Rising like a Phoenix.

Hello again! It feels like only yesterday that I wrote the January and here we are.

So where are we now, a month on?

Last month I said that we had a lot of adjustments to make with one less cheerleader, and the changes keep on coming! However, I feel like we are in a much better position now. The changes to stunt groups have worked really well and we are moving along nicely with the rest of the routine.

We now have a pyramid!! Tonight’s session allowed us to get so much done and we actually have the pyramid sorted which is such a relief. It was tough and there were a lot of fumbles and falls while we worked it out, but fall down 8 times, stand up 9 was the motto of tonight. Plus, it’s given us great footage for a blooper real so watch out for that!

This month, the night that this article is being submitted actually, we welcome back one of our flyers, Iina. She went back home to Finland for the Christmas break and has just returned now that her course is back up and running. Its been tricky working on the routine without her so it’s safe to say that we are glad to have her back. But we also missed our teammate in general; Iina always brings a smile to sessions and just works her butt off to hit her stunts.

Her first session back was a busy one and we threw her (quite literally) straight into pyramid work as our centre, and she just got on with it. So welcome back Iina, we are happy to see you again!

How am I coping?

People ask how I’m managing to juggle work, uni and not just being a cheerleader but being the president of a team also, as well as finding time for a normal life.

The answer?

I’m not sure, sometimes I don’t think I am managing it all too well. I hate being even slightly negative; not only am I a cheerleader, who are generally supposed to be quite…cheery…at least, when we’re with our team and are competing on the mat, I’m also just a person who puts a smile on and will just repeat “it’ll be fine”, “everything will work out”. My friends may disagree because I share more concern when I’m with them, but I didn’t want to be negative in the slightest for this diary because it really isn’t bad. But the point of this is to provide an insight into the life of a university cheerleader and, well…it’s a tough challenge! And I believe this feeling is probably shared with many people like me.

Cheer is my escape, it has been my passion since I joined the team only 4 years ago. When I’ve been stressed, or upset, Cheer was my distraction. When I felt my lowest and most isolated, my cheer family helped pull me through, most of them unknowingly. So for so long cheerleading has been the solution to some of my problems. But this year I’ve been struggling with the fact that it has caused me some stress, because this feels foreign to me. Maybe it’s the pressure of being president, maybe it’s because I finally have a job that I’m just as passionate about as I have been about cheer, maybe I’ve just taken on too much. But I’ve been asked by some people, ‘do you ever miss just being a cheerleader?’ Do I miss just showing up to practice and putting my all into the routine and then going home and not having to worry about cheer until the next practice?

Sometimes, the answer is yes. Sometimes it would be easier to go back to before I had this role. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it is easy being a university cheerleader without the committee role; regardless there is still a lot to juggle in life. And maybe I’m just forgetting how tricky it could be at those times. Or maybe I’m unnecessarily putting pressure on myself, but there does feel like a lot of weight that comes with being president. I want to be sure that everyone is enjoying themselves, not just working hard for the routine, I want us to feel and be ready to perform our very best routine at competitions and I want my teammates to feel supported and feel as if they are part of a family as I have been made to feel with the Bulls.

What makes it all better are the moments, lots of moments actually, during practice, where i’ll see a stunt group finally hit a stunt, or teammates messing around and laughing with each other, or one of my committee members will just give me a reassuring hug…that’s when I regret ever thinking that I would want this year to look any other way. I feel guilty for even admitting that I struggle sometimes but cheerleading isn’t always easy-breezy smooth sailing and I think that is important to show. However, it is also important to see past the struggles. I feel like being able to acknowledge that things don’t always go how you hope, makes it so much easier to enjoy the moments that things do go well. Like tonight, there was a point where we wondered if we were ever going to hit pyramid, and then we finally got it! And the whole team had a little celebration moment with each other. It’s times like that that I love, especially for the new teammates, because I know it’s gonna feel even better when we hit in comp and then we just have dance to smash.

Tonight made me happy and hopeful, and so excited now that competitions are getting closer! I can’t put into words how proud I am of my team.

What’s to come..

Well we are getting even closer to our first competition now so mostly the team will just be working hard to get ready.

Buuut, it’s not all work and no play!

In a couple of weeks we will be holding our annual Mean Girls themed Old Boys social where we welcome back Bulls alumni and catch up over some drinks and games. This social is always a fun one for us to look forward to, and this time will be hosted by previous social sec, and current coach Kieran. So, on Wednesday 16^th, we wear pink! 😉

Also, we have our dance session with EndChoreo on the 22^nd! We were honestly so fortunate to be selected for TDOAUC, and along with that came a session with ENDChoreo as a prize. We are making the most of this and Ella has been kind enough to agree to choreograph our dance section for our routine. The timing of this session doesn’t leave us with long before competition to crack on with full outs and cleaning up the routine, but what with the changes we have had to make, and Iina only just returning, we had to make sure we were ready for the dance section first. As always, we will make the time we have work. The team is so excited to be taught by ENDchoreo in just a few weeks time now!

And we’ve reached the end of this months update folks!

See you again for the next article in March 😆

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