slo’s FRIDAY 9/19 poll - Cheerleaders

[slo]

Many people associate the fall season with the start of football. And then people associate football with cheerleaders, which are so vital with keeping fans pumped up during the game. There’s cheerleaders in schools and then there’s professional cheerleaders - we are focusing on school cheerleaders. In many school systems, cheerleading is offered at the middle school level and then a girl or guy can continue cheerleading in high school and college. So many people don’t give cheerleaders the respect they deserve - what they do is so hard, takes an amazing amount of talent & training and can sometimes be dangerous. As many know, I manage a chiropractor’s office, and for kids sports, the #1 sport we see kids for is basketball and #2 is cheerleading. Some will roll their eyes when I say cheerleading is a sport, but I believe it is and there’s nothing that will ever change my mind about that - these kids need to have dance training, acrobatic training and strength training - it’s amazing what goes into this sport. Today, let’s cheer for ourself or a loved one and tell us today…..


Are there any former or current cheerleaders in your family?
If yes…..who?
(multiple choice)



For Me……No cheerleaders in my family - my girls were never interested. My block has 3 houses and each family has girls. None of the girls, until this year, were interested in cheerleading. Our youngest block girl, that’s in 7th grade, decided to do cheerleading this year and I’m very excited for her. She’s really loving it too. So our block has had a soccer player, 2 softball players, 2 track & cross country runners and now a cheerleader

 

[leebee]

I agree, cheerleading is a sport that takes training, strength, and dedication. No longer do cheerleaders just shake pom-poms and say rah-rah. These people are first class tumblers and have solid dance training.

DD wasn't interested in cheering; she was a dancer. She spent 4 hours a day, 5 days a week in the dance studio, with about half of that time in ballet, and 3-6 hours on the weekends in rehearsals during high school and college. She is a classically trained ballerina. She and her dance friends kept the local chiropractor in business- she's well acquainted with Graston techniques, hahaha; as she says, her chiro kept her on her toes!

 

[Kitty 34]

I had a niece that did competitive cheer back in the late 90's. Her squad was fun to watch. That's it for cheerleaders in the family.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Two of my nieces cheered for peewee football.

 

[snowwite]

I was never flexible enough to be a cheerleader but I was on the Pep Squad!

 

[Meriweather]

no cheerleaders in the family
My DD would rather play the sport

 

[HopperFan]

I agree, cheerleading is a sport that takes training, strength, and dedication. No longer do cheerleaders just shake pom-poms and say rah-rah. These people are first class tumblers and have solid dance training.

DD wasn't interested in cheering; she was a dancer. She spent 4 hours a day, 5 days a week in the dance studio, with about half of that time in ballet, and 3-6 hours on the weekends in rehearsals during high school and college. She is a classically trained ballerina. She and her dance friends kept the local chiropractor in business- she's well acquainted with Graston techniques, hahaha; as she says, her chiro kept her on her toes!

Agree, cheerleading is a sport ~ though one with a wide range.

BUT I FIRMLY BELIEVE that ballet dancers are likely the most incredible athletes and stand high above most others for their physical conditioning and athleticism.

 

[BrianL]

My sister did it for a short time in like 7th or 8th grade. That's all I can really remember.

My high school did supposedly a really good squad that went to Nationals all the time. I mean, tehy were good enough to do that but all of our sports teams were terrible, so maybe they weren't so great after all.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

No cheer here although I did check it out a bit before high school since most of the girls I danced with went on to cheer. While my focus was more music, we were all competition line, our instructor incorporated acrobatics into our summer sessions, and we all had the flexibility for the job. DD19 also checked it out but even at the middle school level, the cost for school cheer was extreme and she wasn't into it enough to come back from vacation early to prep for the season. My friends whose girls do travel cheer pay more than we do with softball, and that's saying a lot. Both of my girls tried out gymnastics really early on and their gym had competitive cheer which practiced right before their lessons and the elite artistic gymnasts came in. I won't fully quote the movie, but like they say in Bring It On, cheer is essentially gymnastics without the beam and bars. These kids are legit athletes!

 

[Micca]

One DD tried out for cheer but didn't make the cut. A few years later as a teacher she became a cheer squad coach

 

[Dan Murphy]

No cheerleaders in our family or extended family.

 

[MIGrandma]

Our daughter was a cheerleader in high school, and our oldest granddaughter was one in college.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

My cousin, who lived with us until very recently, was captain of the cheer squad in high school. It wasn't a fancy or well financed squad, but the girls all had tremendous heart. I went to most of the football games to watch them cheer.

My high school didn't have sports, so we didn't have cheerleaders.

 

[disney212]

I was a cheerleader back in the 80s. We were required to dance, be able to do gymnastics, and had a weight requirement. I gave it up when they started to require dance and gymnastics lessons at our coach's private studio paying out of our own pocket. My parents were not able to afford it so i quit and got a job. There was no way to work to pay for the lessons due to the time commitment.

 

[NotUrsula]

A friend of DD's decided at the beginning of their junior year that they both should try out to be Hockey cheerleaders, and insisted that DD should do it with her. Of course, fate has a sense of humor: DD made the squad and her friend did not, which was awkward. DD decided that since she had been picked, and wasn't involved with any of the school sports (she is a figure skater) that cheering would be a fun way to make more friends at school. The irony was that she was the only one on the hockey cheer squad who knew how to skate. She did it for 2 seasons until she graduated, and it wasn't a high-pressure kind of squad; they didn't try stunts, it was just sideline cheer, so the only thing close to injury she ever experienced was hoarseness from yelling. (She has had plenty of injuries in over a decade of serious skating, though.)

The school actually did not have football cheerleaders anymore; they had been mowed down on the sidelines once too often and a lawsuit resulted. After that the school decided it was too dangerous since that was the only place they could be. (Hockey cheerleaders were outside the boards, so not possible for them to be hit.)

 

[marthachick]

Our daughter in law was a cheerleader before she and our son met.

 

[design_mom]

I was a cheerleader in 8th grade, which is always good for “2 truths and a lie” because I’m about the least cheerleader-y person ever. I did not enjoy it and did not continue!

My older cousin was a cheerleader for a well-known university and won 2 national cheerleading championships during their 4-year tenure.

And my youngest niece was a competitive (all-star) cheerleader from the time she was 9 or 10 through high school. She didn’t continue in college.

Our next door neighbor’s daughter was an all-star cheerleader, then cheered for the high school and currently cheers for her university (a smaller state school).

 

[OKW8297]

Nope none at all. I was a band geek

 

[rndmr2]

My niece was a Cheerleader back in the late 80's early 90's, just a neighborhood organization not through a school. She cheered for football and they did a few competitions. Her daughter is really big in it now though. She is on a team that goes to lots of big competitions.