College Cheerleading

I have decided that I want to cheer in college now. Before in freshamn year I wasnt too sure, but now I definetly want to be on a cheer team. Its a great oppurtunity to meet guys and girls that have the same intrest as me before I step foot on a campus not knowing anyone. I went to a FAU cheer practice once to see how they were and the coach and the team got along great and everyone seemed so close! I'm hoping I get the oppurtunity to be on the cheer team. I want to go to a college in Florida, but the best cheer teams in college are in Kentucky and Hawaii. I have been doing research on where I just want to apply and I'm trying to figure out where there is also a decent cheer team. The best cheer team in Florida, that I know of, is UCF. Picking colleges and getting into them is hard, we all know that, and trying to thing of a good team to cheer on and a good footaball tea to cheer on is also another thing on my mind in choices of colleges.

The Game Against Our Rivals!

Totally forget about the post about the homecoming game and listen to this. Last Friday was the most emotional game I have cheered at! We went against our rivals, Western, and we were just so close to losing! Because the game was so intense, we cheerleaders had to step up our game! The crowd needed to be boosted, so our boys could play better. Not only did just the plays that our team play gets the crowd involved we did too! You could see the excitement in our faces and it was passed onto the crowd. We started the chant "Let’s go lightning let go" and most or the entire crowd picked it up and cheered with us. It was great! We had only six minutes left to the game and we meaning the cheerleaders the crowd and the payers were so anxious. We were down only by three, 20 to 23. We were getting closer and closer to the end zone and they just need a boost of confidence to get those 6 points! Only a few seconds left, the crowed was out of their seats chanting with us, the boys on the sidelines were yelling and the cheerleaders were jumping up and down. The quarter back throws a ball, our stomachs all drop and a player ran over threw our rivals and caught the ball! I have never been so excited! Even though it was just a high school game, the excitement, and the involvement that we had gotten our school to participate in was a great feeling! I can't wait to cheer in college!

My Mental Block Story

 
I tried puting my finger and my mouse at where I am as best as I could and I zoomed in when I fall
-_- The fall dosent even look bad but it really killed!
 
The first time I got the block I didn’t care that I lost my full because a double is a better anyways. I eventually got my full back and lost the double. The next year I got my double again I had both a full and double, but I got the block. I had a pulled hamstring at the time and we had competition in a week so I tried resting it and not practicing as much as I can. I wanted to be able to do my double at competition because I worked so hard on it! Our competition was in Atlanta, I think, and we were practicing in another team’s gym the night before competition. I had to practice and because my hamstring got worse, I was falling at the practice. Surprisingly and embarrassingly, I was crying because I was in a lot of pain. My coaches told me to throw a full at competition instead. Remember I lost my full so I was freaking out. After a few times of tiring my full I actually did it, but I was very upset still. So, I did the full that one time and that was it I was done for the night, I was scared, tired, and hurt. The next day at competition, I got amped up with excitement. While performing I had too much energy and because of my block that I still had, I threw a double without knowing and tried stopping myself. I fell right on my knee.

I continued the routine and my teammates helped me off the stage. My coaches didn’t care too much but I went to first aid and got ice anyways. I wasn’t supposed to perform the next day because I could barely walk on it, it was swollen and bruised. My coaches were real jerks and thought I went for a double on purpose so once I told them I shouldn’t compete that’s when they actually got worried. However, I competed the next day for them I didn’t my main tumbling passes and I watered my skills down a level so there was no twisting. I was very lucky I was able to even flip.

Mental Blocks

In cheerleading, many people go through this thing called meant blocks. I've had about three and they are probably the most frustrating thing to go through. Mental blocks are easy to understand, it's when your mind plays tricks on you and causes you to not be able to do something. In my case, it affected me by not letting me do a skill I already had. Some people have blocks on skills they have never done, but the people I know and my own personal experience was a block on a skill I've had. I had a block in 7th grade, 8th grade and 9th grade and they were all a block on the same thing, a full.  My 8th grade block caused me an injury at competition. I had a double those three years (There is a video in one of my last posts of a double) and I also had a full. My block was that I couldn’t do a full I had to spin the full two turns every time. I will write another post on how I injured myself from a block my 8th grade year. In 9th grade, I figured out the solution to my blocks.
I was a very powerful tumbler before my back injury and that was a reason why I was losing the count of spins I was doing. I ran into my tumbling with so much force and I had the same force for a full and a double. You dont need as much energy to do a full then a double, but even when slowing down I still eventually edify more power and I tumbled and I would still spin two times. I figured out that my full didn’t need a run, I could either walk into my tumbling or I would take only two steps instead of four. I had both a double and full after I figured that out.

Male Cheerleaders

For all of you stereotypical people out there, not all male cheerleaders are gay. And even if they are it shouldn't matter because male cheerleaders are a huge help! Most coed teams are a lot more exciting to watch, but I do have more respect for an all girl team. Coed teams usually have better stunts because the males bring more strength on to the team. If you are born to cheer which most level five or Open, male cheerleaders are they even have better tumbling than girls. Most male cheerleaders learn skills a lot quicker than we girls do. I don’t know what it is, but they definitely learn so much easier. I think they don't have as much fear as most girls. I know I have fear which holds me back personally, but it's the same for other cheerleaders I have cheered with. In my other post, I said I am too afraid of doing a double again even though I know I could do it. I want to say all, but to be correct; many male cheerleaders are fearless, strong, and dedicated.

A Past Skill

Someone asked for a video of when I was younger and this is as young as I can find right now. I was in 7th grade, I know it's not that young but its great talent for a seventh grader. The skill I am attempting in this video is a double. A double is a 720-degree spin. I eventually got this trick but with time off, mental blocks and injuries caused me to lose it. The summer going into 10th grade, I was relearning this skill and I actually almost had it back! Since there is so much work to lifting yourself and twisting, this was part of the build up to my back fracture. I don’t see myself relearning this skill again, I am way too scared. I know and I have been told I can do it again if I practice but I'm going to pass.