Becoming a competitive cheerleader was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I put all of my time and energy into it for seven years. This last year was by far my favorite and most challenging years of cheering. I definitely had a rough patch but it was all worth it because I got to make so many great experiences this year and made so many great memories.

Tryouts were one of my least favorite parts. I was so scared that I wasn’t going to make the team I wanted, or even make any team. Before I even arrived at the gym, I was already shaking. I walked in through the barbed wire fence, through the small parking lot and into the old warehouse with two of my friends, Jacqui and Cassi. The gym was burning hot and filled with girls. We got in line to get our numbers and then we headed to the mat. The coach had everyone warm up and stretch. After stretching we got in line based on our numbers. The judges called us forward one by one and told us to do jumps and our highest standing tumbling skill. Once they got through everyone, they had us cross tumble from corners, and throw our highest level running tumbling pass. When everyone was done tumbling they called us into a big group and thanked us for going in and trying out and then dismissed us. The next three days were terrible. Cassi and I would hang out every day after school and wait for the teams to be posted. On the third day at 11:32 at night the results were posted. I opened them up and saw that I made the team I wanted. I ran into my moms room crying with excitement to tell her the good news. Right after I told my mom I facetimed Cassi screaming, and crying. She and her mom were also in tears.

It was kind of scary walking into the first practice. There was a lot of unfamiliar faces scattered around the gym. That first practice was a team building day. We introduced ourselves, did games, challenges, and started to put stunt groups together. The two hours went by pretty quick because we were all having so much fun. The next few practices were putting together a routine for the state fair and still trying to find the perfect stunt groups. I got placed in a stunt group with my two friends and my flyer from the previous season. We had the strongest team in the gym and my stunt group were the best stunt group on the team. It was fun being the best stunt group but it was very tiring. We were the guinea pigs for the coaches because if we couldn't hit the stunt then no one else on the team could. We were always trying different stunts and transitions. About a month after tryouts, we started to piece routines together. Once comp season came around our coaches got very strict. When we would run routines, and every mistake we made would be five suicides. No one wanted to go to practice during comp season because the coaches made it miserable. We would dull down the stunts almost every practice and pull people from tumbling. At the end of practice we were just happy to be going home. Our team didn’t like to end on a bad note, so we would keep doing the routine until all of the stunts hit and everything was on time.

On practices before a holiday we would get to dress up or have a themed practice. We had a Disney themed practice on a day that we were working on tumbling. Tumble practices were my least favorite practices because I didn’t like to tumble. We had stations set up around the gym for running tumbling, standing tumbling, jumps to tumbling, and front tumbling. I was at a standing tumbling station and I was working on tucks. I set for my tuck and everything was fine until I landed. I landed on the side of my foot and ended up rolling my ankle. It was pretty swollen and I couldn’t walk on it. I had to get it wrapped and I had to sit out the rest of practice. As the following week went on, it got better and it didn’t hurt anymore. At the next practice I was warming up running tumbling and I threw a roundoff tuck and hurt my ankle again. My coaches told me to suck it up and that I will be fine. They keep making me throw it until I landed one. Everytime I would throw one my ankles felt even worse. It got to the point where every time I tumbled I would fall to the ground crying. It made me dread going to practice. Everytime I walked into the gym I wanted to turn around, walk back out and never go back. It made me want to quit doing the one thing I was most passionate about.

I had to go to the doctors to get my ankles checked and he said that they needed to be rested, and if I kept tumbling my ankles would have permanent damage. He gave me a note that excused me from tumbling. After about a month of not tumbling, my ankles didn’t get any better. I asked my coaches if I could be pulled from tumbling and they told me absolutely not. They continued to make me tumble and my ankles keep getting worse. It got to the point that I told my mom multiple times that I wanted to quit and I would just sit in the car and cry after practice. My ankles got so bad that I could barely walk, or even go up and down the stairs. I went back to the doctors and he wrote me another note that said to pull my from tumbling. My coaches were not at all happy about it and continued, yet again, to make me tumble. They finally got the message that I wasn’t faking it  when they made me tumble again and I fell to the ground crying and my ankles were swollen just from one tumbling pass. After that, they finally pulled me from tumbling.

