How It Feels To Tryout
A Cheerleader Tells All!
Everyone has their own opinion of a cheerleader. Some think they are preps, or the “girly girls”. Most of the time, we are budgeting our time around cheerleading and other activities like sports. Very few cheerleaders JUST do cheer.
We all are either in sports or some other extra-curricular activities outside of school. We may love to wear bows at times, and smell like hairspray, but we are also strong courageous athletic girls, who lead and represent our school in many different ways.
We cheer year around, and the preparation for tryouts, is haunting its way around the corner. It is most definitely a night full of hairspray, glitter, screams of joy, tears of sorrow, and NERVES. This day could either seem like a dream come true, or the end of your life.
This is how it goes. When you first get there, you can not be more excited for what is to come. Then not too long after that, the nerves kick in, HARD. You make your appearance fabulous, and it is time to go. You get stretched out to where you feel you can not be stretched anymore... This is a good thing. You go in as a group to do a few little cheers, however they do not get judged. It is just to get you used to being in front of the judges. Then, when you enter for your individual, there they are.... all staring at you. As you're walking in, the seniors tell you “Hands on hips, smile on lips! Go get em!” You smile so big your cheeks start to hurt and then all the nerves, sweat and hard work just seem to be put to the test. You start your cheers, and if they smile at you, it helps SO MUCH.
All the hard work and time you put in, takes around two minutes to show off. Then you wait for results, the most gruesome part of the night. You will hear screaming and see hugging. Though you will also see crying and running out. You greet your new teammates with a hug because you are so ecstatic you just cannot stand it.
The three judges each rate you from 1-5 on these topics: Spirit & Enthusiasm, Motion Technique, Jumps, Eye Contact, and Vocal Projection. So many things just fly away when you get in there, and all you hear in your head is “Let’s Go Eagles, We’re Number 1, Straight to the Top, All the Way Eagles, C’mon Crowd, You can do it!!” All of the nerves, hard work, and sweat seem to drift away when tryouts are over, and you never seem nervous again….... Until next year.
