So what does it actually do?

I get asked so often what cheerleading actually is. Do we just stand on the sidelines and jump up and down? Do we just make pins and wear short skirts? Well, sometimes we do those things. Mostly we TRAIN, HARD. We work towards personal and team goals. Yes we entertain at local fundraising events, giving the opportunity to our recreational athletes and our competition teams to shine.

Cheerleading is so much more than pom poms and shouting out chants. It is an unrivalled training ground for life!

Our athletes learn resilience, respect, how to get back up and try again, and how to never give up. It's so much more than you see on the tv and in movies. It's grit, determination, hard work and a love for the sport. It gives children a place to learn how to be brave in the face of adversity. It teaches them that showing up matters. Skills are built through repetition, not instant perfection.

It's not just about trophies and winning. It's learning how to trust yourself and your team, how to work with others and keep going!

These lessons do not just stay on the competition mat. It shows up in real life. In classrooms, job interviews and friendships. It gives children a sense of belonging and acceptance. It lets them believe in their own ability.

If a stunt falls, a trick fails, it's a learning lesson. They learn how to get up again, try again, trust again. Cheerleaders are some of the most resilient, successful people in the world, and that comes from their training. No cheerleading routine is perfect, and neither is life. We all fail, we all stumble and feel fear, but cheerleaders, they don't give up. They know from hours of trying, and sometimes failing, training and often falling, that the only way to survive is to try again, and again, and again, until you DO succeed!

Success is EARNT not given and this sport, wow is it a way to learn that! I have never met a cheerleader who has won every competition they have entered. I have never met a human who has gotten everything in life they wished for. But that's the difference between cheerleaders and regular people. We know how to get up and try again, we can rise and fight to live another day. Because we have a whole team of people trusting in us, believing in us, and knowing that we can. Because we have faced defeat, looked it straight in the eyes, and said NO, I'm not done yet. I have more to give, I have more to learn. I have more to teach.

There will never be another sport like this one, there will never be a better place to learn life lessons than the cheer gym. There is no other place to be celebrated, commiserated and commemorated like this. As Gabi Butler wisely said "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard". This lives in the heart of every true cheerleader each day, because they know what it means to be a champion.