Our first three competitions we would begin our days by waking up early in the morning, around four or five. Jacqui and I would do everyones hair and makeup for the comp because we were the only ones that knew how to do it right. We would do hair and makeup for at least two hours. Then we would all put our uniforms on and take team pictures. We got to watch all of the lower level teams and cheer them all on. We then have to go into the warm up room. We stretch and warm up tumbling. After we tumble, we go through our stunts. When we warm up all of our stunts we go through the whole routine. Our coach would always tells us that she hopes a stunt falls during warmups so they don’t fall out on the floor. We then huddle into a group and do a motivational speech and tell each other that we love them no matter what happens out on the floor. We anxiously wait, holding hands behind the stage, for our team to be called out to the floor. We hear the announcer call us to the floor and hear the crowd scream. We set in formation and listen for the music. The music starts and we all just try to get through the routine and make everything hit. When the music's over, we run off the stage and hug our coaches. We watch our routine and wait for awards. After awards we took more pictures and hang out. Sometimes we go out and get dinner or go over to each other's houses. At the following practice we watch the routine again and see what we can improve on. Our coaches throw in harder aspects to the routine to help us prepare for UCA. About two months before our UCA competition, our coaches got very strict on what they wanted from us and how they wanted the routine. Every time something fell or was not on time we would start from the beginning of the routine. We would sometimes go forty five minutes over our two hour practice and only have one water break.

Three days before the UCA competition, we left Alaska. Half of the team was on one flight and the other half was on one that left seven hours later. We had to pack our shoes, bow, uniform, warm ups and makeup in our carry on. The coaches searched our bag to make sure everything we needed was in it and to make sure we were not bringing sugar snacks with us. We all got our boarding pass and got through security, and of course took more pictures. When we boarded the plane, I got stuck with a middle seat and it was absolutely terrible. Lucky for me I got to sit next to Jacqui and Cassi. When we arrived in Florida, we had to wait an hour for our bus to arrive to take us to our hotel. Our hotel was at a Disney Resort. The hotel rooms had four girls in them and if all of the girls were in high school we didn’t have to have a chaperone. Once we all got settled into our rooms we went and got dinner, took a shower and went to bed. The next day we woke up at seven, ate breakfast, had a one hour practice, and went to Disney World. We got to ride all the rides in Magic Kingdom and we took a lot of pictures. Around five we headed back to the hotel to get dinner and sleep.

The next day we woke up at three and started to get ready. I did everyone's hair in my room and Jacqui did everyone's makeup in her room. When you walked into my room you were greeted by a thick cloud of hair spray. When you walked into Jacquis room, you were blinded by all of the glitter that was scattered across the floor. When we were all ready our coaches did a head count and then we raced to the bus. All of the older girls piled in the back and we made all of the younger girls sit up front with the coaches. On the way there we turned our speaker all the way up and sang, more like screamed, a bunch of songs. We got to the arena around seven-thirty. We sang all the way from the bus to the arena and Jacqui tried to freestyle.

When we got in the arena, we sat together in the stands, talked about our routine and marked it, and waited for the competition to start. Shortly after the competition started we were called backstage to the warm up rooms. We had to store our bags in lockers lined up along the wall. We sat on the floor in lines and started stretching. When the stunt floor opened up we rushed over to it and started to warm up stunts as quick as possible because we only had two minutes to warm them up. After the two minutes were up we moved to the tumbling floor, where we had five minutes to warm up standing and running tumbling. After that we moved to the last floor. On the last floor you do a full mark through and then a stunt through. When we did our full mark through, our pyramid fell and our coaches were smiling and giving us thumbs up. We finished on the last mat and went behind the curtains that lead to the big performance stage. We gathered in a circle and half hands. Jacqui said a prayer and we went around saying we love each other and to remember to breath. We stood in our circle, shaking. We were all so nervous.

We heard the announcer announce us and we ran out onto the stage and got set. We heard the music start and we did the routine as if we were back at the gym in Alaska. Stunts came around and we were all dying inside. It took all we had to keep our flyers in the air. Once we caught our full downs, we could all finally breath. Next was running tumbling. Every time someone set, rebounded, and stuck their pass, you could feel the springs in the floor bounce back up at your feet. The tumbling portion of the routine was over. We were all so happy because we got through the hardest part of the routine and stuck everything. All we had left was the pyramid and dance. Everything in our pyramid hit right on time, all we had to do now was push to get through the dance. During the dance all you heard was clapping, and then all of a sudden it stopped and all you could hear was cheering. That's when we realized we made it through the routine and we were done. We jumped up and ran to our coaches and we give them a haug. They were in tears because they were so happy. We all got water and watch our routine. After we regrouped, we went back to the bleachers and got to see our family that came to watch. I was talking to my parents when I got a medal button thrown at me. I picked it up and it said “hit zero day one.” I started screaming and jumping and turned around and saw my team doing the same. We were sitting in first place for the competition. Later that day we went back to the hotel to eat, shower and go to sleep.

