Cheerleaders are popularly watched by football game attendees, they create a positive, energized atmosphere that encourages crowd engagement and builds morale. Cheerleaders also provide a form of entertainment and contribute to the stadium’s excitement and the overall “game day” feel. But just hard is it to be a cheerleader?
What Does It Take To Be A Cheerleader?
Cheerleaders specialize in kicks, jumps, stunts, chants and cheers. A quick, spoken cheer could seem easy, but the repetition and memorization that goes into remembering all of them is extremely crucial and time consuming. A simple stunt looks effortless, how hard is it really to lift and hold someone in the air? A flawless, balanced stunt involves everyone to be completely perfect and in rhythm or else the stunt is gonna fall. Imagine being held 10 feet above in the air and the only thing between you and the ground is someone holding your feet and ankles. For flyers that is a regular occurrence and to prevent from falling they must master flexibility, balance, full body control and trust. Imagine having the life of someone else LITERALLY in your hands, the only thing keeping your flyer airborne is you! For bases and back spots being the foundation of the stunt, strength and stability are crucial to keeping their flyer in the air. Kicks and jumps take athleticism, power, flexibility and are much harder than they look, can you kick your leg to your nose or touch your toes mid jump?
Do football players have what it takes?
Football players specialize in different skills like speed, agility, endurance. Their main focus being to score, tackle, complete passes, hold the opposing team, and force over the balls But similar to cheer, football requires strength, power, teamwork and coordination. Given these similarities do football players have what it takes to be cheerleaders? All four of these freshmen football players decided to give cheer a try, attempting to do jumps and kicks like a cheerleader would. Check out our Instagram page to see the video of THS football players trying to be cheerleaders!
Not Pictured: Sage Nadjilem
