Being A Cheerleader
Kaitlyn Woodward
Zane State
Mr. Wilcoxon
English 1500
Cheerleading is more than just dressing up in a skirt and trying to get all the jocks to like you. Many valuable lessons for me have resulted during my time as a cheerleader. Cheer has opened my eyes to many different things over the years. I have learned many different things for cheering for 2 years and till this day I am still learning more lessons about life through cheer. Cheerleading taught me how much dedication is a key to life. Everything we do causes frustration. There are many times I just want to give up and not return to something. Cheerleading showed me you just can’t do that. When the times get tough you just have to push yourself
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Cheering football season is hard especially when your team does not have a winning season. A positive attitude is key because when you work with others you cannot let one bad thing ruin your whole day. I can remember when we had lost a basketball game by 2 points. We all were so devastated but we could not show it on our faces because we are to make people happy. Also when we were at a football game and we lost to Shenandoah by 5 points, we couldn’t be upset because we had just played the best game ever. Keeping a positive is not always easy and it can be hard sometimes but it does not mean it is not impossible. Cheerleading forms relations among us girls. It creates a lifelong friendship. When I started cheerleading my freshman year I did not have a single friend on the team. I felt as if I was an outcast. By the summer of 2014 I had about 1 friends from the cheer team. Kendra and I became very close. We did everything together. At the end of football season I had made about another friend. Hannah and I did not really hang out outside of cheerleading. To this day I still keep in contact with both of them. Always keep a level head. This is an important lesson for me and I can use it outside of cheerleading. There was a girl on my team that thought she was better than everyone else. This hurt her in the long run because nobody ended up wanting to be friends with her. I can only imagine how she felt. You can use this lesson in everyday life. For example,
If everything was easy, then everyone could it and it wouldn’t be an accomplishment. Last year I joined an all-star cheerleading team, and that’s when I found out that this wasn’t going to easy that I have put myself out of my comfort zone. I was 17 years old and I was very shy, but I knew that you couldn’t do anything if you’re shy. Cheer was the best choice I had ever done by the second week of practice I was talking to everyone on the team they became my second family my coaches became so important to me they believed in every single one of us they pushed us to do our best and to never give up.
The competitive sport of cheerleading is not all about jumping up and down and yelling “Go team, go!”. It’s about using your strength to perform a variety of skills that form together to make a routine. These routines are performed by many teams to be judged during competitions. Practice is required to do well at competitions. In order to become a cheerleader, you need to have tumbling skills, endurance, and flexibility.
You have been training all summer. You have been in the weight room almost every day and wake up so sore you can barely walk. You give encouraging words to your teammates and pump them up right before a game. You are tough and fearless when you take the field. You strive to do your best and want to win. How would you feel if every time you took that field your peers didn’t believe in you and did not respect your sport? Cheerleaders go to the gym and work just as hard as other athletes do, and are not receiving any credit. This makes us frustrated and let down. There are many aspects of cheer that people are unaware of. Being a cheerleader, you have to be able to tumble, stunt, be competitive, have teamwork, and most of all dedication. Cheerleading is a sport because it is physically demanding, requires teamwork, and is very competitive.
One reason cheerleading is a sport because it is a physical activity.This web helps explain my reasoning about physical activity .You can find this web on https://cheerleading.about.comod/skillandabilities/a/031002.antm.Some cheer teams put in more hours and effort in the gym than teams such as football and basketball.Cheerleading not only shows you and teaches coordination it helps condition competitors,but it also helps you with sportsmanship ,leadership communication skills,organizational skills,productivity and much more.
While there are some aspects of dancing and gymnastics involved, the purpose is to cheer at sporting events, not to be an event itself. Although it is not a sport, it is worthy of praise on its merits as entertainment. Much thanks to cheerleaders, fans come to support their friends and school in the event of competitions.
The sport of cheerleading has been around for a long time; since 1884 in fact! In the beginning, cheer was a sport dominated by college men. Since, women have taken over, and in 1967 the first ranked college cheer competition was held. Both school and competitive cheerleading offer many rewarding opportunities. Though they are a part of the same sport, the two types of squads are actually quite diverse. School cheer is undeniably a worthwhile and respectable sport, but competitive teams often provide a more challenging approach, and are more suited to experienced cheerleaders.
