All You Need is Love

Since the time I was 13 years old, cheerleading has been a part of my life.  After 5 years of competitive cheerleading throughout middle and high school I went onto 2 years of university cheerleading.  I have also coached many teams all of which have been a variety of age and skill levels.  When I took a teaching job in rural Saskatchewan, it just seemed natural that I start a cheer team.  Cheer is a difficult sport for most people to understand.  Most have a difficult time even classifying it as a sport let alone understanding that there are competitions of more than 2,500 athletes that take place right in our very own province!  Needless to say, starting up a team was a major task and long journey.

As with anything, I dive in with big plans and big goals.  Once again, students joined not fully understanding the sport and my administration agreed that offering another extra-curricular program could only be positive for the students, but did not quite know what was to come.  The season started off very difficult with keeping students involved and getting a practice schedule set.  As many small schools experience, it is typically the same students involved in the activities, sports and clubs not to mention top academic students.  These students run themselves thin trying to do everything and be a part of it all, so adding in another activity was a difficult commitment for many.  However, we ended up with a strong 8 girls who were willing to commit and give it shot.

Our first competition!  We were a hit!

We started with nothing and finished the season with everything: a complete routine, uniforms, successful competition standings and our cheer family.  The 8 girls (along with family and friends)  fundraised over $10,000 which paid for uniforms, competition fees, travel, hotel and accommodations.  We attended 4 competitions and travelled all over the province to be a part of this exciting sport.  We placed top 3 at all of the competitions but that was not our biggest achievement...

This small team truly became a family and became role models within their school and community.  Their peers, families and teachers were blown away by their skills!  The theme to our music was "love" and the girls truly took that to heart.  They went through so many ups and downs throughout the year but they would always pull through because they didn't want to let down their "family".  They really taught me a lot about being a coach and a positive role model.  In the past, I feel like the cheer teams I coached were already established programs where things just seemed easy.  I would show up and coach athletes who were knowledgeable and experienced.  This experience was so much different but yet so much more rewarding.  I am so proud of my team!  As a teacher and a coach, one of the most rewarding parts of the season was when we were asked to perform at the Director's Lunch by the Director of Education himself.  Although there were other established and higher competitive teams in our division, it was us that got invited and we were all ecstatic!

The last thing I truly learned about being a coach of such a special team was that these students truly made me see why I became a teacher and a coach.  Although teachers do not get paid to coach, the "payment" I received from coaching this team was more gratifying than any paycheck I have received.  My first couple years of teaching were extremely difficult and I was so thankful for the opportunity these girls gave me.  All I needed was love!