This would be me, circa 1996- please note the outdated scrunchie (outdated even for 1996) in my hair. I'm about 60% sure this picture was taken during cheerleading/gymnastics camp in Charlotte, NC. There's a 40% in could have been at the University of North Carolina. Either way, it was 1996 in North Carolina.
I used to cheer for Hilda McDaniel, the founder of All-Star Cheering; that means we only competed, we didn't "root" for anyone but ourselves.. To say the pressure was intense would be a huge understatement! I really loved it for awhile, and I was good at it. I won the All-American Cheerleading award in 1997, which is the most prestigious award in cheerleading (weird, I know). I had to try out for All-American status, in front of gazillions of people, being judged on technique, jumps, tumbling, spirit and overall crowd appeal.
I was only 15 then, but I'd already started to grow tired of it. I can't adequately describe the pressure and give it justice, because it seems so silly now. Even now, years after my cheerleading "career" ended, I have frequent dreams where I'm in the middle of a competition and I can't do a back-flip anymore. There are different variations on this dream- I can't do a twist, layout, handspring, or I forgot the routine.
I eventually decided that I had to stop cheering for either my high school squad or my All-Star squad. I ended up choosing to stay with high school because I felt there was nothing left I wanted/needed to accomplish in the AS world. And I didn't love it anymore, and you really need to love something if you're going to sink 10-15 hours a week in it (that didn't even count on my high school practices and games, or gymnastic classes/practices). I also really wanted to do show choir and there was no way I could do all of them. (Did anyone watch GLEE last night?)
Most people who know me in real life ALWAYS ask me if Spencer is going to be a cheerleader. My immediate, gut response is always an emphatic "No!" But I don't really mean that, Spencer can do whatever she wants. It's just me, being selfish, not wanting to be immersed in those thoughts and feelings again.
The next question people ask me is why I didn't cheer in college. There are two reasons: the first being I severely dislocated my shoulder and tore my rotator cuff at a pep rally my junior year. That ended any possibility of cheering for a big school. I never planned on that, I always wanted to go to W&;M, but you never know. There were a lot of times when I wondered if I should go to a big school and cheer- what else had I been working towards all these years? For most cheerleaders, that's the ultimate dream, and there I was turning my nose up at it. So when I hurt my shoulder, I really felt that it was a sign from the cosmos. The second reason, and not to put down W&M in any way- because I LOVE that school, but my middle school squad was better than theirs. (And no offense to the cheering squad there, either! There were definitely some great cheerleaders, they were just not in the majority)
That is the story of my cheer history! I used to omit my cheer history whenever I met someone new, mostly because people always assumed it meant I was a dumb, snobby slut. But that makes me mad at myself, I should be proud that there was a time in my life when I was really really good at something! (even if it was cheerleading!) Now this isn't a video of us, I only have VHS tapes so I can't upload it, but just so you have an idea of the level of competition, here is a video of Hilda's current team, Cheer Factory.
I used to cheer for Hilda McDaniel, the founder of All-Star Cheering; that means we only competed, we didn't "root" for anyone but ourselves.. To say the pressure was intense would be a huge understatement! I really loved it for awhile, and I was good at it. I won the All-American Cheerleading award in 1997, which is the most prestigious award in cheerleading (weird, I know). I had to try out for All-American status, in front of gazillions of people, being judged on technique, jumps, tumbling, spirit and overall crowd appeal.
I was only 15 then, but I'd already started to grow tired of it. I can't adequately describe the pressure and give it justice, because it seems so silly now. Even now, years after my cheerleading "career" ended, I have frequent dreams where I'm in the middle of a competition and I can't do a back-flip anymore. There are different variations on this dream- I can't do a twist, layout, handspring, or I forgot the routine.
I eventually decided that I had to stop cheering for either my high school squad or my All-Star squad. I ended up choosing to stay with high school because I felt there was nothing left I wanted/needed to accomplish in the AS world. And I didn't love it anymore, and you really need to love something if you're going to sink 10-15 hours a week in it (that didn't even count on my high school practices and games, or gymnastic classes/practices). I also really wanted to do show choir and there was no way I could do all of them. (Did anyone watch GLEE last night?)
Most people who know me in real life ALWAYS ask me if Spencer is going to be a cheerleader. My immediate, gut response is always an emphatic "No!" But I don't really mean that, Spencer can do whatever she wants. It's just me, being selfish, not wanting to be immersed in those thoughts and feelings again.
The next question people ask me is why I didn't cheer in college. There are two reasons: the first being I severely dislocated my shoulder and tore my rotator cuff at a pep rally my junior year. That ended any possibility of cheering for a big school. I never planned on that, I always wanted to go to W&;M, but you never know. There were a lot of times when I wondered if I should go to a big school and cheer- what else had I been working towards all these years? For most cheerleaders, that's the ultimate dream, and there I was turning my nose up at it. So when I hurt my shoulder, I really felt that it was a sign from the cosmos. The second reason, and not to put down W&M in any way- because I LOVE that school, but my middle school squad was better than theirs. (And no offense to the cheering squad there, either! There were definitely some great cheerleaders, they were just not in the majority)
That is the story of my cheer history! I used to omit my cheer history whenever I met someone new, mostly because people always assumed it meant I was a dumb, snobby slut. But that makes me mad at myself, I should be proud that there was a time in my life when I was really really good at something! (even if it was cheerleading!) Now this isn't a video of us, I only have VHS tapes so I can't upload it, but just so you have an idea of the level of competition, here is a video of Hilda's current team, Cheer Factory.
3 comments:
You better be proud girl. That experience has contributed to who you are today. I only know you from blog land and I think you are awesome. I agree, Spencer can make her own decisions. If she wanted to you could be her safe place to fall since you REALLY "get" it!
xo
When I was in high school, cheerleading was a BIG deal. Probably because they were the only team that ever won anything. All my friends that cheered were under an insane amount of pressure and literally had no time for jobs or other teams. It was insane. I guess that's why they went to Nationals every year.
LOL I was way too pissy to be a cheerleader!
Isn't it amazining how those four years affect you the rest of your life??
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