By Meaghan Paige Morton
Concussions, tears, and vomit are the first things that come to my mind when I think of this week. To go back to the same building, see the same instructors, and see the same schedule being played out in front of me took me far back in time (about a year ago), when I myself was wearing a matching uniform and trying not to pass out from working too hard and a lack of sleep. No, I am not talking about some sick camp that puts young girls through the wringer, I am referring to cheer camp.
I am a recent graduate of Malakoff High School and a former mascot. I traveled to Waco this week to watch my friends perform and compete in cheer camp and what I saw was an all too familiar sight filled with sweat, bruises, and stress. I stepped into the gym and it took me back.
…… It was just my first year of cheer camp, so far I had only received first place ribbons for each of my mascot evaluations, and the next big evaluation could land me a spot as an All American Mascot, a sought after award for all mascots across the country. Now, this may not seem like a big deal to most, but being the competitive perfectionist I am, I had put a lot of stress on myself and I had to have that spot as an All American. But, for the evaluation, I had to think of an entirely different skit. One that we had not performed yet, something … original. I sat and I thought and I boiled over a few ideas, but eventually the stress took hold and all of a sudden, I started bawling. Mrs. Hancock our cheer coach eventually settled me down and I was ready, but the stress was still high. I got the spot as an All American that year.
…… It was my second year of cheer camp and I was bent over the toilet again, puking my guts out from a mixture of allergies and stress. Every morning since the start of camp it had been this way and it had been going strong for about three days, so of course my body wouldn’t let me down on the fourth day.
…… Eventually it was my third year of cheer camp, my last year. That day a squad member fell from a stunt and hit her head pretty hard. Everyone was sure she had a concussion, but we let her sleep it off. I’m just kidding, she didn’t get to sleep because later that night she fell out of the bed and hit her head again. While she is alright now, we didn’t know for sure at the time.
I know this may all seem terrible and you are probably thinking, why do we let these girls go to cheer camp? It sounds horrible! It’s really not. The good will always outweigh the bad. We learn new routines, some of us may pretend we are the new flyer of the group and accidentally fall off a chair in the hotel room and send it pounding into the balcony window, while the rest of us in the room hide and pray to God that Mrs. Hancock didn’t hear the loud bang from her room. A lot of us will make new friends, some of those friends might scream at you for setting the alarm too early in the morning or they may scream at you for not setting the alarm at all and you being late to the hotel lobby in the morning. But through all of this, as I stepped into the gym as a former mascot and a graduate, only the good memories flooded into my brain, and the thought of not having to go through any of the bad parts again just made the thoughts of the good things that much sweeter.
That day I got to witness my friends and former squad members compete and receive some of the top awards given at National Cheerleading Association camps. Knowing what they had to go through to earn these awards just makes me that much more proud of them. I hope this story makes the readers realize that with every bad time that you may have, good things and even better memories will come out of it.
