"5, 6, 7, 8!" These are the numbers I constantly repeat in my sleep. Growing up, I had tried my share of sports. I played basketball, soccer, golf, and I even tried field hockey. The one sport no one expected me to try out for in high school was cheerleading. I was a "tomboy" as a kid, and when I told my family I wanted to try out for the cheer team, they were just as shocked as my friends were.
I remember trying out for my first time as if it were yesterday. I learned a dance, a cheer, and a jump sequence. I thought it was somewhat difficult to learn so much in two days, but I liked the challenge and I enjoyed learning all of this. Next thing I knew, I had made the team. I would be a competition cheerleader, and I would be a flyer next to my future best friend.
Most of us were in the same boat this season. We were learning the basics of cheerleading. Most of us had never cheered a day in our lives. This caused so many problems my first year of cheerleading. Those who knew cheerleading were frustrated because the majority of us did not know what we were doing, and us new cheerleaders were frustrated because it was not easy to catch on so fast seeing as this was all brand new to us. We were not very good when it came to our first competition, but this meant that we only had room to grow.
Over the next few years, my coach had taught me everything I know about cheerleading. The team all became a family. I had made a group of friends that I've never been closer to. We grew together. Eventually, as a team, we raised money for new uniforms, new pompoms, and a new cheer mat! We became a family and turned our reputation around as a team. We went from being at the bottom, last place, to being the team to beat. While we cheered on the football team, hockey team, and basketball team, we also cheered on ourselves. We found motivation to be the best that we could be and became a great team and earned the respect of other teams and our school.
Being a cheerleader didn't mean standing on the sidelines and cheering for the football team. It didn't mean being able to do cool tricks. Cheerleading to me meant starting from the bottom, creating a family, and growing together. I made friends that I will never forget, became close with just about everyone on the team and had a fantastic coach. Cheer helped me realize that it is not an easy sport and not everyone will support what cheerleading is. Cheerleaders have to prove themselves to gain respect.
