ST JOHNS UNIVERSITY CHEERLEADERS

My Life With Out Cheerleading

I couldn’t imagine my life without cheerleading. Many times I have pictured my life without it and to me it’s not much of a life. All my friends are cheerleaders and I don’t even know what I would do with all the spare time (I would probably nap and catch up on the sleep I’ve missed for the past 6 years of my life). Cheerleading consumes my life and without it I’m not sure what I would do to stay fit. Cheerleading shows you a different side of your school that you’ve never realized before. You look at people very differently and people look at us very differently. When I see people in school that I’ve seen at a game cheering our red storm teams on and I defiantly remember those people. And people do recognize cheerleaders in school. But even beside that I honestly couldn’t ever picture my life without cheerleading and one day ill soon find out. But until then my life will defiantly be all cheer all the time.

When Team Memebers Become Your Family

When you’re on a team you have an initial bond of being on a team.  But when everyone spends all this time together we are bound to all become more than just a team. When I joined the team as a freshman I knew some people attending St. John’s but not many.  However joining the cheer team changed my college experience.  We spend almost every day together. If we aren’t together at a game or practice we see each other in school.  There times where we see each other 7 days a week. And since we all are friends we also hang out with each other on the weekends.  There are 3 other girls on the team that I went to high school with and cheered with there as well. Also we are a stuns group and we are practically sisters and we really hang out with each other almost all day every day. So being on a team makes your teams mates your family. With a sport such as cheerleading you need to trust the other cheerleaders with your life. And trust is one of the most important things to have in any family or team. However not matter if we fight or disagree at the end of the day we are a team and we are a family.

People Watching At STJ

people watching

College Cheerleading Nationals

It is now the time of year where cheerleaders start to fully prepare for nationals. Which means this is the most hectic time of the year. We are all competing for 16 spots on the mat and we all want to be on the mat. Nationals is the place every cheerleader wants to go. And after you have made the "nationals team" thats not the end you then have to preform up to the nationals standards to stay on the nationals team. and also do so well that when you go to nationals you can make it to finals but that is quite far in the distance right now its time to try your hardest and show your coach that you should be on the nationals team and show your coach your ready to work hard. Your shoulder might be ripped up, your arms might be tired, you physically might be tired but you cant give in you have to keep going and aiming for more!!! However while we are competing again our team mates for nationals spots we still have to cheer at games and go to school. And now its basketball season meaning we have 2 or 3 games a week. But cheerleaders pull through it.

Photoshop!

Basket Ball Season



Now that the basketball season has begun our weeks as cheerleaders have become jam packed. There games during the week and on weekends. As well and practice as school. But games are defiantly a completely different experience. Whether it’s a woman’s game or a men’s game Carnasecca arena is always packed and full of excitement. As cheerleaders we get the best seats in the house and we are right in the middle of all the action. The players’ play inches away from us and we get to see every play played out right before our eyes. The energy in the arena is an experience in its own. To feel the excitement from the crowd and to hear them chant defiantly changes the whole experience. Basketball season has only just begun and it seems like this is going to be a great season.

Cheering On College Sports

Even though my favorite aspect of cheerleading is stunting my second favorite aspect of cheerleading is cheering at games. normally cheerleader, on top of practice, also cheer and appear at games at least twice a week and some weeks there are 3 games in one week that we must attend. We cheer are games no matter the weather.No matter if its raining, sunshine or freezing temperatures. Games are the most exciting and thrilling part of cheerleading. Here at Saint Johns we cheer for soccer and basketball. Due to the very successful soccer team the turn out of fans for the soccer games are great and it is defiantly great to cheer on your team with so many other supporters around. It defiantly effects a game when the fans are there and they join in with us. If there were no fans the games wouldn't not be as fun. For soccer games we cheer at Belson stadium. However for basketball we cheer at Carnesecca arena as well as at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN!!! The thrill of cheering at madison square garden is unbelievable the rush you get when you walk out onto the court to cheer on your team and you look up into the stand sand see how big the arena actually is. IT IS MIND BLOWING.


peace love and cheer

Cheer Camp

This year was my first year going to college cheer camp. High school cheer camp is not the same as college cheer camp. First off at college cheer camp we stay in dorms. And the food is a lot better at college cheer camp. However college cheer camps are a lot more difficult. Since this was the first time I was at college camp there was a lot for me to learn. There were new pyramid to learn and new stuns and new techniques to learn. So this year I was very excited to learn anything. Cheer camp was approximately 4 days. And every day started with breakfast. After breakfast we would head to our classes. We would have a cheer class and a stunting class and then a pyramid class. Then we would go to lunch. after lunch we would find a quiet place on campus and go over cheers. Than once lunch was over we would go back to classes.  We would go to stunting class, pyramid class and basket class. Then we would go to dinner. After dinner we were given time to go over our stunts and have a UCA staff member critique us and help us to fix our cheers and stunts up. And we did this every day. And the last day we perform our stunts and get judged and get placed and get awards.

Cheerleading Nationals Skills Tape

The days are dwindling down and now we must all start thinking about cheerleading nationals. Our qualification tape is due soon and now the team is trying to perfect out stunts.  The qualifications tape is sent into UCA and if you score high enough they could give you a bid. And a bid is when UCA gives you money toward your trip to nationals as well as you get to skip different round if you are that good. We are now starting to try new stunts and getting out stuns up to par to tape and send in.  We start at the easy things and then once we succeed at the easy things as a team we proceed on in difficulty. However it is vital they we succeed at things as a team. Our qualifications tape is a TEAM SKILLS tape. Every group must be able to hit the difficult stunt. If one group can’t do it we must try something else or continue trying until we all can do the most difficult stunt we can do together as a team.  Your team is only as strong as your weakest team member.

Pictures!!!

