Every practice has led up to this very moment. You know this a thrive or die moment. It’s your first varsity competition and you don’t think you can do it. There’s easily two hundred people in the bleachers: your parents, friends, strangers, and the other teams. They’ll all be watching and the last thing you want to do is break under the pressure.

The nagging reminder that everything could go wrong was no longer in the back of your mind. It had pushed its way to the front and was causing your heart rate to skyrocket. You start pacing the length of the cafeteria, waiting to be called into the warm up gym. No one was paying any attention to you, they all had their own nerves to attend to. Their ignorance was something you appreciated. If you heard another “You’ll be fine,” you know you’d freak out. How did they know you would be fine? You had just learned the entire routine a week prior and you were in the center of the mat on several occasions. All you can do is wait for the volunteers come to collect you and your team.

Five long minutes pass before you’re ushered into the small warm-up gym. You know that you have limited time in here, so your team immediately gets to work. The tumblers warm up their passes while you stand to the side and watch in awe. You would feel much more accepted onto the team if you could do something cool like them. However, only participating in two seasons of cheer, you know that you have some time before you’re capable of such things. The girl whom you replaced comes up to you and you two make small talk. You can’t help but think about how much better the routine would be with her instead of you. She could tumble like a professional, she was one of the strongest girls you knew, and she performed the dances to the best of her ability. However, you’re thankful for this opportunity to prove yourself, even though the only reason you obtained this position is because she hurt her back. Her loss was your gain and you felt bad for being so happy about her injury.

Your coach calls the whole team onto the mat and discusses the plan. You’re to run through the entire routine with music, do everything just the way you would during the real thing. Everyone gets into their starting position and one of your captains calls “Ready”, indicating everyone else to start the school chant. All you have to do in the beginning is a simple shoulder sit, but you can feel your nerves rise. What if she can’t get up? What if you stumble back and fall with the girl on your shoulders? For a brief second you shut your eyes to rid of the nerves. The next thing you know, the music is stopped and you’re breathing heavy. Looking around, you realize that you had just ran through the entire routine, and judging by the smiles on everyone’s flushed faces, everything had gone well. That realization causes a grin to slowly form on your face. Maybe everything will work out fine. Maybe every stunt will stick, every jump be high, and every tumbling pass perfect.

The timer in the room goes off, startling you out of your daydream. Now it’s time for the real thing. It’s time to perform in front of an audience and judges. You and your team walk out of the small gym just to be ushered into a much larger one. The large speakers on both sides of the gym are blasting out popular songs, getting everyone pumped for the next routine. Your routine. Your eyes are wide as you look around the gym, taking everything in. This is the biggest competition you’ve been to so far. Your adrenaline is racing, but you keep both your heartbeat
and breathing at a normal rate.

Your team huddles around the far right edge of the big blue mat. Your captains are giving an inspirational pep talk. However, you can’t pay attention, you’re currently giving yourself your own personal pep talk. Stay tight, count in your head, point your toes. You run over all the important aspects you’re going to be judged on. The checklist somehow calms your nerves and you zone back into reality. The music stops playing and the announcer introduces your team. You chant your beginning cheer with your team before turning and running onto the mat.
All you can hear is your own breathing as you get into position. The sounds of cheering and yelling are now nonexistent to you. You know that this is the moment that you have to give it your all. The next two and a half minutes will determine whether you keep your varsity title. The sound of the starting call sounds distant even though the girl is standing right next to you. Your shoulder sit goes up smoothly, giving you a new confidence you were lacking before. A smile is plastered on your face as you cheer out your school name.

The next two minutes pass in a blur. All you focus on is your pounding routine music that echoes throughout the entire gym. You can feel your mouth slightly moving while you count in sets of eight. It’s almost as if your body is moving without you telling it to. All those times that you’ve practiced the dances and jumps in your bedroom are paying off. Not once did you feel like something is going wrong. At the end, you’re finally able to hear the outside noises. The cheering from the crowd covers your heavy breathing. Your teammate that doubles as your best friend rushes over to you, looking just as excited as you felt.

Your whole team rushes off of the mat and into the hallway where your coaches are waiting. They also have huge smiles on their faces. While they praise the entire team you think of how different this competition was. It was more important than any other competition you’ve ever participated in. This one competition determined your entire career in cheer. The success that you experienced was one of the sole reasons you remained a varsity member. In the end, this competition gave you much more than a title. This competition gave you a new family that would stick by your side through thick and thin.