Breanna Fennell

Ms.Ingram
July 13, 2015

Sophomore year of High School was a great year for me to become more literate in
cheerleading. I have been cheering since I was a young girl and did not imagine that
cheerleading would help me grow into the young woman I am today. Every school year you must
try out again for cheerleading regardless if you were on the team for the previous season.
Cheerleading tryouts consisted of three days of nonstop learning, conditioning, and repetition.
My sophomore year tryouts will always be one of my most memorable events from high
school. I can sit back, close my eyes and vividly remember that Thursday afternoon; waiting
outside the girls gymnasium. Over seventy girls were outside just like me, with black shorts,
white T-shirts, and a large number on a eliminated yellow paper pinned to the front of our shirts
with a silver clothes pin. I was nervous knowing that we were just another number to the
judges when it was time to go into the gym and tryout. It was fair game for everyone. We were
given little to no time to prepare and practice everything that we would be expected to perform in
the matter of minutes. I was stressing out so much about being sure I remembered every part of
the cheer, chant, and dance so that I could hopefully make the varsity team. On top of worrying
about that, I was trying to keep my cousin who was trying out for the first time to calm down and
to not over practice. At this point Im thinking to myself Oh no. what if she does not make it?
or What if she gets on varsity and I dont?, What if I don't make either team? What will I tell
my friends and family?

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Before tryouts began, the coaches explained how they wished they could keep everyone
after seeing how hard we all worked during the week; the speech was meant to take the stress off
and to help you feel encouraged but it just stressed me out even more. I am so passionate when it
comes down to doing something I truly enjoy such as cheerleading which is why I was taking
tryouts seriously.
Now was the moment of truthtime to tryout. I looked around and saw the girls that I
previously cheered with who were in my tryout group and also wanted to be on varsity. I
immediately knew that I had to step it up and stand out! I remember looking down at my yellow
number tag which was 4 that year, and I kept adjusting the silver clothes pin to be sure that while
I was trying out the judges would be able to see it. As the graduated cheerleaders that were
helping with tryouts opened the gymnasium doors, my stomach immediately dropped as if I was
falling from the top of drop zone. I entered the gym, full of spirit, yelling Lets Go Demons to
instantly catch the judges and my coaches attention with one of the biggest smiles on my face. As
I stood in line adjusting my shorts, I double checked the front of my shirt to be sure that my
number was positioned correctly for the judges. I remember the sweaty old gym smell mixed
with the body lotions and sprays that the cheerleaders had put on, along with the lotion I had to
borrow from someone since I had forgotten mine at home. I was surprised I did not have a
headache at this point, especially since I was at the end of the line in front of this huge circled
black fan. My hair was blowing like I was preparing for a photoshoot close up.
As the judges discuss in a whisper, I stand in ready position with my hands balled into
fist on my hips. I was so focused on being very tight with my motions that I was starting to hurt
my hip bones from all the pressure to be sure I looked prepared. I smiled as we went down the

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row, showing our toe touches and then personal choice of jump. Since I was the last one to go in
the line, I felt so much pressure and knew that all eyes in the room would be on me since
everyone else would be done and anxious to go onto the next task. I feel my hands begin to sweat
as the girl before me completed her jumps and immediately looked down the row at me as if she
was thinking Go ahead. Show us what youve got! When I get nervous I begin to have very
bad gas, so im standing there with sweaty fist, a bubbling stomach and a huge smile. I would
constantly have to remind myself to Stay tight!, Smile, Dont stress, just keep going
throughout the remainder of the tryout.
When it was time to perform the cheer and chant as a group, I had to be sure that I
focused on myself and to not let the girls standing next to me distract me. This was my next
opportunity to stand out in the group and make sure that I am loud and Chop my words instead
of singing the cheer and chant. After going through the cheer and chant I felt more at ease
because I could only hear my voice and maybe one other girl which meant the judges noticed
that. The scariest part has yet to come, I could see the judges just writing with such a blank look
on their faces and the previous year cheerleaders surrounding the speaker smiling and giving us
thumbs up. At this point I am having mixed emotions and thoughts about if I was doing good or
not and then I began to get nervous when I could not even think of the first eight counts to the
dance I would be performing in a second. I almost let my smile fade away because I was
thinking so hard about the dance and praying that I could just get through this without messing
up. I finally stopped thinking so much and just focused as the past cheerleaders counted us in, as
soon as the music started it was like a light bulb clicked and I just started moving. I struggled a
lot with this one part of the dance where we had to do a really fast paced transition from standing

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up turning, straight into a roll on the floor. This was not just any ordinary roll, you had to be sure
you turned the right direction and had your right leg over your left leg or you would not get back
up. All week this move in the dance had been stressing me out and I just knew I would mess up
and stop. Surprisingly I was able to pull it off, Im pretty sure I did not do the roll correctly and I
felt as if I just flopped down into criss cross applesauce position from kindergarten. No matter
the pace throughout the dance, I made sure I kept going. Despite the small mistakes I made
throughout the performance, I kept a bright smile on my face and hit my motions as tight as
possible. By doing that the judges could not really tell I was messing up, and if they did I guess I
redeemed myself by not expressing it on my face and continuing throughout the routine. I was so
proud of myself once I hit the last count of the dance, stood up with a smile, and showed school
spirit as we left the room.
I could not believe that I had finally completed what I thought would be such a bad
tryout. As we get out of the gymnasium and approach the other girls waiting to go in, Im
surrounded by voices asking numerous questions. How was it?, How do you think you did?,
Can you go over the words of the cheer with me again? I tried to answer every question that
was being thrown at me but I really was so relieved that I was done so I let everyone know that
they will be just fine. Before leaving I made sure to check on my cousin and seeing how red her
face was getting after knowing her group would be going in next. I felt like a leader at this point
and told her You will do great, Im proud of you for working so hard all week to try something
new and she responded with a sigh of relief yet her body language spoke for how nervous she
was as she thanked me for everything and went into the gymnasium to tryout.

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As I think back on performing in front of the judges, I realized how I had blocked the
other girls in my group out and danced as if I was the only one in the room. I was mixed with
excitement yet anxiety because I was unsure of if the coaches believed I did as well as I thought.
The list would not be posted until later that night and the feeling of walking up and seeing my
number under the Varsity 2011-2012 Cheer team was almost unreal. I almost cried because of
how hard I worked to make sure I not only learned the material but that I memorized it to the
point that I could perform it the best of my ability. I helped my cousin prepare for tryouts as well
which also made me feel a sense of accomplishment when her number was listed on the cheer
team as well. This night was the start of my continuous journey as a dedicated, hard-working,
and spirited cheerleader that would grow to be more literate in a variety of ways with the help of
being on the cheerleading team.

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