Growing up I never had a passion for cheerleading, it was always gymnastics.
I loved flipping around and bouncing everywhere I could, especially on my bed. According to my parents, I was always such an energetic kid, and since I was one year old, they knew I needed to be in sports. My mother chose gymnastics because it would tire me out; plus, I already loved to flip and jump around. I started gymnastics for Granite City at one year old and stuck with it for a couple of years.
When I was around six years old, I transferred from Oak Ridge to Kennedy for elementary school. I made some amazing friends there that I still have today.
That group of friends introduced me to cheerleading, and one of their moms was the coach! I didn’t like it at first because it seemed a little more dangerous than gymnastics, but it grew on me and seemed more fun as I continued going to more and more practices. The more I practiced with the
team, the more they started to feel like family instead of friends.
With cheerleading taking up most of my time as a little girl, it was hard to do things with friends. I stopped hanging out with my friends after a while and only focused on my sport. I started losing my friends which put me in a tough situation at school.
In about third grade, I transferred back to Oak Ridge. I was finally back with my old friends, and it seemed like nothing had changed.
The longer the school year went on I realized how much I missed Kennedy and all I wanted was to go back. Cheer season started up again every fall, and I was reunited with my friends from Kennedy and I was the happiest I had ever been.
The little stunts that we did and dances always had me and my friends laughing and in a good mood. I was so excited when I found out I was going to be the flyer! Being a flyer was all I ever wanted as a cheerleader.
Every season there would be a fundraiser where each cheerleader would try their best to earn money for their pair of pom-poms.
I was beyond excited when I raised enough money for mine because it made me feel like I was one of those cheerleaders that you see at sporting events.
As a little girl, I didn’t have many opportunities to show off my skills but whenever I had a chance I took it instantly! I did a cheer club where I cheered at the halftime show of a high school basketball game.
Once covid hit the United States my world was flipped upside down. Cheer wasn’t a thing anymore. I was heartbroken, I thought my life was over and I wasn’t able to do anything about it.
My cheer team didn’t start back up again until about 2023, but between Covid and 2023, I had three amazing opportunities that involved me cheering on the Vikings field, in front of 60,000 people before a game! I had the time of my life getting to meet new friends at the MVC cheer camp and getting mentored by the Vikings cheerleaders.
Finally, after a long-awaited four years, I was back and reunited with my team, but it was different. None of my friends were cheering anymore and it was a whole new team with new people. I was terrified. Even the coaches were different. The cheer programs name was changed from “Cheer America” to “Champion Force Athletics.”
It was my first day of practice and to be honest I was dreading even going to it. The second I stepped foot in the gym, I felt out of place. I felt too old to be there.
I slowly opened up to being there and one of my coaches was so welcoming. She felt like my safe space if I ever needed one.
It took a little while but I started to make good friendships with my teammates. I have continued to cheer with this new team for a couple of years now, and we keep getting new people and it’s so much fun making new friends with everyone.
There are several different divisions every athlete starts on based on skill and age. When cheer first started back up I was in division three. I was in Division Three for about four seasons and finally did tryouts for Division Four. I was so stoked when I found out I made the team.
Being on that team came with so many opportunities. The best opportunity we had happened just this last December, It included us getting a bid to nationals.
We had to win first place overall to even get the bid of nationals and we did it!! We were so excited and beyond proud of ourselves because we’d never had such a big opportunity like this. Nationals will take place July 21-22, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The season finally started back up again in February and one of my coaches gave me the most amazing opportunity to coach the 3 lower divisions as a junior cheer coach. It is the most amazing experience to make bonds with the kids and help them become a better cheerleader.
I will forever be grateful for starting cheerleading at a young age and plan on sticking with it as long as I can.
