Personal Narrative: Cheer Athletics

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!

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

Right before a game, football players huddle up as a team and they get “hyped-up” to win. The coach of the team gives them a game plan and they follow it. This same thing applies for the cheerleaders right before they take the mat. Their “game plan” is the routine that a choreographer made for them. Coaches change the routine to make them win. Cheerleaders have to act as a team. (you build a bond with your teammates practicing so much together.) At competitions, all the cheerleaders match from bow to toe. Cheerleaders always encourage their teammates when they are discouraged or feel failure in not being able to complete a stunt.(they

The clarke central cheerleading team faced many obstacles this year,trying to root on their imperfect basketball team that had many flaws these cheerleaders were determined to make history of being the best cheerleading team in town

I refused to cheer too much because I know it would drive my focus away and it was best to stay humble. I reminded the offensive team this because it would be our hubris if we let our victories envelope our heads. By the end of the final quarter, we had won our game by only a 2-point conversion. The cannonade from my chest was still lunging towards the outside world. Throughout the game I feared failure, yet I overcame it. Realizing that my role was more influential than I known previously, I adapted to the pressure. I reflected on my own performance and knew I could do better. There was so much I could improve on and I was determined to be the

I cheered from 5th grade through my senior year yes believe me when I tell you it was hard, it had drama and everyone complained they wanted to quit at least once some did not me though. I was the person who always had extra everything and could tell what was wrong with a stunt without ever being able to do them myself. “The American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators is nonprofit educational organization that promotes cheerleading safety and education for their coaches” (cheerleading as a sport-AACCA). The U.S. Department of Civil Right Title IX this helps with discrimination in education and activities for both sexes the article was revised in April of 2015. “The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a membership driven organization dedicated to safe guarding the well-being of student athletes on the filed in school and in life” (About NCAA). The article I used above was written by Michelle Brutlag Hosick their associate director of public and media communications. ESPN Entertainment and Sports programing Network keeps up with all sports and up incoming sports. Lastly I used the TRC Arch Database Academic Search Elite under EBSCO Host for my source Education week and their source writer Bryan Toporek. The School I used as a reference Quinnipiac University in Connecticut manipulated the roster by deflating the men’s and inflating the women’s and they used to under report, so U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill thought they were getting

Many have seen her. Many know her. But who is the American cheerleader? Is she a blond haired, blue eyed sex symbol? Is she a drug-addicted girl with no brains and even fewer moral values? Maybe she is just your average, pretty, girl-next-door with a loud voice and lots of spirit. What is clearly true is that cheerleading and cheerleaders have evolved greatly over a century-long history. What started as one bold college student has turned into an activity with over 3 million participants (Brady 1); one that is backed by a $150 million industry (Williams 2). Modern cheerleading has come a long way from its historic roots, but large differences still exist between the iconic cheerleader, the stereotypical cheerleader, and the truth.

Do you know the risk and injuries that can occur while cheering? Cheerleading is not just tossing people in the air, flipping, and saying loud cheers, you have to have the techniques and talent to be a cheerleader. There are girls and also boys building three story pyramids and flipping one another in the air.

Cheerleading is one of the most demanding and dangerous sport there is. When you look up the definition of a sport in the dictionary, it says “physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively”. Cheerleaders compete at the Cheerleading World every year that is

Imagine winning a world competition for cheerleading. You deserve this. You and your team have been training and practicing for countless hours into days and nights. A few days later you are back in school, with nothing but pride on your face. Then you hear it.

Unlike football players we go out onto to the mat without any padding or protection. Football players use shoulders pads, knee pads, helmets, and much more safety equipment. Every time a cheerleader goes out to perform their mind is not only focused on hitting the routine but, also wondering what might happen to them. They know that within the next 2 minutes and 30 seconds they can walk off the mat with a smile on their face or with an injury. Football players do also get hurt but, when they do, they have protection, unlike cheerleaders. The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina reports that 65.2% of all catastrophic injuries in youth sports occur in competitive cheerleading. Football players lift a 15 ounce ball, whereas we cheerleaders lift human beings. We throw, catch, and lift mortals. Not only do we work just as hard or even more than football players but, we also aim for the same objective. In all sports, you clearly want to win. Winning makes everyone feel confident and makes them work harder to accomplish this. Not only does cheerleading require physical skill and talent but, it also requires dedication and

“But it’s not about pop-poms and skirts. We work really hard. If these girls are not athletes, I don’t know who is.” When cheerleaders compete they only have one chance to show they’ve got. “You have one performance, just one shot to make it the best you can.”

“Our members can train up to six hours during rehearsals where we take on cardio, conditioning, stunting, and gymnastics- and if i call extra rehearsals they never say no, they're all so dedicated (“Three Cheers For the Knights!” 1).” Some say Cheerleading is a hobby, not a sport. One may say this because cheerleaders cheer on the “true” sport, cheerleading is a element of looks, and no other “sports” take place on the sideline of other sports.

When you become a flyer, you have to perform some of those dangerous stunts. Being tossed and thrown into the air made Ladayah Robinson (10th) notice that courage and faith is needed to be a cheerleader.

You have two minutes and thirty seconds to galvanize a crowd. Two minutes and thirty seconds to show the fervor and fierceness you have for the sport. Many people don’t apprehend the reason I am a cheerleader, when we can’t even receive scholarships. I tell people it’s not about the money; it’s about the way I feel after those two minutes and thirty second routines. The feeling I get when I walk off the mat while making your body immobilized from the adrenaline rush and to know that you gave it your all is the best feeling in the world. Nothing feels better than the feeling of consummation that all your backbreaking work finally paid off. When you walk on the stage with your team one after the other there