Cheerleading,

Thank you for giving me the persistence and patience I needed when it came to tumbling or stunting. No matter how many times I failed the times when I succeeded were worth it, because I never gave up.

Thank you for teaching me trust. Something a lot of us have problems with. Thank you for letting me have a trust with my flyer that was truly like no other. Whatever the new type of stunt was that we were trying out my flyer knew she could trust in me (her base) to keep her up in the air and to catch her if she fell.

Thank you for confidence. You taught me that even if I was unsure of my own abilities or of my team mates to continue to believe in myself and others. Even if warm-ups had been a total fail and none of my stunts hit, you taught me to continue to have confidence that on stage that we would do whatever it took to have a clean routine.

Thank you for my friends. Thank you for letting me find girls that were actually really nice. Of course, being in college now I rarely talk to most of them anymore, but thank you for bringing them into my life, and especially for the ones I do still hang out with. Thank you for letting me have had girls to share rental cars with when we traveled to competitions, girls to have shared a Cheersport blanket on competition days with, but most of all thank you for giving me friends that shared a passion for the same sport I did.

Thank you for letting me see that stereotypes are stupid and not always true. Most people think cheerleaders are the stereotypical dumb, blonde, and catty girls. Sure you might have a few every now and then that completely fit the stereotype, but for the most part that’s way off. You taught me to never judge based on looks, but to judge based on actions.

Thank you for letting me fall in love with a sport, and thank you for everything I learned while being in it.