1/4/15

It sucks that you age out of cheerleading as soon as you find yourself as the cheerleader you were meant to be and become the girl you've always looked up to in the years before. It's like as soon as you find yourself becoming a true leader, you're forced to leave a sport you've loved for years and pretend like you can live your life normally without it. It was my safe place. Knowing I got to end my day with my team got me through awful days of school with awful teenagers. I regret every practice I didn't pour my heart into. I regret every time I gave 85% and not 100%. I miss it every second of every day. What I'm saying is, do not take your last 2-3 years of cheerleading for granted because I promise you, they are beyond the best.

11/15/14

It really upsets me seeing coaches from other programs completely belittle their athletes on social media because of a bad performance. Hitting is the last thing in the world cheerleading should be about. It's about coming together to accomplish a common goal while learning SO much about life along the way. Empower your athletes. Do not refer to them on facebook as a "hot mess". These kids look up to you with stars in their eyes. We are shaping their lives whether we know it or not. Reflect on the performance but by God remember you mean something to them and they take your words to heart. I'm so beyond lucky to have been a part of a program that taught me way more life lessons than cheerleading. Placing well at competitions is just a really nice bonus. To all my ACE athletes and families, I miss you more and more everyday and I miss watching the children grow as athletes and more importantly as people. I've personally seen ACE change multiple lives (mine included) by giving them a sense of self worth. Be the catalyst for change in a struggling kid's life. Casually give them specific reasons why they're important and what they contribute. Love them, teach them, and most importantly, empower them.

Summer 2014

I can't find the original post from last summer, but this is a summary of probably my favorite thing I've ever written:

It sucks that people think they need to be on a Worlds team for their cheer career to have meaning. Make bonds, learn skills and grow as a person in this world. That's what it's about. Not jackets and titles and rings. It's about breaking yourself down and finding yourself again over and over. It's about failing and learning that it means NOTHING as long as you stand up and say, "I will learn from this and I WILL be better next time." It's about learning how to put a team and a program before yourself. You might outgrow the jackets and rings but believe me when I tell you you'll never outgrow the lessons you'll learn. From mini 1 to large coed 5 and all in-between, I pray all of you are able to find what this sport has given me.

Pilot

Sooo as y'all know cheerleading is and has been a huge part of my life for a solid 8 years now; anyone who follows my twitter can see that. I constantly have all these thoughts running through my head and I've always wanted to somehow combine my love of the sport and my love for writing and contribute to a company like Inside Cheerleading or a big name printed company like that, but the chances of that are slim to none. Not for recognition or selfish reasons, I just feel like I have some good points to make and I'm really dedicated to the new age of cheerleading and teaching people what's really important in this industry (and more so what's not important). I'll more than likely tweet a link to every blog post right when I post them so it'd be super cool if you could check them out every now and then. The first couple posts I'm just gonna rewrite some old things I've said before and after tonight I'll post new ideas and thoughts. Alright, go team.