Cheerleading is a Sport
Cheerleading is a hard sport. I know what you are going to say in response, “Cheerleading is NOT a sport.” I also know what you are thinking of: a bunch of teenage girls lined up on the side of a football field saying silly words with silly motions and the occasional silly dance. To clear things up, that is not what I am talking about. I am referring to all star or collegiate competition cheer. It requires incredible amounts of strength, endurance, teamwork, and showmanship. Teams prepare for months to present something that is exciting, different, meets requirements, and will win.
When creating this spectacular work, trial and error is inherent. It takes months of practice for teams to hit all of their stunts, and sometimes they find them to be too difficult, in which case changes need to be made. In “Can Skateboarding Save our Schools?” Dr. Tae discusses how trial and error in skateboarding is necessary to get the trick and grow. The same is true for cheer. Every trial and error made helps in the progression of the team to end with a routine that will stun their audience. On top of all this preparation, it boils down to one shot, one performance to determine who wins. While standing backstage, waiting to go on, all you can do is sit, wait, and let all the nerves boil up inside you. The second that music starts, you have to let everything go and trust yourself, your team, and all the trials and errors that have led you to this moment. If something goes wrong, you cannot let it affect you. I have experienced this one too many times. I have made multiple mistakes at the very beginning of a routine and had to learn to push them out of my head and carry on. When I do this, I am able to continue performing and make the next part better than the last. There have also been times where I have dwelt on the mistake for too long, did not shake it off, and the rest of the routine continued to crumble to pieces. The mental aspect of cheer is just as difficult as the physical aspect.
Even more than trial and error, failure is guaranteed. Dr. Tae discusses the aspect of failure being frowned upon, but defends that it is natural and needed. In his presentation, Tae teaches that, “Failure is normal, failure is expected.” This is ever present in the cheer world. There are days where nothing will go right, every stunt will fall or each tumbling pass will go a little wonky. But, you always have another chance to redeem yourself, whether it be at the next practice, competition, or season. If everything always went perfect, there would be nothing to learn and no need for growth. This takes away not only the point but the fun in a sport. What is so fun about sports is you can always be learning, growing, and changing. This is very important to remember in many walks of life, but especially in cheerleading. All in all, cheerleading is a very difficult and taxing sport. Dr. Tae’s words on trial and error and failure can be used as reassurance when feeling doubtful.