Cheerleading has been extremely important to me. It has definitely impacted my life for the better. I have learned that nobody can change your desire and love for your passion. So many times my coaches or teammates doubted me, but I loved cheerleading so much and never gave up. I spent countless hours trying to improve my tumbling and skills. I went from the freshmen cheer team to the varsity cheer team my sophomore year. Nobody believed I could do it, but I was able to prove them wrong. I learned that it does not matter what negativity people throw at me, I mean so much more than that, and I should never give up.
Being a cheerleader to me isn’t just about cheering on the football or basketball team. Cheerleading is more than that. Cheerleading is a group of girls who have the passion and the trust with each other to catch them and trust that they will do their part. Cheerleading are being a family and not being able to have your own space. Priorities of cheerleading are; making your toes pointed, having a good attitude, making great facial expressions, and having those little girls that look up to you, have a great role model. These are just some reasons why I love to
“Modern cheerleading has evolved into a sport that is more akin to mixed martial arts, where legs and arms are constantly flailing and at any moment a participant is risking a violent shot to the head” (Cheerleading- the Forgotten Sport).
Cheerleading is a sport that many people don’t support in a way that they support the popular sports in most schools, like football and basketball. Cheering can open many doors and create an ample amount of job opportunities. By cheering you can also receive full ride athletic scholarships from many schools. A cute skirt and pompoms is not the only thing you have to work for when it comes to cheering. Just as any other sport you have to have a certain grade point average to try out for your cheerleading team and also you are held accountable for maintaining your grade point average with also being held accountable for remembering cheers, games day dates and events that you will have to attend with your team. Cheer teaches you many things other than being able to tumble and shout! As a cheerleader, you learn to encourage anyone that needs that boost of encouragement, we learn how to work together with other people. Your cheer team members will become your family!
What is a Cheerleader? A cheerleader is a confident, positive, and a helpful individual when it comes to community service. Being a cheerleader has taught me leadership qualities and that has not only helped me in the sport but also in school, work, and my self-esteem. They typical STEREOTYPE of a cheerleader is that they are mean, unfriendly, and stupid. When it came to my senior year I was given the name if Captain of the cheer team. I have set a level of BUREAUCRACY within the team and set rules and goals for the team to achieve and follow. At this time in my life I was help to a higher STATUS and given more responsibility. These girls started out as a SECONDARY GROUP when we first started out on the team together, but after years of being with one another everyday three hours a day- we quickly became like family. This transition from SECONDARY GROUP to a PRIMARY GROUP was the best thing to happen to me, I had a team of sisters. Our COALITION had a common goal, which was to bring excitement to our fans at footballs games, and bring championships home to our school at competitions. (TCO 4, 6, 8)
When I was a child, I believed that my most important goal for my young life was to one day become a varsity cheerleader for my local high school. Nine years later, the day I became a varsity cheerleader, I made a promise to myself that I would never do anything to jeopardize my personal image or the image of my team because I knew that young cheerleaders were always looking to be just like the varsity cheerleaders, and also like myself. This aspiration of mine encouraged my volunteer involvement with the the local recreation department in my county that coordinates youth cheerleaders during each fall football season.
When most people think of cheerleading, they think of the spirit squads that attempt to pump up the local crowd at high school basketball and football games. People are not aware of what these athletes are doing when they are not in front of these crowds. Strangers to cheerleaders who do not follow the sport extensively do not know the exact involvement of the athletes in this sport, at all ages. Cheerleading requires athleticism like all other sports as you must be in shape and at a great fitness level to be involved in most circumstances. Cheerleaders have to know what they’re doing at all times; while knowing what everyone else on the team is doing as well, which involves a high level of mental preparation. Cheerleading, high school or
Becoming a cheerleader at such a young age, being on the cheer mat became a happy place for me. I spent thirteen out of my eighteen years of my life cheerleading and it is definitely something that means a lot to me. Being on the cheer mat whether at practice or at competition has taught me many life lessons that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Having such caring and dedicated coaches made my experience so special and unique. My passion for cheerleading shows tremendously as soon as I step on the mat, and learning many life lessons from cheer has shaped me into the person I am today.
From an outsiders perspective one may see brainless and beautiful robots, which scream and perform neat tricks. This is not the case from the inside; cheerleading is so much more than that. Many people are under the impression that cheerleading is not a sport. I am the voice of reasoning that will let you in, and I will show you that cheerleading, in fact, is a sport. Cheerleading requires much physical demand from the body just as any other sport would. Cheerleading, in general, is a team effort. There are many sides to cheerleading, which make it a versatile sport. When it comes to cheerleading there’s more to it than what meets the eye.