Cheerleading Stereotypes

Athlete by Nature, Cheerleader by Choice Ten years ago, if someone had told me that I would be a cheerleader at the collegiate level, I would most likely have laughed in their face. Now as I sit here getting ready for practice, I find it comical thinking about how I entered the world of cheerleading. Going into my freshman year of high school, my mother told me I had to try out for cheerleading. Naturally, I cried. There was no way I would be associated with the ditzy girls in short skirts with excessive amounts of makeup on. But as they say, mothers know best. Growing up, I participated in every sport imaginable; gymnastics, basketball, track, lacrosse, and even golf. Changing activities became familiar to me, as I would get bored quite quickly. After I had decided to take up cheerleading full time, I felt like I was downgrading. I felt I was too athletic for a sport that held so many “non-athletic” stereotypes. My theory was quickly proven wrong. …show more content…
Cheerleaders will most likely walk out of every practice with a new bruise, bump, or scar, and they will probably have no idea how it got there. This is my fifth year cheerleading, and I have already experienced three broken noses from being hit in the face, and two concussions from being fallen on. With that being said, cheerleading acquires a high level of mental toughness that most athletes will never achieve. People believe cheerleaders are stereotypical “girly-girls,” when we can take some of the hardest hits and be okay. We are trained to get over the pain and deal with it later. Cheerleaders never know what may happen in the middle of a routine, so unless the cheerleader is dying, they are considered