My Escape

Hi, I'm Chloe and I'm 13 years old. I love my family and I love spending time with them, but sometimes we need to spend time with ourselves, we need to think about us for a minute. When I need to clear my head or take time to myself I like to do something that I enjoy, like Cheerleading. Cheerleading gives you a 2nd team aside from your friends and family, because it feels like you have another set of friends and family that you know will be there for you when you are having trouble with your other ones, whether that means your grandma passed or if you and your friends are having a rough time I could go on for days, but that's not the point is that you have a family, you have a team, and so much more.

I sometimes even cheer away from practice because Cheerleading is the way that I express myself and nothing could really change that and I remember watching my aunt at cheer practice when I was little and I knew that was my passion. I used to go to their competitions and watch them and I thought it was so cool and interesting and I just wanted to do what they did so badly and I would tell my family look, that's gonna be me when I'm older, I'm gonna do that when I'm older. I wish that I could describe all of the feelings and how exciting, Nerve-racking, and fun it is all at the same time. I think that one of the reasons that I really enjoy cheerleading is because I love all the experiences that you go through, but mostly the experiences that you go through as a team and its also all of the effort that we all put in for each other and not just ourselves because that right there shows how you care about us and our team.

When you're up in the air, the number one thing you have to have is trust! When you're up in the air and flipping into each other's arms, you have to trust that they’ll be there to catch you when you fall. That’s the nerve-racking part but do you want to know the exciting and fun part about it all, it’s the bond that you built with your coach’s, and teammates and knowing that they’ll always be there to pick you back up onto your feet when you fall, and knowing that most of the time they won’t let you fall. If our team doesn’t have trust we don’t have anything.

When you're cheerleading a big thing is your mindset and how confident you are in yourself and your team. When you're confident with yourself and your team it leads to better cheer and a happier mindset. And a happier mindset leads to more fun and confidence. That takes us back to trust when you have a good mindset you have good trust. Which leads to a better performance, and the whole point of performing is to have fun and cheer your heart out.

Having a cheerleading coach is like having a second mom that will always be there and will support you 100% and will be there through and through all the rough times. You can always count on your coach to be there when you need them. And through all that sass and all that stupidness, they can see right through us and know when somethings bothering us. And if something is bothering us they know exactly what to say to make us feel better!

There’s always someone on your team that you don’t like, but you have to learn to like and trust them because if you don’t trust them you can’t have a smooth performance. You have to smile right at them even if you don’t like them because the judges and the coaches can sense the tension between us. And the judges will mark you points for that, it’s also a lot easier to like them instead of just pretending and we all have to be a team no matter what. We’re gonna be in the same room all the time, so you should probably get to know them before you jump to conclusions about them personally.

Cheerleading is a good way to stay fit and if you're fit you have better confidence in yourself and it leads to better performances. You don’t always have to be physically fit, it's more about being mentally fit, and having confidence in yourself.

I love all of it and I know that when I show up to practice there’s going to be smiles and positive vibes. I always can count on my team to make me laugh and to cheer me up when I’m down. When times get rough all I think about is how when I get to practice I will be part of a team and I’ll be part of a team that knows how to make me feel better and overall I just love my teammates and I would follow them to hell and back just like I know they would do the same for me. But when I need my team the most is when I’m in the air because it’s scary to feel like I’m falling, but I have to trust my teammates and know that my teammates are there to catch me.

I used to tell my family that I was going to be a cheerleader when I got older and now look I’m cheering and writing about how much it brings me joy and hope. People always say how cheerleading is not a sport and you know what they're right because cheerleading is much more than that. We put our time and effort into that all and we make cheer our number one priority. To be on a cheer team you have to be 100% committed to the team and the games and practice and competition. We give our life up for cheer. When we have a game we are cheerleading in 100-degree weather and we cheer when it rains and all of that so if you ever think that cheerleading is not a sport and it's easy think again, but it's all worth it in the end.