TBT - What Spring Used to Mean to Me

So, yeah.  Here's a picture of me in the seventh grade.  Yup.  I was a cheerleader.

I went to Carver Middle School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Our colors were purple and white and we were the Wildcats.  CMS was a 45 minute bus ride from my house every morning.  Our middle and high school were into sports on a level that rivals Webb City's love of all things athletic.  I'm pretty sure they still are.

Spring time for me back then meant getting ready for cheer try-outs. The week long clinic to get ready.  Muscles not used to being used getting sore from stretching.  Endless stretching, stretching, stretching to get those splits that were a requirement for cheerleaders back then.  And jumps.  Lots and LOTS of jumps.  Learning the pom-pom routine to whatever disco hit was big at the time.  But I loved every bit of it!

Some things I remember about seventh grade cheerleading:

This was back in the day of pleated cheer skirts and large, poofy pom-poms.  I spent HOURS trying to get the perfect Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader hair.  And hated doing it.  I was not a girly-girl.  I was into cheerleading for the athleticism of it.  I liked being the only one on the squad who could tumble.  I liked going to the football and basketball games and getting to be LOUD.  I definitely remember liking the loud part of being a cheerleader!

We will soon be at the time of year when some of our very own sixth grade girls ( and maybe even boys! ) will be working towards seventh grade cheerleader tryouts themselves.   I wish them all the best of luck and hope they enjoy their experiences as much as I did!