Have you ever been in so much pain that you wanted to quit something you loved? I can honestly say that I have, but instead off quitting, I kept going. It’s easier to quit and give up, but when it’s something you enjoy go the extra steps to conquer the paint. Sometimes it seems like quitting will be easier than being in pain, but pain only makes you stronger. When all you want to do is quit, remember how much you love what you’re about to give up never give up on something you love, In the third grade, I made the decision to become a cheerleader. At the time, my best friends weren’t cheerleaders but after I began cheering the cheerleaders were my best friends At first, I was sad that none of my friends were cheerleaders, but then I became happy because I made new friends that were cheerleaders I’ve continued cheering since then and I love every second of it! My seventh and eight grade years I was the captain of my grade’s cheer squadt [was very happy that I was captain I felt powerful, but at times it was overwhelming and I was under a lot of stress.
I love the cheerleading competitions while on the mat and you’re competing, all you can see is a large crowd and all their eyes are on you. You’re focused on not messing up and not stepping off the mat because once you’re off the mat, the judges are done watching you and stepping off the loses points for your team. In sixth grade I saw the tumbling part of cheerleading. We were at the Edgewood Cheer Classic, when I witnessed an older cheerleader doing a standing back-tuck and a layout, I instantly thought “I want to do that! ” The tumbling she did was amazing; it looked like it took a lot of hard work, and a lot of practice. While watching this girl, I was nervous for her; it looked scary after I told my mom that I wanted to start tumbling she called Dawna Hellyer; therefore, I began taking classes. Everything was hard and a lot of things are still hard while tumbling, I always have the fear of falling because some things are high up in the air I’ve been tumbling since sixth grade and I’ve loved every second of it!
Practice is hard, but it pays off At high school cheerleading practice, we do a ton during basketball season we have practice or games every day for two or more hours, we also have morning practices. All of these practices can become tiring and overwhelming. At every practice we run, do ab workouts, leg pilates, yoga, learn several dances and cheers/chants, do lots of kicks and jumps, and make up new material. Cheerleading can be very tiring and exhausting at times, but I refuse to give up at tumbling, we barley ever take breaks and use every bit of time possible tumbling becomes very tiring very quick. Usually by halfway through tumbling everyone is sweaty, smelly, and really wanting water. During practice, we do several roundoff backhandsprings, standing backhandsprings, and various stations without water.
During tumbling Michaela and I look at each other with the same look that we both know means we’re tired. I recently got my roundoff backhandspring and have had my standing backhandspring for over a year. I remember when I first got my standing, I thought to myself “I’m so proud of myself!” and I did the same with my roundoff backhandspring. Even though practice is hard and very tiring, I still continue reminding myself how much I love it. Injuries are painful, but they shouldn’t stop you from continuing, In eighth grade, we took a class trip to the Smoky Mountains. After we returned, Michaela and I had tumbling for two straight hours! After an hour of tumbling, my body had become tired and worn out. While doing a roundoff backhandspring, I landed wrong and my knee turned in then I fell. As my knee turned in, everyone turned and looked at me as my knee made an intense, powerful pop!
Since then, I’ve been to therapy and done several things, but I hurt it again two weeks ago, Two weeks ago, I did a roundoff backhandspring and I got a random pain in my knee, I thought to myself ”Oh, I’m fine”, but later on in the class it started to hurt worse and worse. Halfway through the class, it was hurting really bad. It hurt so bad that I had tears in my eyes, but I kept telling myself “I’ll be fine it’s almost over,” We started doing snapdowns and those hurt really bad. Michaela looked at me and could tell I was in pain. I started crying and then I couldn’t tumble anymoret After class was over, Michaela came up to me and told me that I looked very tired, disappointed in myself, and like I was in a ton of pain. When I hurt my knee, I was very disappointed and upset, but I accepted that I had to sit outt.
At cheerleading, I can do most things without being in pain however, jumps and kick I only do when they’re absolutely necessary tumbling, however, is a lot harder. The landings of most things are painful I usually tumble and suffer through the pain unless it hurts too bad I’ve learned how to tell when I can and can’t continue. Even though I‘m in pain, I haven’t quitt as a result, I’m happy that I chose to continue and I didn’t quit because if I would’ve quitI would have missed it tremendously. Even though I would have quit because of an injury, I still would have felt upset, disappointed, and as if I wasn’t good enough. Ever since I began cheering and tumbling, I’ve loved it. Even though practice is hard, it doesn’t discourage me I actually secretly like hard practices because you get better results. I know how much pain I can be in since my knee injury, but it doesn’t stop me quitting something you love will never make you happy.
