Susuto

Judging from the sarcastic tone of many posts, high school must have been a tough time for quite a few of you. Here in Florida, cheer leading recently became a sanctioned competitive high school sport. The teams have 2-1/2 minutes to perform their routine, which is basically choreographed group gymnastics. Similar to gymnastics, they are judged on difficulty, precision, and execution.

My daughter competed last spring at the state finals and her team took first place in their category. Her team has been training and conditioning for most of the summer in preparation for the upcoming season. Two of the seniors on her team have scholarships to cheer at universities. As an ex-rugby player, I certainly don’t consider cheering to be a particularly dangerous or exciting sport, but I’ve watched girls hit the deck pretty hard when stunts have gone wrong. In regards to the ditz factor, my daughter is in the International Baccalaureate program and several other girls on the team are taking AP classes while maintaining high GPAs.

In regards to percentage compared to other sports, there are 22 girls on her squad. Then there’s softball, track, volleyball, tennis, golf, basketball, etc. I’m pretty sure that all of those other sports combined far exceed 22 individuals. I’ve witnessed two instances of girls breaking their arms during competition, along with an array of assorted other injuries. My daughter has received a black eye more than once when bumping heads while catching a flyer. She went to prom last year with scrapes all over her face from face planting while practicing a flip. It ain’t football, but it can be rough. It also requires strength and athleticism along with extreme teamwork and coordination.