Yikesss…

I have always been huge on cheer leading, it has always been a huge part of my life and something that I never thought I would stop doing in high school. The last season that I did it started off so amazing I was cheering with a lot of people that I felt very comfortable and happy with. The season started off so amazing there was so many laughs and memories that were in the making. We got our routine around Christmas and we were so in love with it, it truly showed off all of our talents. the routine definitely was a little difficult and we struggled with it in the beginning but we knew the harder we worked the better that it was going to get and the better we were going to look. There was almost no doubt in our minds that when we walked up onto the stage the first time we were going to show people it we were going to nail it and going to be proud. We practiced this routine for countless hours after school on vacation days and even 7 AM on Saturdays. It was exhausting but we knew if we wanted to show the best we had we needed all the practice that we could get. I and a lot of the other girls could not wait for our first cheering competition which was more a showcase but it still meant a lot because first impressions mean A TON especially to us. It was the night before the competition and everyone was stoked we could not wait. I ran over the routine in my head so so so many times that I would not forget it. I was still worried because there was one stunt that my stunt group could not seem to perfect every time but we practiced it so much that I figured there was no way we wouldn’t hit it.

We got to the comp and we all felt so prepared, we had everything we needed and more. We got there and found our seats and my parents and other family members were in the audience and I got even more excited. We went into the locker room to get our skirts and shoes on and then before we knew it it was our turn to go back to the first practice room. This room was just to stretch and go over the light parts of the cheer but this was not a room for stunting. Before we knew it it was over and we were moving onto the next room which was all about the stunts. We got in there and we only had about 5 minutes and the we went on stage. We did every stunt and it went perfect we were so excited. We were told by one of the workers that we had one more minute so we decided that we should warm up the stunt that my group was struggling on. So we put the flyer up and threw and the next think I knew I saw her coming at me but all I could think was that I needed to catch her and I did but with my head. Next thing I knew there were trainers all around me and asking me if I could stand up and I felt like I couldn’t my neck hurt so bad and so did my back. I finally got up and they told me that I should not go on the mat and that they are going to go get my parents and recommended getting an ambulance and going to the hospital immediately. When they left I went on the mat and performed and cried the whole way through it. I was in so much pain. I got off the mat and immediately felt like I could even move so I went to the hospital and I had whiplash, a severe concussion, and had a lot of problems with my back. I still can’t sit in certain positions for a long time or else it will hurt. That’s cheering though you are always at risk of getting hurt but you just have to prevent it the most you can.

I relate this to the show cheer because when I was watching it I could relate so much to how some of the girls were feeling when they got hurt and had to watch because when I got hurt I had to watch every person on the team do what I wanted to be doing and what I loved. What happened to me and what happened to the people who got injured on the show cheer were alike, there was no one to blame because it happens in this sport but there was also nothing we could do but watch. When I was watching the show it definitely hit close to home and I could feel somewhat of the pain they were feeling. They have the same rule that we have though no matter what you don’t let your flyer hit the floor.

Photo by Eustaquio Santimano on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA