A Love Letter to Cheerleading

Cheerleading has been a friend that’s been by my side for almost my entire life. Now we have to part ways.

I first started cheering when I joined my elementary school’s team. I can still remember that time so vividly. I remember cheering on the Junior Pee Wee football team with shiny black and red pom poms. I remember sitting in front of the TV while my mom wrapped my hair into tiny curls for a competition the next day. I remember the humidity in the old gym we practiced in. Even back then, I truly loved the sport. More importantly, I loved the people. The bond I built with my teammates and my coaches will last a lifetime.

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with cheerleading, but I never let it go until I absolutely had to. I continued cheerleading in middle school with all-star cheer and I didn’t stop until my last few years of high school. I also picked school cheer back up during my freshman year of high school and continued until the end of my senior year. From then on, my weeks consisted of practices for different all-star teams, practices for game day school cheer and competition school cheer, tumbling classes, and private lessons. Cheerleading was my entire life and there were no breaks. I would go immediately from one practice to the next, from one season to the next, and from one level to the next. It was perfect and miserable all at once. I’m forever grateful to my parents for supporting me throughout my cheer career. It’s thanks to them that I was able to devote so much of my life to the sport I love.

It’s difficult to put into words why I've kept at this sport for so long. Of course I love the big stuff like pushing myself and my teammates to do better and putting in the hard work to learn new skills, but I also love the small stuff. Like knowing all the words to my teams’ music, or feeling that familiar wave of excitement/nervousness before I hit the mat, or being surrounded by the lingering smell of hairspray at competitions. But there were also drawbacks. There were difficult practices that made my hands shake and my vision go dark, there were tears shed from the stress of it all, and of course there were my fair share of broken bones and concussions.

I never thought I would get back into cheerleading when I first got to UNC. I didn’t know if I wanted to return to that love/hate relationship. I felt like I had left it behind since I didn’t keep up with my skills during the pandemic. But after my first year on campus (sophomore year), I realized just how much I missed it. I decided to try out for UNC All-Girl Club Cheer. I didn’t know anyone on the team so it was really intimidating. I was also rusty after not having done anything for over two years, so I didn’t even know if I would be able to make the team. Thankfully I made it, because I can’t imagine college without that group of girls. I felt at home from the first practice. I loved being surrounded by people who loved the same thing I loved again. UNC All-Girl has given me so many beautiful memories and I’m so grateful to have hit the mat for my last time holding hands with the best teammates and under the guidance of the best coaches.

So thank you to cheerleading for teaching me hard lessons, giving me lifelong friendships, and for being a part of my life that I will always look back fondly on. I will miss you more than I have ever expected.