by Azhar Gonzalez
SAsports.com Cheer Columnist
Week of October 29, 2007

Cheerleading has been a part of me since I was eight years old; which is about half of my life already. When I moved to San Antonio from the valley, my mothers took me to an all-star gym to keep me occupied. It was love at first cartwheel! Since that day I’ve never stopped cheering and I have become very competitive in what I do. I’ve cheered on a few different teams; TCCA Stallions, San Antonio Jets, Holy Cross Knights, Alamo Cheer Sports, and now I’m currently cheering for Cheerific’s International Coed Squad. Along the way I’ve picked up many tidbits to help improve myself and help coach others, whether it be stunting, jumping, tumbling, or dancing tips. Not only did I get a lot of physical advantages out of cheerleading, but also I obtained an entirely new family. In cheerleading, one gets to work with so many different people its amazing. Having been on so many squads I was able to get the best of everyone; parents, teammates, and coaches with all their different styles and techniques.

As a cheerleader, the ultimate goal is “THE JACKET”. In the competition season, cheerleaders have the opportunity to compete in a number of competitions.  The main event to compete in is at the NCA Nationals (National Cheerleading Association). Teams compete from all around the United States.  After a two and a half minute performance they are scored by different judges on items such as: technique, choreography, sharpness, appearance, tumbling, and stunting. The first place winners in each division receive what we call “The Jacket”. It’s like the Spurs winning the NBA Championship; the team gets the trophy, but the player gets the ring.  After seven years of being a cheerleader and lots of hard work, I finally earned “THE JACKET” with Holy Cross. To be able to say that I have “The Jacket” is honestly a dream come true. But it didn’t come easy. As an individual, in order to be able to have the skills and abilities needed to earn a jacket required a good amount of experience, hard work, and determination. You see, cheerleading is much more than just the stereotype; it’s not just pigtails, pom-poms, chants, and short skirts... Oh no! It’s much more than that. Cheerleading is tough. It’s having the right mentality. It’s having no spare time. It’s loving what you do.

My goal is to give you a better understanding and let you know exactly what goes on in the cheerleading world. I’m here to inform you that cheerleaders are great athletes. I will be interviewing cheerleaders from different schools and organizations and telling their stories. Hopefully, this will open eyes to what cheerleading entails and how tough of a SPORT cheerleading is. Maybe you’ll even want to go watch a cheer competition! So, just in case, I will also be posting up major competitions and information on different cheer teams.