Ever since Becca could walk, I knew, despairingly, that she would be my cheerleader. There’s a “cheerleader walk” you know, and Becca’s got it. Had I tried (& believe me, I wanted to try) to force the cheerleader out of her, I would have failed. I’m not what you would call a fan of cheerleaders. When I was in high school, many (definitely not all) of the cheerleaders were snobby & not real smart. Plus I think the outfits are pretty inappropriate. And so ever since Becca could walk, I’ve been dreading the day she asked to be a cheerleader.
That day came. She asked to go to “Mini Cheer Camp” for 2 afternoons after school with the high school football cheerleaders and a bunch of other girls in 1st – 4th grades. Oh my. The ridiculousness of it just appalled me. I tried to say no. But ED (another non-fan of cheerleaders in general) said that I should let her go. That I shouldn’t “knock it until I’ve tried it.” Oh, brother!
And so she went. She had a GREAT time and I was actually somewhat impressed by the way the cheerleaders ran the camp (with the exception of the tipping the cow cheer which would take far too long to describe on the blog, but you can ask me about it sometime). And my most FAVORITE part was when, after picking Becca up from the first day of camp, she said, “Mom, I think tomorrow I want to wear my long shorts.” HA! My heart did a CARTWHEEL of joy! She DOES know that those outfits are too skimpy!!
After two afternoons of camp, the “mini-cheerleaders” were scheduled to perform at halftime of last week Friday night’s football game. Since I’m now on staff, I can get my whole family into home games for free (my one benefit) so we ALL went to the football game.
Shortly before halftime, Becca came to us with a bleeding hand and ripped pants. She & her friends had been playing tag with the boys behind the grandstand and she fell on the concrete. We quickly tried to wash her up and then off she went to do her cheers. It was kind of a difficult way to start the cheering, but she, like any good cheerleader, planted the smile on her face and eventually it was a real smile!
It’s really hard to get photos of cheerleaders moving in the dark with a point & shoot…but there she is, in the middle!
I’m quite sure the more interesting half-time show would have been from the field, behind the cheerleaders, looking at the parents in the grandstand. Ridiculous is probably the only one of many appropriate adjectives to describe all those parents watching, taking pictures, and video-taping. Even I, the self-proclaimed non-cheerleader fan, was one of those obnoxious parents, yet again, standing, cheering, trying to stake my claim on a good photo op spot…why, oh why, do I always fall into that trap? I don’t want to be an obnoxious parent, but I am. I’m just so darn proud!
Who wouldn’t be proud of that sweet thing, anyway? I think I’m totally justified in that obnoxious behavior.
And just in case you want to watch a bunch of mini-cheerleaders dancing to a Justin Bieber song…click on the link.
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