Personal Narrative: Cheerleading

Me and my friend was trying out for the team. I had to make my cheer chant to say when I go up in front of the judges. There was three 8th graders trying out. It was me ,Belle, aMend Hayley that was trying out in 8th grade.

Basketball players are known for their height. Football players for their strength. Lacrosse players for their speed and agility. Baseball and softball players for their coordination. Cheerleaders,they aren’t known for doing much. They are known for being on the sidelines and showing off their bodies. That’s it.

A majority of high school cheerleaders dream to be a part of a college cheer team. The level of difficulty goes up along with the number of rules and regulations go down. Even though both high school and college cheerleaders cheer for the same reasons, like getting the crowned hype for the game and supporting the players, they have many differences that we don't notice.

What do you think of when someone asks you, what is a cheerleader? The way many people across the globe view cheerleading is merely a stereotype. This stereotype consists of the idea that all cheerleaders are pretty, overly enthusiastic girls that lack intelligence and athletic abilities. Many people have decided on these grounds that cheerleading cannot be considered a sport, but what exactly constitutes a sport? Generally, any activity that requires physical demand, risk, skill, and commitment to succeed is a sport. The technical definition of a sport, defined by the Oxford Dictionary is, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment” (“Sport”). Cheerleading requires these key characteristics that determine a sport.

“I am my own cheerleader. I am the one who puts my goals, who pushes myself to get the next goal.” Cheerleading is a very difficult and intricate sport that allows athletic and flexible guys and girls to perform tumbling and stunting talent. Cheerleading was created at Princeton University in 1884. When the sport first started only men were allowed. Now around 97% of all cheerleaders are females. Although many people may disagree, cheerleading is and a sport and here is why…

The word sport is defined as "An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment”. Cheerleading isnt a sport but people are working really hard for other people to accept it as a sport. Cheerleading is an activity where you make a routine and perform it for points, and even win awards at competitions. When you perform you are against many teams in your division. Cheerleaders take a lot of time to train and prepare for the competition, also cheerleading is more physically demanding than other sports, lastly cheerleading meets all the requirements to be a sport. Overall cheerleading should be considered a sport.

Is cheerleading a sport? Yes, cheerleading is a sport. Many people may argue that cheerleading doesn 't take any real skill, although it actually requires a lot . Cheerleading is very dangerous, takes high amounts of dedication, also fits all the aspects of being a sport, including competition.

Being a cheerleader takes a positive attitude and the willingness to work hard! It takes commitment, self-discipline, and dedication. It takes energy and skill and it takes each of us working together to be our very best!

We stunted at almost every game, and cheered at every game all season. Without Ms. Traska pushing us to be the best we could we wouldn't have done as much. People were always impressed when they saw us perform. We practiced everyday and never gave up. This experience taught me that even when something gets tough, I can overcome it.

Cheerleading should be a sport because of the requirements, definitions, and the dangers. You could go from point flyer to having to communicate by blinking an eye.

What is Cheerleading? Many may think it’s a sport that you dress up, apply makeup, slick your hair with a bow, and simply put on a smile, and yell as loud as you can to keep the crowd pumped. Cheerleading includes all those easy and pretty factors, but it is also a sport that you stunt, tumble, and jump. Jumps and tumbling may seem really easy to many people, but there’s more work done than most might think is possible. Stunting is also a major element in cheer, and that’s what really pleases the crowd, but stunting takes tons of work. What is really the secret to perfecting all these major components in cheerleading? The straightforward answer is PHYSICS! Nothing could be done in cheerleading without the use of physics. This year I was honored to be the captain of the cheerleading team in Zapata High School. We started since June in the summer to try to perfect the simple stunts needed to know before we got to the more challenging and difficult ones. This was not easy for us, we failed and failed until the 100th time, we would finally stick the stunt. I would blame this entirely on the fact that not all the cheerleaders have taken physics in high school with Mrs. Pangi. If all of the team would’ve known at least the basics of physics, we wouldn’t struggle as much in the stunting area of cheerleading. Same thing went to play as we tried to jump and tumble, it was all so hard for us. For today’s presentation and research, we all needed to know the concepts of physics dealing

In today's world, cheerleading is looked at more as a way to pick up all the guys than as a sport. Cheerleading was made for the dumb of dumbest blondes that have nothing better to do then pick on people and rule the school while wearing extremely short skirts, while trying to steal your man. Wouldn’t you want to be a cheerleader if you were getting all the guys you wanted? I'm going to teach you how to be the best cheerleader you can be in ten short steps. If you want to learn more steps buy my DVD.

Competitive cheerleading has been my passion ever since I was six years old, but not until I became an athlete at Kansas City Athletic Cheer did I fall in love with it. Being a part of the highest level team at Kansas City Athletic Cheer, Platinum, meant that cheer would become my entire life. I lived for the hard practices, competing in front of thousands of spectators around the country, and most importantly being a part of something that was bigger than myself. This place was filled with coaches and teammates that unfailingly brightened my day. Whenever I had a bad day or just felt down, it was always my place to go to escape reality and release stress. Kansas City Athletic Cheer has been my second home for the past eight years and holds

When I was eight years old, I joined the Shaker Sharks swim team. I was put in the lowest group and struggled to swim even a 25. I considered swimming a hobby at best, not even realizing it was a sport. Two years later, my family and I moved to Solon. I switched teams to join the Solon Stars Swim Club.

At the end of the routine, we all cheered with joy at our unexpected accomplishment. I was so proud of how far we had come in only a week. I was overjoyed to have shared that moment of excitement with all of my cheer sisters. No one recognizes cheerleading as a sport, but we work just as hard as other sports to accomplish the things we need to accomplish. People see the final product of our routine. What they don’t see are the falls, bruises, mess-ups, and arguments. I am so glad that they all convinced me to stay because when all is said and done, they are my second family. I have grown up cheering with most of the girls, and we have all watched each other mature and grow as individuals and cheerleaders. Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of what teamwork is, but we found that again and implemented it throughout the rest of our season. I will be so sad to leave this final season because I have learned so much from everyone on my team. When we look back years from now, we won’t remember the fighting; we will remember the way we felt as we succeeded and all the good things that came from being a