The Hard Reality of Competitive Cheer

Cheer competitions are filled with stress, excitement, music, the sound of knuckles cracking as teams stretch and get loosened up, and let's not forget the hairspray- lots of hairspray. Not only in hair but on shoes to keep laces tied, on your hands for a better grip and on the bow to make them shinier. 

One part of a competition that cheerleaders love: clipping people. During competitions, cheerleaders make cute little clothespins by painting and putting beads on them, having them say little things. They also do this at other sporting events as well, but cheer is a big one because, in between routines, people go up to people and clip them. 

Did you know that Menasha High School has a cheer team? Well, lucky for you, it does, and you should join.

Preparing for Competition:

Some people would say that preparing for a competition is easy, but in reality, it’s not that easy. Preparing for a competition is very stressful. The night before a competition, you run over your motions for the routine and the words, you get all packed up, and you even pack some snacks. As you wake us the next morning, that's when the stress happens. Everyone is rushing to get ready. Some people are getting Starbucks and going to McDonald’s or Kwik Trip, but when everyone gets to the competition, it's go time. There is still a little stress among some people, but it’s also excitement.

Warming up: 

There are many different ways that people warm up and stretch before a competition; some teams warm up and stretch all together, and some do it individually. For the Menasha cheer squad, we stretch individually and when we feel all stretched out, that’s how we know we are ready to go. There are some mats in a different gym that teams can warm up on as they wait to go on the mat for their routine. There are usually 3 mats for jumps to work on, 3 mats for stunts to get warmed up, and 7 to 8 mats so your team can do a full out of their routine until you get called. There are also other teams there warming up.