It is 3:30 in Wichita Kansas. My last class just ended and I am currently changing to go to cheerleading practice. I attend Heights High School which is not a school that is familiar with mediocracy. Almost every sports team including basketball (men’s and women’s), football, wrestling, and even bowling at Heights High School had been winning state championships so of course our cheerleaders could not be any different. Heights high school cheerleader had been known around the city for being exceptionally good. We have always had the best cheers, dances, and stunts. Our cheerleaders generally spent years before high school participating in competitive cheerleading. Competitive cheer taught girls many advanced things such as tumbling or gymnastic
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This is the most important element of a cheerleading practice because it preps and sets the tone for the rest of the practice. First, in one of our weekly practices we started out with stretching. Stretching is important because it makes muscles more flexible and prevents injuries such as muscle tears and also causes high jumps. We would stretch all of our leg muscles by sitting on the ground in a straddle position (legs as far apart as possible) and reach over to touch our toes one foot at a time and hold for ten seconds while breathing deeply. Then reach out in front between our les as far as we could make our chest touch the ground. Next we would run around the hallways a couple of times as a form of conditioning and to continue to warm up muscles. Lastly on some days we would practice our jumps. Cheer jumps are a fancy position cheerleaders are in when they jump into the air. This is typically done during and after cheers and during dances. The most popular jumps are toe touches, herkies, and combination jumps. Toe touches happen when someone jumps in the air and positions their legs straight out parallel to the floor like in a sitting position. Their toes are pointed and back is positioned straight up. The arms are spread in front parallel to the legs. A herkie is similar to a toe touch except one leg in bended back at the knee and one leg is straight out. And one arm is positioned straight out over the straight leg and the other hand is rested on the hip with the arm
This is the most important element of a cheerleading practice because it preps and sets the tone for the rest of the practice. First, in one of our weekly practices we started out with stretching. Stretching is important because it makes muscles more flexible and prevents injuries such as muscle tears and also causes high jumps. We would stretch all of our leg muscles by sitting on the ground in a straddle position (legs as far apart as possible) and reach over to touch our toes one foot at a time and hold for ten seconds while breathing deeply. Then reach out in front between our les as far as we could make our chest touch the ground. Next we would run around the hallways a couple of times as a form of conditioning and to continue to warm up muscles. Lastly on some days we would practice our jumps. Cheer jumps are a fancy position cheerleaders are in when they jump into the air. This is typically done during and after cheers and during dances. The most popular jumps are toe touches, herkies, and combination jumps. Toe touches happen when someone jumps in the air and positions their legs straight out parallel to the floor like in a sitting position. Their toes are pointed and back is positioned straight up. The arms are spread in front parallel to the legs. A herkie is similar to a toe touch except one leg in bended back at the knee and one leg is straight out. And one arm is positioned straight out over the straight leg and the other hand is rested on the hip with the arm