Cheerleader...

This might be a tad bit passionate...so beware.

Ok, seems like every time I read something lately, it is negative toward cheerleaders. Blogs, emails, books etc. They do not seem to have a positive side ever. Well I must finally tell my side of this story.

I was never a cheerleader....we didn't live anywhere long enough for me to even become a cheerleader. I hated jocks (how funny is that, since Z & K are both athletes)! I had my idea of a cheerleader, probably much like the things I have read about lately. I was never in the "in crowd", in fact the school I went to for the last half of my senior year, I knew NO ONE, literally. Ok, enough about me. I just wanted you to know, I really do know both sides of this story.

For you see, I have a cheerleader that lives in my house and here is what I now KNOW about cheerleaders. Maybe not all of them, but let me tell you about this one.

During her days as a cheerleader she...
worked so hard...practicing routines, jumps, cheers. This is not just something that happens. These girls are athletes that work their butts off to look good in front of the crowd each week.

She competed as a cheerleader...winning a national competition. She was a base and got beat up all the time by girls falling on her. Again a lot of work.

She dealt with more drama than she ever wants to deal with for the rest of her life.

Even though she was a cheerleader...she loved everyone not just the "in crowd". In fact, she spent a lot of time alone...being herself dissed by some of the "in crowd" because she wouldn't be what they wanted her to be.

At graduation, there was a young man in a wheelchair. After receiving his diploma and wheeling past where my cheerleader sat, he stopped and she got up and hugged him. Later telling me that every time she saw him in school he wanted a hug. Now, how snobby is that.

She also sat next to a special needs young lady during graduation that needed help and my cheerleader helped her instead of snubbing her.

She stuck up for the under dog many times. She talked to everyone at school and worked hard at not being known as a snob.

She was accused of things she didn't do by some jealous teachers and students.

To be a cheerleader is not something that just happens...these girls work hard every year to make the squad. While everyone else is at the games doing things they shouldn't be doing or just sitting around, they are in front of the crowd cheering for their teams. And a lot of time, being talked about and critiqued about every move they made. Even by some of the teachers!!!!

My cheerleader, she worked her butt off all during school to keep her grades up, to play softball, to play volleyball, to cheer and to be a friend to those around her. There have been many times that she has been called on when "friends" have been in crisis and those same "friends" were no where to be found when she was in crisis.

So, as you think such ugly thoughts about a cheerleader, maybe you should take another look at the person instead of just the uniform. I know I had to come back and rethink what I thought when I was young.

I am privileged to call a cheerleader my daughter.