I was in sixth grade at the time. Cheerleading was offered in my middle school as a type of activity. Many of my friends were going to try out for the different teams so I thought, why not me? The closest thing I had done to Cheerleading up until that point was a year of dance when I was three. I could not even do a cartwheel. Despite my lack of experience, I made the highest team I could without having cheered before. Thus began my Cheerleading career.

From that point on, I enjoyed all of my time when I cheered. Little did I know my passion would only grow for the sport. The next year, seventh grade, my mom and I started to look for an all-star gym where I could cheer. Many people do not believe it, but comparing school cheer to all-star cheer is like comparing golf to basketball. They have many differences including rules, levels, uniforms, music, competitions vs. sport games, and more. I was aware of this, but nothing could prepare me for how different they really are.

Needless to say, we found a gym that was only about ten minutes from me. I immediately was accepted and put onto a Junior 2 team (junior age, level 2). It opened my eyes to the sport and showed me how much I truly enjoyed it. Every time I was able to try a new skill my heart leaped from my chest in pure joy and excitement. I quickly advanced in my tumbling, flexibility, and stunting ability. In cheer, I am what is known as a flyer. To put it simply, I am the one they hold up and throw into the air.

My first competition, I was a wreck. My fingers trembled, my heart pounded, and I thought my legs would turn to jelly. Regardless of my fears, when I stepped onto that blue mat, I was ready. Once that music turns on my body goes into autopilot. There are no thoughts except the music and the counts in my head. You are able to hear the screaming families and friends, and see the bright lights blurring your vision, but none of it matters. Since that year, I have continued my cheer career. I stayed with that gym for three years, and in my third year, I also cheered for my high school where I was on Varsity for two years. That second year with high school I did not do all-star because I thought I would benefit more with my high school team. Boy was I wrong.

That year I was put into a stunt group that I loved, except for one of my bases. In practice, we thrived and succeeded greatly with our stunts, but competition was another thing. Every competition, my base would get “tired” and would not put forth the effort required for our stunts to stay in the air, and every competition, we would fall. I am very hard on myself when it comes to cheer, so it was very hard for me to deal with this repetition of failure. Truthfully, it ripped my heart to pieces. We continued to lose competition after competition, and I began to develop a mental block with my tumbling.

The previous year I got my round off handspring tuck on the floor by myself. I have a lot of power when I tumble, and was unaware of how to control it. This resulted in my falling backwards, hitting my head on the wall, and getting a concussion. After that, any type of back tuck scared me to death. My tumbling began to decline in regards to that skill, and it was gut wrenching. That second year of high school cheer might have been the worst year in my cheer career.

This current year, I found another all-star gym, this one 35-45 minutes from my house. I was accepted onto the Senior 4 team, even though I did not have the correct tumbling. In the current day, I am advancing well with my tumbling and improving even more on my stunting. My mental block is almost gone and I could not be happier. The point of explaining my cheer career is to put emphasis on my dedication and love for this sport. I am in my sixth year of cheering, and I plan to continue into college. There have been heartbreaks, but there have also been victories. My team is going to the District 2 Summit this year in Florida, and we could not be more excited.
This team is not just a team, but it is a family. The mat is our home, our cheer sneakers are our glass slippers, and our routine is our life. Like me, many other girls and boys share a love for this sport. It saves me every day. If I do not feel well or I am upset about something, going to cheer pulls me back to happiness. It is odd to describe, but without cheer, I would be lost. Cheerleading is my entire life; it is sunshine on a rainy day. I can only hope that others can find a passion as deep as mine is for cheer.