NeuroPOWER!!!

I don't know why, but cheerleading attracts lots of neurodivergent athletes! I think this is fabulous. If we can provide a safe place for them to be who they are, succeed, achieve and feel part of something, I am one happy coach.

I adore all our cheerleaders, dancers, and students. When they learn a new skill or master a turn, I am ALWAYS the one cheering the loudest. YES girl!!! You got this!

Neurodivergence is a superpower. It isn't a deficit, it's a brain that works out of the constraints of what we have been conditioned to believe is normal. They often see more, they almost always feel more than a neurotypical human, and that is simply beautiful.

To not have the barriers that so many of us do holding our brain to a certain way of thinking and believing is truly mystifying. Imagine a world where nobody was judged for being a bit different, quirky or weird, wouldn't that be something!

Scientifically, I honestly think that there is a reason neurodivergent children are drawn to cheer. Maybe it's something in the repetitiveness of the counts, or the thrill of the heights for flyers and tumblers. The cheers of the crowd, the lights and action at competition must often be something of beauty to those of us who's brains don't have limits!

The chosen people who see things in an untraditional way, and somehow are always able to deliver kindness in unfiltered amounts. I really hope they feel the love we have for their infectious personalities.

When a neurotypical mind hits the mat they naturally feel apprehension. They think into the future, of what MIGHT happen. They stress about the moment, and if they will hit their tumble pass, or their double to a single turn.

I genuinely believe that people gifted with the SUPERPOWER of being neurodivergent are not afflicted with the same trepidation. They are more able to live in the here and now, and I LOVE IT!

I am here for that buzz with them, that self love they feel when the routine hits, and they do what they have practiced. There isn't a moment I ever doubt any of our athletes, but I am acutely aware that they doubt themselves daily. So, when ANY of our team members achieve and feel proud, I am ecstatic, but especially my little superhero's, who battle daily in their own minds with things we cannot begin to understand as "regular" people.

So next time you are at a competition and you see a child stood off to the side, not joining in with the dancing, or sporting ear defenders like they were glued to their head, give them a smile.

Let them know they are beyond enough and have nothing else to prove. Make them belong, because cheerleading isn't about being the most successful team, it's about loving the same thing in an inexplicable way.

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