In 2011, I tried out for competitive fall cheer at Chancellor High school,as a result I made Varsity. I freshman on a Varsity Competitive cheer team. I was very special, but I didn 't know what I was getting into. When I first became a varsity cheer team teammate, my coach decided that I be an alternate. Despite the fact I was enjoying my journey of an alternate, It didn 't last long before she actually put me on the mat. Just like all the other new cheerleaders, I believed that cheering was just prancing around school and yelling chants about my school 's football team. For that reason, I was misguided; but not completely incorrect because that was also a part of cheer. It was called sideline cheer. Competitive cheer had been just a little different. Since It was …show more content…
Once we learned what tumbling hard to go into the routine, what stunts were going to flow nicely, it was time to put it all together and run it full out. The routine could only be four minutes long. I swear it felt like the longest four minutes out my life. It always started with our heads facing downwards, so that we could have a dramatic effect when we look up in the crowd. We started with a slow bundle of words. After that the music played and it was all over. We were rushing from place to place to get to our spot. Bumping people, I could hear my coach yelling “ten points in deductions, Guys you have to move slowly but keep it tight. Since we had to rush to our stunts every stunt was off beat causing people to fall out with them. Than we had to transition to tumbling. People were getting tumbled on left and right. And the end of the routine, it was ended with the screaming of the Chargers, no matter what went wrong in the routine. We lifted the routines with all types of injuries, such as twisted ankles and tendonitis. Running the routine full out was to get us comfortable with the speed, but it those four minutes it was
Ever experienced cheer camp a famous college? Surround by its famous color orange and blue? Well, I did! A tremendous amount of people have their different ideas an exciting experience in their life. Although out of all of the exciting experiences I’ve ever experienced , I would have to say my favorite is when I visited The University of Florida for cheer camp my sophomore year. I was overly excited about spending four days at The University of Florida; I stayed up all night the night before packing and getting ready to finally stay at a college for four days with my fellow cheer sisters. From that experience I learned a lot about sticking together as a team, and friendship! But, most importantly, I learned that bonding together as a team is what got us to finish strong at the end. Those four days really opened my eyes to a lot of different things and I’m glad I can say that I really enjoyed myself.
Movies portray cheerleaders as the popular girls that everyone likes and aspires to be. But when reality hits at Salem High School, it’s a completely different story. Cheerleading was taken as a joke by the other athletes and even students. It was considered a hobby, but to me it was a passion and something I worked hard to be. Being on the cheer squad in high school was difficult to deal with in school because we were constantly being snubbed by the other athletes and students in our school ever since we were kids in junior high which should not happen because everyone has the right to do what they love and they should not be judged for it being different than everyone else. It was always us versus them up until my junior year of high school when we finally earned the respect of our peers.
According to Brea Darnell, cheerleading is not a sport because of “the inability to compete against an opponent. One of the most important requirements of a sport [is] to compete against another opponent, not just cheer to support your team” (Daily Republic). Pom-poms and sideline chants are aspects of sideline cheerleading that lack in contributing to the definition of competitive cheerleading. Competitive cheerleading is a different side of cheerleading that consists of tumbling, jumping, and dancing, alongside a greater amount of contact activity in comparison to sideline cheerleading. Lori A. Selke, a writer for Livestrong.com, creates the argument that, “in order to gain and maintain those athletic qualities, a competitive cheerleader must train as hard as any other athlete… In addition to attending cheer practice to practice stunting, tumbling, and dancing, cheerleaders must also weight lift and work out several times a week” (Selke). The arrogation of cheerleading illuminates why it is a sport and not just an activity because of the overall devotion to the sport and time a cheerleader must generate to practicing, refining, and executing skills, similar to any other athlete in
The New York Times states that cheerleading is the fastest growing girls’ sport, yet more than half of Americans do not believe it is a sport. A sport is defined as “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature” (dictionary.com). Cheerleading at a competitive level is physically demanding and requires team work to be the best. The misconception of cheerleaders being weak, nonathletic crowd entertainers makes people believe cheerleaders are not athletes and that cheerleading is just a hobby but cheerleaders that compete at a competitive level are in fact athletes because it meets the standards of what a sport is, which includes rules and regulations, and overcoming air resistance.
It’s a tough process because there is no set way for creating a routine. All cheerleading squads have their strengths and weakness’. Since the seniors quit after all the pep-rallies most of the “big” performances had already passed but all of the organizations had competitions in April, so the cheerleaders, amongst others are required to perform at other organizations competition showoff. The showoffs draw an audience city wide to perform all the dance teams routines that will be showcased at their competition that will represent our
Today’s cheerleading maneuvers, according to Pennington, are “. . . turning cheerleaders into daredevils” (Pennington). Pennington’s perspective of how the sport has continued to maintain its sense of glamor while knee braces and ice bags are as common as mascara appeals to the emotions of the reader. However, Pennington shifts his thoughts to the fact more than four million participants cheer at different levels. The author suggests “. . . cheerleaders now commonly do tricks atop pyramids or are tossed 20 feet in the air to perform flips and twists” (Pennington). The Cheerleaders quoted by Pennington, focus on how accidents occurred and the cumulative results. In essence, by inserting personal injury stories, the author has appealed to his reader’s sympathy and compassion. Throughout this article credibility and appeals to ethos are consistently strong as Pennington builds and supplements his article with credible examples. Using an intelligent and familiar tone, while incorporating common language allows Pennington to develop greater and added reliable
The birth of cheerleading was commenced with an all boys “pep club” that led cheers at a Princeton University football game in the 1880s. One specific student, Thomas Peebles, passed on the idea of a pep club to the University of Minnesota where he had transferred. The idea surprisingly spread like wildfire and everyone was on board with a pep club at their university to help encourage their athletes to victory (“History”). As cheerleading has become more popular and as more females have gotten involved, in the 21st century, majority of cheer squads require a tryout process were you can show off your talent and skills to be chosen. Before, cheerleaders were selected by their level of popularity but today they are required to have complex skills, the muscle of a linebacker, the grace and flexibility of a ballerina, and the balance of a gymnast (AACCA).
