Motivation and 'Getting Mental'

I know that physically I am not the best person for Cheerleading. I have skinny wrists, my muscles can barely hold up my own body, I have horribly frizzy long hair (annoying for the flyers who might have to sit on it) big goofy feet that I often trip over... I know I'm being hard on myself and there are a lot of things which make me ideal for different parts of cheerleading such as my height, my balance, and my graceful swan-like jumps (har har) but I feel when I concentrate on the negatives I am more motivated to do something about them.

I also get motivation from watching other squads. I don't think it's a competitive thing, it's just always been my way to learn from example. The same is true when it comes to my art or performance, I genuinely enjoy watching and supporting others in my field be they better or worse, because in the end we are all in the same boat. I think a lot of the stuff I have learned has been perfected through repeatedly watching other people. For example; I want to learn stronger, tighter gymnastics for cheer, so watching other squads put more complicated gymnastics into their routines like it's nothing is a real inspiration to me...

Look at those guys! They are well built single basers but they smoothly transition from complex stunting (see the dismount from the stunt at 1:50?) to sweet ass gymnastics with amazing confidence. What stops me from practising what I know I can already do? Fear. I've seen and heard so many examples of  gymnastics going wrong that I simply bottle it whenever it comes to practising gymnastics.

A video exists on facebook (on a friends account, I don't have it) of me performing a series of back handsprings. I watch that video over and over and simply cannot remember doing them. I can see myself performing the back handspring, but when it comes to doing it myself I'll bottle it and twist awkwardly on the jump. I've gone from being confident enough to perform on film, and repeatedly performing the same (relatively simple) tumble to being too scared to try again. While at FCC in Czech, I had the opportunity to try the back tuck on a sprung floor with two spotters, and I was too scared to try it. It doesn't bother me if other people know I'm scared (it's quite a valid thing to be scared of) but what bothers me is that the fear is stopping me from being a better cheerleader. I owe it to my squad and to myself to get this right and to at least try. With practice I will not be scared any more, but I'm too scared to practice.

Watching video's such as the above gives me the motivation to try. At least, it does when I am sitting here. When I get to the tumble mat at the gym, I'll bottle it again. I think I need to find other sources of motivation. Jealousy is another one I guess, but so far I haven't found anyone to truly be jealous of (I'm also not the type of person to be jealous but every once in a while...)

A friend of mine who taught me some gymnastics called it 'getting mental.' The state at which you stop caring about the danger of the tumble your performing and just go for it. I've only experienced that once or twice. With practice, I am assured, it will be a permanent state. According to the others in my squad the back tuck is pretty much a first time deal. Once you try it, you pretty much get it in your head to just keep practising. They said this, but I've tried the back tuck before. I bailed. I think it'll take me much longer to get mental than I originally thought and I have no idea why. I'm normally the person to try it; normally the person to get it right. I'm still the only one in the squad to have done a series of back handsprings.

I'm just going to do it. Just do it. Next practice, I am not reporting back until I at least try it.

Taking Things Seriously.

One of the things which I have been musing over this past week has been the following: How seriously do you take Cheerleading?

This question has a few layers and is not so black and white for someone like me as it might be for say, someone who can devote a lot of time to it and doesn't carry much stigma in regards to being a Cheerleader. The main variable to my being that I am a man, and not a particularly athletic man at that. This is something I am working on, but it needs to be said that in terms of strength and appearance, I am quite weedy. A weedy male Cheerleader is not really the making of an athlete, nor is it someone you would think twice about ridiculing for being even more emasculated on a cheer squad.

I was bullied a lot as a child for nothing other than my ridiculously-curly celtic hair. Having grown through that I have something of a thick skin when it comes to verbal abuse from others; I'm actually grateful for it. However, they say your friends are the ones that can hurt you the most, and so how much are you able to take Cheerleading seriously when your squaddies make light of the fact that you are learning arm movements and counts and facials. It is illogical I know, but it's something which present itself this week in abundance: If a guy takes Cheerleading seriously, he is a pariah to the other guys.

Now, I'm not saying all squads are like this. Fact is we have an unusually even ratio between guys and girls in out squad when at low attendance, we took four girls and four guys to Czech with us. While our circumstances at FCC were unique in that we had a guy with us who isn't a Cheerleader, and doesn't like Cheerleading, I still noticed it was all too easy to slip in the "I'm not doing THAT" mentality.

This wasn't just with our squad. The camp was made up for about a hundred and fifty girls to maybe fifteen or twenty boys (at a push.) A few were the body building strong man type, built for lifting, some were my build and others a little chunkier, so we had a nice mix. I started to notice something when we were working on learning pre-game mix arm-movements. There seemed to be an unspoken consensus amongst many of the other guys that they were not going to try to learn the movements correctly or with passion (to match the girls.) I'm not trying to imply that the other guys didn't try their hardest, but if they did, well...  Fact is, with some of the stunts the muscle men were pulling I am encouraged to assume that they have been cheering for a while. There just seems to be a stigma even within Cheerleading that guys are okay doing stunts and tumbling, but learning cheers and chants is somehow...  I don't know, beneath them? Gay? Not masculine enough?

