A “Flyer’s” view of Cheerleading

Kings Team in Action

I became a cheerleader by accident. The current team was trying to recruit new members and intrigued I went along. Immediately I was assigned the role of a flyer. Being vertically challenged is indeed an advantage and my 15 years of dance training means I have good body awareness and strength, two crucial ingredients to be a good, or at least half decent, flyer.

I must admit my impression of cheerleaders was formed by the many teen movies that brand them as ditzy girls who prance around with pom poms. Anyone still under this impression, I can assure you, is wrong. Not only did I quickly discover cheerleading requires intelligence but also a great deal of commitment and hard work. There is nothing glamorous about sweating until you master a particular stunt or waking up with bruises in the strangest of places. We may wear vibrant makeup and ’spanky’ pants but watch five minutes of practice and the degree of skill and agility involved immediately becomes very apparent.

During school hours I spent much of my time agonising over equations and learning how muscles contract. Although I enjoyed school work, A levels were sometimes frustrating. A short break that involved exercise was an excellent conduit for expelling tension and one I greatly appreciated. It made me fight harder for stunts and gave me an enormous sense of achievement both as an individual and a team member. It is satisfying to prove you can be good at something creative as well as intellectual. It is refreshing to see yourself as more than a string of examination results with ability defined by grade boundaries. One of the great things about cheerleading is the satisfaction factor; it is incredible and there are limitless opportunities for improvement. You can always strive for more – to be better, faster, and higher!

Cheerleading is a sport for everyone, whether you are light enough to be thrown in the air, strong enough to push someone into a lift or quick enough to catch a team member who is falling. It is rare to find a sport that involves such a diverse range of strengths and skills and explains why it is so difficult. It requires considerable discipline and persistence because just one person can cause a pyramid to come crashing down. Cheerleading is a combination of dance, gymnastics, trampolining and drama and attracts participants with a wide range of talent. You need girls with attitude to deliver a cheer and those with the flexibility to bend their legs into unnatural positions whilst held above their team members’ heads. I defy rugby players to hold someone in the air for several minutes, making it look pain free and maintaining a million dollar smile.

For the health conscious or those worried that our generation is eating its way into an obesity crisis, I guarantee one session a week of cheerleading is the answer. It is sociable and does not have the boredom factor sometimes associated with gyms. It is one of the few sports where I have experienced the ‘endorphin rush’. Anyone who trains regularly will quickly discover new muscle groups they were never aware of! As well as having a physical impact, I noticed cheerleading builds confidence in every team member. There are some cheerleaders for whom one may assume confidence is not an issue but this is often just a mask. A faultless routine with complex dance moves and stunts performed well to an audience develops trust and confidence in yourself and others. You cannot compete and just fake that kind of belief. It is a completely addictive sport.

Probably the greatest element of my experience to date was having the privilege of being coached by someone so enthusiastic about the sport. Rachel Burrows is an individual European champion and a member of the British team that came third in the World Championships 2009. Rachel coached our team to success at the School Championships 2009 and worked tirelessly to help us achieve our potential. She has a unique gift of bringing out the best in each individual and for creating routines that stand out. Without her I would never have learnt so many things and would probably still assume cheerleading was all about just looking pretty.

By Priya Sodha