Cheerleading Injuries

there is a large risk while being a cheerleader that you will get injured.  All sports present a risk of being injured. Even sports like ping pong can cause injuries. What makes cheerleading particularly well known for injuring team member is because of the type of injuries cheerleaders suffer. While cheerleaders can easily suffer common injuries like sprains and strains, “a few widely publicized studies note that cheerleaders suffer more injuries resulting in death or paralysis than any other sport including football.  This, coupled with the widely publicized death of cheerleaders like Lauren Chang, has caused many organizations to tighten regulations around the types of stunts cheerleading squads can perform and the safety precautions squads should take.” “Nearly 25,000 Cheerleaders Ended up in the Emergency Room in 2007” however most of these injuries were minor injuries such as sprained ankles, twisted knees or other more minor injuries.  However cheerleading is very competitive sport not only with other teams but also with in teams themselves. If one of us gets hurt if you step out you can easily be replaced. So if you were to get hurt would just shake it off and keep going unless it is a very serious or critical injury. however no matter what a cheerleader represents the strngth to pull through and in the end end up alright.

peace love and cheer
danielle

A Cheerleading Article

This is an article from USA Today speaking very highly of cheerleading. It even mentions the growing obsession with cheerleading.  It also discusses celebrities and public figures that have dabbled in cheerleading. Click the link below to check out the whole article...
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/_stories/2002-04-26-cheerleading-cover.htm

Why Cheerleading Is A Sport

Recently there has been a lot of controversy about cheerleading being a real sport or not. So I have decided to share my opinion on this topic. Because I am cheerleader I know that cheerleading is a sport because I know what goes into cheerleading and what it takes to be a cheerleader. However my simple opinion doesn’t change the way people think. People need so kind of hard evidence or proof. So a sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity requiring commitment. Cheerleading defiantly fits into all these aspects. Cheerleading is defiantly and organized sport. We have organized practices and in theory we are an organization. Cheerleading is defiantly competitive. At nationals as well as other competitions top cheerleading teams come together to compete to see who is the best. And this isn’t only in college; high school as well as elementary school teams compete as well. Cheerleading is defiantly a skillful sport. Not just anyone could decide that one day they will become a cheerleader it takes time and dedication to learn and master the craft of cheerleading. It takes a tremendous amount of skill to even attempt most of the stunts we do and it takes even more skill to hit stunts as we do. And cheerleading above all things is defiantly a commitment. Cheerleader are busy 5 out of 7 days of the week and if we even have 2 days off all we do is think of cheerleading or work out to make ourselves stronger for the next practice and to hit the next hardest stunt. However people will think what they want and until they attempt to try it they  some will never see that cheerleading is truly a sport.

peace love and cheer
danielle

College Cheerleading Stunts

One of my favorite aspects of college cheerleading and just cheerleading in general is the stung aspect of cheerleading. In college we do many complex stunts. From simple pyramids to extreme multi level pyramids to co-ed stunts to extreme flipping baskets pretty much anything. However the risk of getting injured or failing is quite high when you add extreme elements to cheerleading. However once you work hard at whatever you want to achieve you will succeed and it makes you feel so happy and it shows you that your hard work and concentration was all worth it. Hence the reason why stunting is my favorite part of cheerleading. Here are some pictures of what stunts we do.

pyramids

flipping stunts

co-ed stunts

high flying baskets

as you can see fomrthese pictures these stunts to some seem crazy but to cheerleaders this is just noraml to us.

peace love and cheer

danielle

A College Cheerleading Practice

       College Cheerleading practices are extremely intense. First off practice begins with 4 laps around Carnesecca arena. After we run out laps we stretch. We start off with leg stretches and then to back stretches then the arms and shoulder stretches. Then go straight into stunting we start with the basics. We get into our stunt groups and start with 5 preps, 5 extensions, and 5 liberties. Then after we do 5 of each we can then begin on whatever stunt that we are working on that day. Whether it is quarter ups, or full ups or full downs or 360s or any other stunts that we need to perfect. Then we move on to either basket tosses or pyramids. Basket tosses are the stunts that the flyer goes really high in the air. If anyone has seen any bit of cheerleading they have defiantly see a stunt where the girl goes flying in the hair and does a crazy trick. Or we do pyramids. we frequently practice a basic 2-2-1 pyramid. The pyramid consists of 2 girls on the bottom each of these girls have one girl standing on their shoulders. And then one girl get tossed up to the top. Hence the 2-2-1.

Then after that we then do some conditioning. We do 3 sets 50 crunches and we do a push up circle. A push up circle is when the whole team gets into a circle then every goes into push up position and one b one we do 3 pushups and while other people do their pushups we all stay in push up position. Then we do 2 sets of 3 second handstand against a wall. And this all happens in just 3 hours


peace love and cheer
danielle

A College Cheerleaders Schedule

          Since this is my first blog I thought I would begin with the basics of a college cheerleading schedule. First off college cheerleading as a whole consists of practices and games. At St John ’s University we cheer for women’s and men’s soccer, and women’s and men’s basketball and sometimes volleyball. All these games usually fall on Fridays Sundays and/or  Wednesdays. On top of attending and cheering at games we also practice three times a week for 3 hours at a time. My practice schedule is usually Tuesday Thursdays and Sundays. As you can see a college cheerleaders life is quite busy. We are usually busy Tuesdays with practice, Wednesdays with games, Thursdays with practice, Fridays with games, and Sundays with practices or games. Cheerleaders are busy 5 days out of 7 days a week. On top of all of this we also juggle being successful college students as well. Most people believe cheerleading is a joke however if you are a cheerleader you know its defiantly not. We dedicate so much time as well as sweat to everything we do and cheerleading is definitely a full time commitment.

peace love and cheer
danielle