my second family, my cheer team.
All those cold, grueling nights of hard practice to perfect our routine were over. All the fighting and disagreements we had about the stupidest things were solved. Half the people wanted to quit by the time the 2007 cheer regionals came about, but we stuck through it together. Cheer isn’t just a sport or a game. It’s not all pom-poms and smiles. Cheer to me is life. We were finally here. I had been to thousands of cheer competitions before, since my aunt owned and coached West Coast Elite, but this time it was different. I wouldn’t be standing in the stands congratulating the girls. I would finally have my chance to shine and to prove that seven hours of practice was really too much.
We walked into the doors of Foothill High School were the competition was taking place. The gym felt fresh and new with thousands of cheerleaders running around. The blue mat looked more blue than ever. I wanted to run on it, pick it up and hug it, but i knew I couldn’t. About ten other teams would be performing against us, none of the teams looked like a huge threat. We all felt the same way nervous, scared and shaky. Today was the day to prove to everyone, to prove to ourselves that we had what it took to get first place.
A little later we watched all the teams preform, comparing ourselves to the other team. I tried to find one little mistake, but it was almost as if they were … perfect. I got even more nervous than before. I felt as if I had the biggest apple in my throat. Our que was on to get ready, I gave my mom and aunt a hug to thank them for coming. We stepped in a back room to have one last practice before the big performance. I wasn’t sure if we did a good job practicing because all I could remember was the announcer calling our names.
My coach Marquell gave us a huge pep talk and threw out super huge tips to make us fill a little relaxed. The whole time I felt secluded out. All I could hear was the loud voices of the crowd. Marqell’s voice seemed to be on mute, and tears ran down my face. Marqell’s voice came back to reality and he tried to cheer me up, but my nerves just builded up inside me. Maybe I had fell asleep because I have no idea how my feet ended up on that mat and before I knew it our music began.
Being up there you can fill the crowd’s energy, you can fill the excitement everyone had. My weakness of being scared seemed to fade away and disappear. There’s just something about being there in front of everyone that really gets to my head. I fill relaxed and calm. I fill like I’m doing this for a living … performing. I hit off all my moves, my toe touch was not the best but it felt amazing. I didn’t want the music to ever stop. After the routine we all rallyed off the mat and were too exited to talk. The excitement was really exhilarating. We all had tears of huge happiness and all the hard work really did pay off.
Now the last part of the day was the most important, it was the part we all came for. When you go to competitions you either win or loose. You go home feeling the best in the world walking away with a metal. It didn’t matter if you were put in last or first as long as you went home remembered. All the teams sat in their own circles holding hands, and so did we. We were still pumped up from our performance and were still crying. Our arch enemies Wolf pack sat right beside us giving us dirty nasty looks. Their jealousy made us even more exited to hear the results. The announcer finally stepped up holding a white place card in her hand. Next to her was a man in a tight fitted suit holding tons of bronze metals. The beautiful blond announcer gave us a congratulation-speech and finally took a serious breath.
“Fourth place goes to Wolf pack!!” said the announcer with tons of excitement. They jumped up thrilled that they had placed. We squeezed each others hands as they sat back down. Maybe we would get third or maybe second? First would be amazing, but were we really that good? I don’t remember much about third place as my mind was racing with thoughts.
”Second place goes to the Orville Eagles!!!” the announcer yelled as she pointed to their circle. They were also sitting next to us and gave us words of encouragement. “Don’t cry you guys are getting first you were awesome!” My face lit up more than ever. The eagles had been very nice every since we met them. At one of our home games they cheered for us when we performed our halftime routine.
I blanked out once more as the announcer talked. Her voice was on mute and I looked around, I could almost hear my heart thudding. I looked up and prayed, “Lord please.” Tears sprinted across my face. “First place goes to… the Antelope Pronghorns!!” My heart jumped and I ran up to the man in the fitted suit. I screamed I laughed I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. We had really won. All the teams got up and jumped with us. It was amazing, and the last thing I remember was crying more than I had all day long. I grabbed my best friend and I whispered, “We did it!”.
