Bruised legs, dirty hands, sore limbs, getting kicked in the face, nudged in the stomach — all of that with an outcome of almost perfection.

The exhausting, over-repeated lines “5, 6, 7, 8!” two hours a day, three days a week, all for four quarters of glamor and a two minute halftime; it’s all in the life of a cheerleader. In movies cheerleaders are often depicted as the girls stretching their butts up in the air or fooling around with the boys on the football team: they are known as dumb, crazy, girly or stuck up.

Those are just some of the far-fetched statements that cheerleaders get and chances are, you’ve heard them. Having first-hand experience as a cheerleader, I can say none of those qualities apply to me.

We’re lumped into a big category with unflattering traits.

But, with the influence of media and what’s trending, I can tell why people would assume this about cheerleaders.

Movies like “Bring It On” and all of the movies that follow are probably some of the most well known movies that stereotype cheerleaders and their behaviors.  I’m definitely far from girly or stuck up.

I was raised with three brothers, all of whom treat me as if I’m a little brother instead of a little sister. I was a tomboy all of my childhood and at times I still can be.

While most of the girls were playing with Barbies, I had Hot Wheels, action figures, and Pokemon cards.

Before I came to high school I played basketball, and even after cheer season I set down the pom pons and head to the weight room with my track team.

Regarding the whole thing with cheerleaders being dumb and ditzy, just like any other sport on campus we have to keep a grade-point average of 2.0 or higher. In fact, many on the squad strive to exceed that.

In our case we have to maintain this throughout more than half of the school year since we cheer throughout football season and basketball season.

Although our practices are demanding and require a lot of endurance, we depend on each other and it shows how committed we’re to what we do.

Fast thinking and being able to concentrate on counts is vital. We learn a two-minute routine that has 26-30 eight counts. The next week is the same thing but with new counts and new struggles to overcome. After all of the comments I’ve heard I learned to push it aside and not acknowledge it because I know my abilities and no one can limit me but myself.

I’m not dumb, crazy, girly, or stuck up. I’m far from any of those traits.

It takes a lot of strength, stamina, flexibility, and conditioning to do what we do year round.  The minute cheer season ends and the next year’s tryouts are right around the corner and we have to stay ready. Not to mention, all of the work we put in at home, it never stops.
Sure, we go out on the field every Friday, cheer and make a bomb halftime, but what people don’t realize is the behind the scenes work: what we really do and what we go through to make it something people will remember.

I can’t stop the stereotypes but what I can do is educate people with my intelligence and hands on experience with cheerleading.