you truly loved the time you had with it.

When your time is over and you don't have the best seat in the house anymore, you get the opportunity to make other little girls and boys dreams come true. If you choose to take the chance to do so, tell all the stories you have and make their time cheerleading as fun as yours was.