The next day was day two, the last day of the competition. We woke up early and went to get breakfast. We got back to the room and there was already a line formed to get hair and makeup done. When we finally finished hair and makeup, we did a head count and went out the the buses. We sang all the way there and all the way to the arena. We sat down in the same spots and we were all shaking because of the nerves. Shortly after the competition started we were called backstage. We went through all of our warmup. A few stunts fell because we were nervous, and our coaches were happy. We got off the mats and did out huddle. We did our prayers and pep talks. One of the staff members had us line up behind the curtain to get ready to go out on stage.

All you could hear was clapping because the team in front of us just finished. Then it got quiet. You could almost hear our heartbeats. The silence was cut by the announcer's voice over the microphone. He announced us and we ran out and got set. We looked out to the crown and all you could see were bright lights. The music started and our nerves shot up again because we realized that today is that day that everything counts, that we can’t afford any mistakes. We got through the opening,  jumps, standing tumbling, and stunts. Then came the running tumbling. All was well until one of our tumblers bailed out in the middle of her tuck and fell. All of our hearts just sank. We pushed through pyramid and finished dance. We slowly walked off the stage, crying. We didn’t even watch our routine, we just walked right pass the screen. We walked to our parents with tears rolling down our face. Our makeup was ruined. We went and ate junk food and sat in silence until awards.

We arrived at the arena where the awards were held, we sat on the mat with the seven other teams we competed against. My team sat in a circle, holding hands and laying on each others shoulders. We stood for the national anthem and then listed to the announcer. He thanked us all for coming out to compete, and then he began to announce the places starting at eighth place. He got to fifth place and our name still wasn’t called. We though for sure we would get fifth or below. We started to hold hands even harder when he got to top three. He announced third place and we still weren't called. The only thing I could think is We made second place.

The announcer said “And in second place” then stopped. The crowd got silent anxious to hear who made second. Our hearts started to race. He broke the silence with “Second place goes to, the Savanna Sharks!” Our hearts dropped when we heard that because we were standing at the top of the competition in first place. The announcer said “And that leaves first place, going to Alaska Athletics Shiver!”

We all jumped up and started crying. I ran to Jacqui and Cassi and we gave each other a huge hug and fell to the floor. We ran to our coaches who were sitting on the floor crying in shock. We all piled on top of them and gave them a bunch of hugs. All I could think was I can’t believe we did it. We finally made it. We went back behind the stage and got our banners, jackets, and our first place trophy. After we got our jackets we took more team pictures and got to take pictures with our friends and family.

We went back to the hotel and ate a lot of junk food, listened to music and got to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios for the after party. The park was closed to everyone except the cheerleaders so we got to ride all the ride and didn't have to wait a long time. We rode the Tower of Terror three times and Rockin Rollercoaster four times. We got  a lot of snacks from the vendors and we got some t-shirts too. After we left Disney, we went back to the hotel. The next day I said goodbye to everyone because I was quitting due to injuries from the beginning of the season that got progressively worse. I was one of the worst decisions I had to make, but I was also moving so I didn't really have a choice. I left the hotel and all my friends and went to my parents hotel. We talked about the competition and we called my grandparents to tell them we won.

When we went back to Alaska, we had an end of year banquet. We all got dressed up and went to dinner with the whole gym. We talked about our season from beginning to end. We got to see all of our old pictures and competitions throughout the season. We reflected how we as a team have grown and progressed throughout the season. It was sad to have to say goodbye to them one last time and see all of the stuff we’ve accomplished, but it was a year I wouldn’t change for anything.

Cheerleading was without a doubt, one of the best things I’ve ever done. It was definitely one of my favorite things to do. Even though I have permanent damage to my ankles, I would not change the experiences and memories for anything. Although I do miss it, I don’t think I would be able to get back into it again. If I did get into it again,  I don’t think I would enjoy it as much as I used to.