Blog 17

For this blog, I choose to post my observations from a practice which I observed.  The cheerleading team is a group of very interesting girls, that if for sure.

Before any practice goes on, the cheerleaders walk into the gym talking, full of happiness and joy to see one another.  They put on their "cheer gear" which, includes shorts, a tank top/t-shirt, and sneakers.  The coaches then instruct the girls that they have a few minutes left until it is time to stretch on the mat.

The practice then starts with a crucial warm up consisting of crunches, push-ups, leg lifts, and cheer stretches (straddle stretches, splits, handstands).  Two cheerleaders (usually the captains, unless they cannot attend) stand in front of the team and count out the warm-up so each cheerleader spends enough time on each stretch and everyone is on the same page.  When i observed, the captains were at practice so they were able to run the warm up.  Through the means of an eight-count, the cheerleaders communicate with one another how long each stretch should be held.  After stretching, coaches then instruct the cheerleaders to warm up their tumbling (gymnastic skills).  

Of course, in-between the stretching and moving to the first stunt, there is chatting between one another. (Between the cheerleaders) The coaches just observe the girls as they walk to their spots.

When the girls finally are ready to tumble, each cheerleader runs through his or her part in the routine throwing flip after flip.  It is here where they encourage each other most.  After each cheerleader goes, everyone claps and cheers them on.  While a person is warming up their skill, most cheerleaders use phrases like “come on” or “you got this” to encourage them to do a great job and finish the skill strong.  Once, again, there are side chats going on while the girls wait on line for their turn.   

Once the coaches feel the tumbling skills are ready, they instruct the cheerleaders to get into their stunts so they can warm them up.  The girls and boy walked like snails to their first stunt.  It took a while for them to disburse from their tumbling groups.  While warming up stunts, cheerleaders talk with one another to explain what is going wrong and what is going good.  It is here they blame most of their problems on their “top girl” or flyer for falling out of her stunt.  Some stunts hit perfect, others fell more than once.  There was a lot of frustration on the faces of the girls who stunts were falling.  They tended to make mean and rude comments to one another.  The stunt just continued to fall because of the mixed frustration.  

Coaches then tell the cheerleaders to move onto their next stunts.  The mood from the previous stunt carries over and continues.  All cheerleaders now have an attitude because their feelings rub off on one another.  Eventually, everyone is giving attitude to everyone.  Some girls yell to the team to "shut up".  The coaches then become extremely frustrated and have to get involved.  They exclaim to the girls that they volunteer their time here because they love it and they are being very disrespectful.  The cheerleaders then continue what they have to do quietly but there is still a "bad vibe" of attitude in the air.  The coaches tell the cheerleaders to get a drink and when they walk to their stuff, they talk, role eyes and check their cell phones.

For the remainder of practice, girls continuously run through the routine fixing corrections along the way, the attitudes seem to seize but tensions are high.  The corrections are fixed after the routine is completed.  The coaches communicate with the girls and boy on what went wrong, providing suggestions on what can be fixed and how it can be fixed.  Throughout the routine, the cheerleaders talk with one another, counting, encouraging, and reminding each other of corrections, trying to not be rude to one another.  There is not much attitude but, still the mood is present.  Attitudes arise but not bad enough for the coaches to get involved again.

When practice is coming to an end, the coaches have the cheerleaders sit in a circle around the front of the room.  Here, they communicate some more reviewing how practice went and what went good and bad.  The cheerleaders as well as coaches put in their input on how they feel.  Sometimes it is just the coaches who speak if the practice went really bad.  The circle is a time to reflect and relax, a different side to the vigorous and tough practice they had just experienced.  When the coaches feel they have covered everything that went on during practice, they move on to any upcoming events, practice times, and money payments.