Cheerleading Memories

by AR

My story begins one day at cheerleading practice, which was held in Antioch, at Deer Valley High School. I liked cheerleading a lot until my coach and I got into an argument. It happened like this: one of the cheerleaders had put a girl up in a stunt at the wrong time, and the coach yelled that the whole cheer squad was going to run around the DVHS field. Their field is huge, about three times the size of Oakland Tech’s. I decided not to run. Then, because I didn’t run the laps, the coach made me sit out for the rest or practice.

The next day, I came to practice again. I followed all the instructions until my coach, Brandi, told me to do the cheer moves full-out. Moments later, we did the stunts, but in a lazy way. So, we had to run laps again, this time in the dark! I started to do it, but soon I stopped running and started to walk. My coach saw me and told me to run, and I just kept walking so then I got into an argument with her. She yelled at me, so I walked away with an angry feeling, feeling like I wanted to slap her in her face.

Brandi turned to her dad and him if she could she kick me off the team. I said under my breath, “I don’t care if you kick me off your stupid team, I never wanted to cheerlead anyway!!!” When it was time to go back to practice she made me sit out on the side. So I sat on the side and was on the phone, as usual. Finally, I ended up apologizing.

The next day, at the game, I apologized again and I still had to run more laps than the other cheerleaders. But, when I ran them it was after the game. The lesson I learned was never to talk back in the middle of a punishment, because it can end up worse than other people. I still talk to Brandi because she's my cousin. Of course I would still be mad if I didn't know her, but since that's family I had to get over it. My other coach, Jovanna, the one who always yells at me, I don't talk to her anymore!