I have officially hung up my cheer hat.
I was first introduced to cheerleading when I was in the 5th grade. I joined an all-star team called Sooner Spirit (which has not existed for years now). I remember the first time I flew and it came time to cradle, my coach was the only one to catch me... I looked at my mom and she was sitting in the chair with her knees up and her hands covering her eyes. She couldn't bare to watch. But I loved it!
Thus began my love for cheerleading.
Cheerleading has been the most exciting, demanding, strenuous, love-hate relationship I have ever been in. And the longest at that! Cheerleading has been apart of my life for the past 15 years!!
After graduating high school, I cheered for the University of Oklahoma. What a life lesson that was! And another story for another day... After that year I thought I was done. Which I didn't want to be, but I was running out of options. Until one day, 6 years ago, I got a phone call to coach the Whittier cheer squad. The place that started my school cheer career. I couldn't pass it up!
I was given an incredible opportunity to work with 12 middle school-teenage girls. Yes, opportunity. Each year I was given 12 new girls. Many of those girls didn't have a lot of cheer experience. It was my job to teach them the basics and encourage them to push themselves further than they ever had before. Each year those 12 girls and I built a relationship and then I watched them move on to high school. And eventually college...
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