How To Become A Cheerleader

Ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted to be a cheerleader. The glitter, pom-poms, and how pretty they always were made me want to be a part of that world some day. My junior year of high school, I prepared myself to try out to be a part of the 2015-2016 Hazen Cheer team. To say that I was nervous would be a complete understatement, because I was scared out of my mind. I wanted to keep it on the down low and I only told two of my closest friends. I knew that if I didn’t make the team I didn’t want to make it a big deal, and I just had to keep moving forward. However, i’m thankful that I pushed myself a month before tryouts happened so I was well-prepared. I stretched twice a day every day for 15-20 minutes and read tons of articles on …show more content…
People fail to see that you’re more than your uniform and a bow in your hair. A lot of my friends who aren’t on cheer or have never done it always like to joke about whether or not it’s a sport. Cheer is one of the most dangerous activities because of the amount of stunting involved. Girls are constantly being thrown in the air and if you don’t have people that are there to catch you, or will not catch you correctly, the injuries can be life-threatening. In my case, I just got a concussion when i was spotting a flyer. Or, they like to belittle my tiredness and how exhausted I am at the end of a long day. I asked one of my friends what they think of when they think of cheerleading, and I’m not surprised with their responses. The first friend I asked said that he thinks of blonde girls with high voices pepping up a huge crowd of high schoolers. He says that they do “crazy ass lifts” which I thought was funny and flattering. My other friend wasn’t as detailed but said that he just thinks of girls that go to public sporting events that are supportive and positive. I mean, that’s basically what we do and our purpose. My Coach makes it clear to us that we should not be wearing our full uniform at places outside the purpose of cheering. That means, not going out and about with full uni because it may put yourself and others in a dangerous situation. It’s in our constitution, and that constitution is heavily followed. Usually …show more content…
Do you think of a bunch of girls who just shake their pom-poms at football and basketball games that yell a couple of chants? Although that statement is true, being a part of the cheer culture is something you can’t say you know about unless you’ve been on the team. That may sound elitist, but how can you judge something without trying it? Cheer hasn’t always been under the best light, especially with cheerleaders almost always playing the ditzy, bitchy role in most movies. I asked my team what are some of the disadvantages and advantages of being a part of the team, and I can’t say that I was surprised with their responses. Everyone on this team has faced some sort of disadvantage of holding the Hazen Cheer title. For example, my teammate Kaleb said that guys are automatically considered gay for taking part in cheerleading. My other teammate Shaniah (Who is also one of my closest friends and 911) said battling the stereotypes that most people see in movies and on tv shows is an annoying disadvantage. Over and over again, people base what they see on those shows or movies to real life cheerleading, and it’s simple far from the truth. My teammates also agreed on the fact that a lot of people if not everybody expects you to be in a cheery mood all the time. It’s as if we can’t have our bad days because we’re ambassadors of the school and we’re supposed to keep a pristine image of our school (while true, we slip up at times).