I wasn't embarrassed learning the chants or cheers, but I did feel self conciouss knowing that the other guys were not trying as hard, not taking it as seriously. It's a little amusing and a little sad that while I may be weedy when it comes to single basing and scary tumbles, I have the courage to take on some measly arm movements and shout my lungs off at the chant without worrying what other people think of me. This point takes me back to what I mentioned earlier, about how it's our friends that can hurt us.

How can male Cheerleaders not fully embrace Cheerleading? Isn't it foolish to assume that lifting girls is an acceptable aspect for male Cheerleaders but chants and motions is a step too far? Notice I haven't mentioned dancing at all. This is something I have yet to experience but the men in my squad don't seem to have much problem dancing (well, from the little experience we've had at comp.)

I remember my squad and I cheered at the last varsity rugby match of the year just before the summer. It was our biggest sporting cheer we'd done, also one of our first. Something happened that I didn't expect (foolishly;) The other guys and I started getting abuse for being male Cheerleaders shout at us from some men in the audience. It sort of floored me at the time because I didn't see it coming. I just thought we were going to go there, do some stunts, the girls do dance, and then cheer when its over. Now I know what to expect I will be able to handle it a little better next time, but it was one of the occasions where being a male Cheerleader actually hit home; people won't respect you unless you look like you can lift a truck.

You can imagine my disappointment when I got to FCC and saw all these strong guys who are able to extend a flyer by themselves doing what can only be described as amateur arm movements and jumps. The arm movements I can kind of understand, even though we were all taught the technique at the same time, some people pick these things up faster than others. But the jumps? Really? The muscle these guys were carrying in their legs...  but height isn't that much of an issue. Technique can make a low jump shine like a new penny. Don't get me wrong, my jumps are not so great, neither are my arm placements, but there was a considerable improvement between the first and last days of camp for me.

Come on guys. Your already Cheerleading, if you were worried about looking emasculated you should have considered this before entering the game. The rest of your squad are counting on you to try your best, you are doing a disservice to them by not trying to improve all of your aspects of cheer, not just lifting and stunts. Think of it this way: If everyone else in your squad is hitting clasps with their elbows together, straightening their arms on their high V's, pointing their toes on their toe touches and smiling during transitions and your not, who looks like the fool? Who looks like they don't know what their doing? Your letting your squad down by not taking things seriously and worrying too much about what the other guys will think of you if you even hint that your taking Cheer seriously. Heaven forbid you actually get caught enjoying it!

I'm very fortunate to have guys on my squad who not only have a sense of humour about the whole male Cheerleading things, but also know when it's time to knuckle down and get some hard work done. The worst thing besides being made to feel inferior by the crowd at a game is being made to feel inferior by your squad mates. I am lucky that the male squaddies I cheer with are as dedicated as the girls are at making sure our technique keeps up with our physical ability.

I'll gain muscle, enough to get a flyer in the air on my own, and enough to reach a shoulder height toe touch. I'll gain flexibility, enough to hit a scorpion without hurting myself (no foolin') and an above the head heel stretch. I will also remember to keep my elbows together on my clasp, to point my toes, and to smile.

Come on guys, be men, do it for your squad.

Introducing: Do a Toe Touch!

Having just returned home from my first FCC camp in Czech Republic, I have decided to make a blog for all things related to Cheerleading. This is because I have a few endeavours in my life, some are larger commitments than others, and while my regular blog may handle the little day-to-day things, this blog is solely for my thoughts and other information relevant to myself and Cheerleading in general.

So, a little about me. I am a student of the University of Salford, currently just starting a second year BA Hons in Media and Performance. I already have a Higher National Diploma in the same subject as well as numerous side-line qualifications in art, fitness & diet, psychology, computing and sign language. I have been Cheerleading for just about two years now and while I have been volunteering as an assistant-coach for the past few months I am yet to take my coach training for the official qualification. I should have stated already that I am British, I live in the north west of England and so I have the wonderful experience of being a cheerleader in a culture which is only now slowly embracing it as an acceptable past time (let alone a recognised athletic sport.) I am also a boy.

My squad is the university squad affiliated with the students union. If you would like to visit our lovingly hard coded website developed by yours truly (I told you I had a qualification in computing) to find out more about us; The Salford Sirens, I would be honoured. We are operating at 'Level 2' which is a category in British Cheerleading meaning we can pretty much do anything beneath the difficulty of an un-braced extended lib. This categorisation is only for competitions however and we routinely build ambitious stunts in practice for use at sports performances.

My skills focus on tumbling and stunting, though I would only consider myself average at both. I am trying to be braver in pushing myself to do riskier things. Also, if your a follower of my regular blog you will know that I have been trying to build upper body strength in the hope of being able to lift more, faster and with greater control.

I have a few ideas in my head kicking around as what to write about; Pet peeves, questions I have been pondering, guides and musings etc which will be in the coming weeks and months so feel free to pop back.