Cheer History
I have been a cheerleader nearly all my life. My first experience with cheer was when I was in the third grade at a high school cheer camp for kids. I had tried softball, track and field, gymnastics, ballet, and ultimate Frisbee as an option for a sport for me to play. I was on my first cheer squad in elementary school as a fifth grader where we cheered for our football team.My middle school only allowed seventh and eighth graders to try out and this was my first experience of being on a competition team. There were over 50 girls trying out for that middle school cheer squad of 20. My older sister was also doing trying out for her middle school cheer squad as an eighth grader for the first time. We both made our squads, but my second year of middle school I was elected cheer captain. This allowed my to start choreographing my first routine because my cheer coach at the time was just a parent and was never a cheerleader. I was the only tumbler on my team at the time, and that was thanks to my time with gymnastics.
In high school I was not allowed to cheer my freshman or sophomore year because almost all the cheerleaders the year before stole items from a store. They were not allowed to cheer, but my parents did not think it was a good place for me. I like being involved with the school and competing so my freshman and sophomore year I did color guard in the marching band. This was a great experience and is where I met my high school sweetheart. He was a percussionist and I did not want a relationship, so though he kept asking me out and he was my best friend, I kept saying no. Finally, we first kissed September 15, 2005 after one of our football games my sophomore year, and I realized I did not want to be with out him.
My junior year I tried out for the varsity cheer team. There was a varsity, junior varsity, and freshman team and just about everybody there had been on one team or another the year before except for the up coming freshmen. I made the team as a base. Our middle school was not allowed to do extended stunts, so I did not learn how to go straight up to a lib and had to learn some of the basics quickly. I had my captain in my stunt group as a back spot and she was a good fun leader. She was a leader who liked being liked. I think I even remember her winning queen in homecoming or winter ball. Our team was pretty good, but we got second at regionals, did not place at nationals, or get in the top three at state. Our coach was a fashion teacher so at least we looked good.
My senior year my team elected me as captain at the end of the summer because I was then experienced and well spoken. There were other seniors who were on the team all four years of high school and did not think I deserved the spot and they gave me a few hurdles to over come. Our team was an all tumbling squad, and my coach did not take any freshmen on the varsity team. After talking with my coach about how the team should be lead, we both agreed there needed to be a change. I decided to be strict or even mean to get the team to the excellence level I knew they could be. We won our first competition at the Regionals in Albuquerque, NM.
We went to the American Cheerleader Association national competition in Texas where we competed against teams from Oklahoma and Texas. One of the cheerleaders had an older mom who went on the bus with us, but was in a different hotel. My coach asked me to escort her to her hotel from the bus. I was very obedient and did everything my coach said, so of course I was going to go out of my way and help her. When we got in the hotel my dad was standing in the entry. I was so happy I started crying. My dad was not very emotionally supportive of my cheerleading career because he did not think it would be productive for me in the long run and I would just become corrupt; yet here he was, ready to cheer me on for my second national competition. We won Onate's first national cheer championship in 2008 at this national competition. This is when our cheer squad actually got noticed and the reputation of the cheer squad changed. My parents told me they were not able to go to my national competition, and I understood because it was expensive to send me out as well as try to go out themselves. We did not take state, and I think it was all politics, because some of the judges remembered the thievery incident from years ago. We hit a perfect routine and could not have asked for a better finish to my senior year.
After a semester and a half of BYU, I ran out of funds and had to choose to take a semester off and work to go back to school, or transfer schools that had a different payment plan. I transferred to New Mexico State University where my high school sweetheart was attending school. I knew the cheer coach at NMSU from high school, and she knew my talent so she accepted me onto the small coed squad as a base. NMSU had a co ed and a small co ed squad. The small co ed squad was mainly for all girl stunt groups and a few guys who were not strong enough to partner stunt on their own. We did not win nationals my first or second year on the squad, but I did step up to fly mid in pyramids because I was a strong base, but small. I also partner stunted with the guys on the team for fun or at appearances cheerleaders were required to attend.
Over last summer we did a "stunt" group competition squad. Stunt is a new sport in the cheer world where everyone does the same routine to the same music, like early levels of gymnastics and New Mexico State was introducing it to New Mexico coaches for the first time. The competition was on the day of my wedding with my high school sweetheart. He proposed December 15, 2010 and we picked the wedding date July 29th, 2011 because it was summer and most convenient for most of my family. My dad moved to China after I started college to teach American dentistry to a Chinese business so I had to make it convenient for my dad, step mom, and four siblings to make it to my wedding. Three of my siblings live in Las Cruces so they could easily make my wedding. The competition was scheduled for July 28th and it would be easy for me to make it. The week before they changed the date. I went to the competition in the morning, ran to get my hair and make up done and was only half an hour late to my own wedding, but I am so glad I did the stunt competition and get married.
This last year I was on the team our coach decided to have an all girl team and a co ed team, but combined us for competition as one large co ed team. I still was a main base for lib stunts, but I became a key person in all the pyramids, and when one of the girls got hurt in a key pyramid position, I stepped up in her spot and showed my coach I was ready for anything. I got to cheer at the Western Athletic Conference basketball game in Las Vegas, and we got second at Nationals.
This is going to be my last year and I am on the competition co ed squad and this year my coach is requiring tucks from everyone, so I have hope we can win nationals this next year. I have come a long way and plan on being a high school chemistry teacher and hopefully I will be able to coach a high school cheer squad as well.
