Personal Narrative: My Gymnastics

During my elementary years, my second home was at the cheerleading gym. Each week, I would spend over sixteen hours in Shrewsbury, PA practicing with my cheer team for competitions. I was a member of Titanium Athletics, an allstar cheer team that trained to compete against other teams all over the country. Cheer was essentially my entire life for five years, and I had no idea how much my family and I would be impacted when I quit.

As a former gymnast, cheerleading was never something I planned on doing. In the gymnastics world, cheer was hated. Gymnasts everywhere claimed that cheerleading “stole” tumbling from us. So when I made the Junior Varsity team my freshman year, I expected the worst. Looking back, cheer has taught me more life lessons in the past four years than gymnastics ever did in the ten years I was a gymnast.

My passion for cheer started by the time i was three. I started as a cheer mascot and would tag along with my sisters team. I would mimic cheer moves that my sister would show me and follow her around to ask questions about her team and the sport. Once i was seven i was allowed on a team of my own, C-Squad. I went to practices daily and practiced on the trampoline till my mom would yell to me to come inside.

Once upon a time, there was a gymnast named Skyler, and she lived happily ever after. The end. Well, it’s a bit longer than that.

Throughout my life, I have always been told that motivation is what gets you going, but your heart is what keeps you going. It has only been three years since I have discovered my passion for cheerleading; however, it has formed me into the young adult I am today. Due to the numerous hours of hard work, willpower and persistence over these years, I have acquired the concept that my mind, body and soul can withstand almost anything. The idea that cheerleading is not a sport, tends to be an extremely moot topic in today’s society. To me, however, it doesn’t matter what other people think, if it’s something you love and enjoy then that all that counts. I appreciate all of the challenges that cheerleading presents to me. I have gained an extreme

Have you ever tried something to the best of your ability to just be unsuccessful? Throughout my whole life, I tried my best at everything. I started cheerleading in my freshmen year of high school, and continued throughout high school. Due to my cheerleading experience, I have overcome many challenges to get where I am today. Although my cheerleading experience was cut short, the three years that I did do it pushed me to become a better person.

Growing up, I was surrounded by the constant whirlwind of athletics. I rushed between softball games, swim meets, dance recitals, soccer games, and gymnastics performances. When I realized I couldn’t participate in all of these at once, I decided to focus on swimming, and for the next 10 years, spent 30+ hours a week in the water. As my team and I continued to grow, and train, so did our bodies. We endured pulled muscles, torn meniscuses, sprained ankles, and countless labrum tears. It wasn’t just them that suffered, but also their performance in the water.

Beginning this class I had taken some ballet before and had a good understanding of the basics even if I was not totally comfortable doing them. However, I still struggled with turning out at the hips, balancing on relevé, maintaining por de bra in an exercise, tilting my head when needed, keeping my neck long, engaging my core (especially when balancing), and using my plie in almost everything. While I was comfortable doing several other things, I know that ballet requires everything to be specifically engaged and that I could not slack in any part of my technique. Things like tilting my head, maintaining por de bra, and keeping my neck long, I am still getting used to but they are becoming more natural as I repeat them each week. It really

Have you ever had to audition for something that you have always wanted, and were scared out of your mind that all your hard work was for nothing? Well that’s how I felt this summer when I was auditioning for Claire this summer break.This summer break my summer my studio , Anderson Young Ballet Theater, has this thing we do called dance camp.

The fastest way for a performer’s career to end is with an unexpected injury. My freshman year I suffered patella luxation, more commonly known as the dislocation of the kneecap. I was in a full leg brace for a month and a half, and then participated in physical therapy over summer break until I was cleared to return to dance for my sophomore year. The time I had to spend recuperating forced me to explore other pathways associated with my art.

Falling short as an athlete is something that isn't acceptable. Making us as a group push to ack has been something that all through elementary school and middle school I enjoyed doing actually loved. As a highschool freshman this whole track thing really hit me hard. Like literally. The workouts are pretty intense, in meaning there a lot of sprinting endurance based making it hard. I didn't track pre season which really wasn't a help and our endurance for volleyball wasn't even to par then. So I was really coming into track season a blob of mess and fat. But I had a good heart and great intentions. Krumb our coach who also doubles as the boys football coach, which is totally insane by the way trains us like linebackers or something. I

I am not a very talented person, but I always try my hardest in everything that I do.  Ever since the day that I was 10 I have loved being involved in the sport of Gymnastics.  I don't know what I would do or who I would be if this sport would have never come into my life.  This sport has taught me so many life lessons that have made me a better person.  One of the things it has taught me is always trying my best, I have never been one to learn something quickly and be perfect at it but I will always try.  Another thing that it has taught me is to never give up, when doing gymnastics you always have times where you just want to quit because you can't do something but in the end all you have to do is trust in God and never give up.  In the last

The bystanders erupted from the stands as I burst past the line of scrimmage. I stiff arm a defender to the ground, and I watch as the safety advances to my position. I stutter my feet quickly, and he breaks down into a stance as he attempts to tackle me. I get out of my stutter and burst to my right, and he immediately follows. As he begins to get closer to me, I plant my right foot down, hard, and he hesitates. Bad mistake. As soon as he stops, I immediately translate into a sprint and I explode up field. The entire stadium shakes, and my ears almost pop as I storm down the sideline. I look behind me and the safety has given up on his chase, which is exactly as I expected. I glide into the endzone, and I toss the ball to the waiting referee, but not before I celebrate my 4th touchdown of the game with my teammates.

“Emily stop! There is something on your back and head. Wait, why is there blood dripping down your back!?”

My brain goes silent. I forget my problems, my issues, my struggles, and everything that makes me feel dead inside. Nothing gives me more hope and happiness, then running on floor to hanging on a bar. From the darkness inside comes a light that feels like an eternal flame that can never be extinguished. Nothing can stop me from feeling more alive. Starting gymnastics has been the best decision I have ever made and has made me the person I am today. With every move, every skill, and every moment, gymnastics makes me feel alive.