To a cheerleader, this is very degrading to hear, and to an extent, offensive. To put in excessive amounts of work and literal blood, sweat, and plenty of tears, and then be told what you are doing is a sort of joke can make one wonder what is the point of doing this, if no one supports what you are doing. A common reason for believing cheer is not a sport is the lack of competition. This is false though. A cheer team can compete up to, but not limited to seven times in one season, and during these competitions, “…teams perform a 2 and a half minute routine with music that includes stunts, jumps, tumbling” (varsity.com). Others argue that cheerleading only includes yelling for other teams. While cheerleading does include this, cheer also involves “tumbling, dance, gymnastics, and stunting” (thoughtco.com). This is possibly the most frustrating claim, because if an individual looks at any cheerleading video this will be proven to be incorrect. The final argument is that cheerleading does not require any strength, like any “actual sport”. This, like other arguments, is false. “The greatest difference between football and cheerleading, is that football requires sheer strength while cheerleading also requires balance and body control. Balancing a top heavy 120 pounds in one hand takes much more coordination than running full steam into the guy facing
...ver the many past years it has grown at extreme rates and now includes both male and female participants. While I showed that there are two types of cheerleading: sideline and competitive, I know that cheerleaders like me have appeared on ESPN for a fact. Modern cheerleading squads perform athletic technique at there best and often are showcased at competitions for titles and awards. This and many other factors help negate the arguments that deny cheerleading’s recognition as a sport. Cheerleading has changed so much in recent years that it has become a booming industry that continues to grow as participation increases over time. Finally, cheerleading is an activity with athleticism that far outweighs that of many other recognized sports, but requires the technique and strength that nationally accepted sports are praised for daily and deserves this same respect.
A common perception about a cheerleader is that their sole role in sports is to chant and encourage teams that are playing on the field from the sidelines or stands of a game. However, towards the end of the 20th century, cheerleaders have taken on more of an active role. Cheerleaders take part in competitions against other schools based on the skills they acquire throughout the season. States like Virginia, Michigan, and Georgia have officially recognized cheerleading as a sport and have included the activity as a part of each state’s respective league. However, there are many more states that have not yet considered cheerleading a sport. Cheerleading has two facets, competition and sideline. While competitive cheer may require more athleticism and skill than sideline cheer, one should consider cheerleading as a sport due to its need of athleticism and training, its role in stabilizing and promoting social norms, and the competitive nature between teams for the goal of winning.
a constant thing that is way over often said is cheer required no profuse amount of skill. “While no one would argue that cheerleaders practice, it can be argued that cheerleading when is simply yelling into the crowds, does not require a great deal of skill - anyone can learn routines and yell into crowds as long as they smile a lot” (DELP). Agreed-yelling and smiling doesn’t require a great deal of skill, but that is not all cheerleader “simply” do. Cheerleaders do and are so much more than that. here is a passion held sport. there is so much to do and you need to pour your heart out into doing it. “Athletes with passion and purpose literally love being engaged in all aspects of their training” (Dr. Chris Stankovich). Cheer is blood, sweat, and tears. Cheer is flips, jumping, stunting, tumbling and what could be said as “yelling into crowds”. Yelling into crowds isn’t working for anything. Cheer is much more than yelling, cheer is passion and commitment, cheer is a sport.
The start of seventh grade, I was far from the image of the typical cheerleader. I was clumsy, would spill anything and often tripped over my own feet. I also had a speech impediment, so people could not usually understand me. The thought of me being a cheerleader was laughable. However, my best friend convinced me to just try it, and after all, it was not something I had to do forever. After the very first practice, I was hooked. I was not very good; I would forget the cheers and forgot to smile. Nonetheless, I stuck with it. The thought of standing in front of crowds and doing
Even if it’s just one practice, I have a hard time with it; sitting at practice watching my teammates tumble always gets to me. It always makes me question if the sacrifice I make is still worth it. As soon as I come back and get moving again, I get a fresh reminder of all the love I have for tumbling and cheer.
...for my first cheerleading squad, in the seventh grade, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. In fact, the try outs were so hard and so demanding I did not make the cut. This did not discourage me at all; it only gave me motive to try harder. Next season I came back with a bang; I made the cheerleading squad. Cheerleading is an experience that I would never give up for anything in the world. I learned more lessons on teamwork here than any other sport I played, because in cheerleading I mainly had to communicate with the other cheerleaders. Cheerleading involved much work and effort from me and my team mates. When I first started cheering I was a fairly fat cheerleader; by the end of the season my body was perfect enough for a show all bikini, and this is the one change that made me genuinely realize, “yes, I am an athlete; cheerleading is a sport.”
Have you ever wondered why people have certain reactions? I chose chapter eight on emotions for my reflection paper because emotions are something that everyone has and feels, yet cannot always explain or react to in the way you would expect. Personally, I have never been great at responding to emotions in a way that I would not regret in the future. Thus, naturally being drawn to this chapter as a way to expand my knowledge on how to react to things more positively. I also wanted to learn why I feel a certain way after events that would not affect most people and be reassured about my feelings. Opposite to that, it is nice to see that, while not always productive, others have the same reaction habits. Overall, emotions are a complicated