Cheer Expo By Gabby Canzoniero

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2nd grade. My first cheer expo. My first impression was seeing what felt like hundreds of cheerleaders, all older than me, and all amazing at cheer. 10th grade. Now as a coach, there are barely any cheerleaders, almost all younger than me. In second grade, an entire side of bleachers was filled with cheerleaders and their coaches. Two 2nd grade teams, two 3rd and 4th grade teams, two 5th and 6th grade teams, and two 7th and 8th grade teams for game cheer. And one 3rd and 4th grade team, 5th and 6th grade team, and 7th and 8th grade team for competition cheer. Along with the High School cheerleaders, there were probably 170 cheerleaders.

10th grade. My 6th or 7th cheer expo, though it should have been my 9th. At this year's cheer expo, there were two Kindergarten and 1st grade teams, two 3rd and 4th grade teams, and one 5th through 8th grade team for game cheerleaders. And for the competition cheerleaders, there was only one 3rd through 8th grade team. Along with the High School cheerleaders, there were probably at most 100 cheerleaders.

This rapid decline of cheerleaders is crazy, and to me, it's kind of sad. Cheer when I was younger was this amazing thing for me to be a part of. It was a chance for me to interact with kids in my grade that I would have never otherwise interacted with. With cheer, we also got to have an ice cream social and every cheerleader received a trophy with their name on it and a pin for a flag that signifies how many years they have done cheer. Now, none of that exists. All there is is a cheer expo that sometimes gets canceled- and never rescheduled (which is why I've only gone to 6 or 7 cheer expos even though I've either coached or cheered for 9 years). It makes me sad that the Sparta youth cheer program has gone so downhill. The ice cream social, cheer expo, and so many other parts of cheer that don't exist now were the highlight of my cheer years.

As to why the youth cheer program has plummetted so much, I have no idea. It could be from girls wanting to do sports like soccer or volleyball, and they feel they can't do more than one activity. For competition cheer, it could be from girls quitting because it's too much of a commitment and not enough of a reward. All I know is that I'm nostalgic for the "old days" of cheer where the program was booming and it was nothing but fun.
 Second Grade        Tenth Grade

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 24, 2019 at 7:19 PM

    This makes me miss when I used to do cheer when I was little :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. DanielleNovember 26, 2019 at 6:34 AM

    Cute pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 28, 2019 at 6:03 PM

    I wish that I did cheer. I feel like I really missed out.

    ReplyDelete

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