A New Challenge

• This is my third year on an All Star Cheer Team. It has become such a big part of my life. Most of my friends are cheerleaders and I spend most of my time at the gym. When I am not in school or studying, I am practicing, taking private lessons, in stunt class or stretching. But I do have other things I like to do. I am in orchestra at school and play the violin. I am also a Girl Scout and take ballet.

My days are definitely full!! This year I was met with a big challenge. My favorite coach asked if I would double team, which would mean instead of being on just the youth level 2 team, I also be on the youth level 1 team. That meant twice as many routines to learn, twice as much practice and twice as many chances to fail. I was flattered and scared at the same time. I worried that I might get the routines confused. My mother and father worried that I wouldn’t get any sleep and my schoolwork would suffer. I also worried about joining another team and if my new
teammates would accept me. They had already been practicing together for the last 4 months.

It turns out that my new teammates welcomed me to practice. I knew some of the girls and then became fast friends with the others. My mother helped me not to worry about getting the routines confused. She reminded me that when I took ballet, jazz and hip-hop at the same time I never got the routines confused. I did have to adjust to the amount of time I would spend in practice at the gym. On Sundays I am in the gym from 1pm until 7pm and during the week I am there 2-3 evenings.

I found that making a few changes in my schedule has helped. I try to go to the bed early when I am not at the gym, which has made my parents very happy. I am learning to do my homework as soon as I get home instead of waiting and watching television and playing on my computer. Most importantly the lesson I have learned from double teaming this year is “when life gets harder, challenge yourself to be stronger.”