Blog#4

High school cheerleading/dance/pom/and pep squads are often mistaken for each other. I can recall several moments in my own cheerleading career that people became confused about the differences between teams. My team and I were photographed in the newspaper, but the caption read ”Goodrich Dance Team”. My team had also been falsely introduced at a football game as well as pep assembly as the dance team. Students in school would always ask “you’re on the dance team or a cheerleader or something, right?” as if to assume that they are even relatively the same thing.

                I had a best friend for almost seven years; she was on the dance team freshman year through senior year, as I was on the varsity cheerleading team all four years of high school (All my dance team knowledge is from her, not from researched sources).To my best understanding, the main difference between a cheerleading team and dance team is that cheerleading is a sport, and dance is not. Dance, though a very physical activity is considered an art form. At my high school, dance was technically a club, meaning that they would receive no funding from the school. Cheerleading, a long-time school activity is provided a small budget, but most of the money we spent was fundraised ourselves.

                Both dance and cheer teams compete. Being a competitive team is a choice of course, but has come to be expected of most high-school teams. Another thing that people are usually unaware of is that dance teams want to be differentiated from Pom teams. Pom is a form of dance team that dances with more “robotic” motions, similar to cheer motions. A pep squad is nowhere even close to what dance or cheer teams are today, but somehow that phrase always seems to get thrown in there. A pep squad is simply an unofficial group of students creating posters and such with the goal of creating school spirit.

                The main problem here is that there will always be an “odd-man-out” school that will refer to their cheerleading team as a pep squad, or mix up a name and then it screws up hundreds of other peoples definitions of these different teams. Most people don’t really care to learn the specific differences, but knowing these differences can prevent members of these teams from being offended.

Above is a pom team, the pom-poms themselves do not make the team but is often a give-away when it comes to team pictures. Mid-driftsare usually mandatory with cheerleading uniforms(a long sleeved turtleneck undershirt). Also cheerleaders never wear tights with their uniforms, that is a dead give away that the team is dance or pom.

Blog#3

Well that time is coming once again, competitive cheer season. All around the nation cheerleaders are getting ready for the busy months ahead. According to NCA (National Cheerleading Association) rules, teams are not allowed to begin learning routines until the middle November. Tryouts back at my high school were the week before so that we could get a head start, by already having a team put together. Every day of practice counts when you are being compared to other teams.

Cheerleading tryouts can be held several different ways. For many years my high school held partner tryouts. Girls would need to choose a partner, this process allows the girls to become acquainted and build a team bond. Partner tryouts also cut down on time, individual performances can take all day. Sometimes, girls can feel very intimidated while trying out alone in front of several judges. Trying out with a partner helps take away some of the nervousness. Girls trying out together are required to match, bows and all. This matching is actually quite important to the judges/coach, it shows the girls dedication as well as ability to follow rules.

In competition and every cheerleading event conformity is actually encouraged. Girls must have the same exact clothing, shoes, hair, bow and sometimes makeup. Since the point of routines is to match timing exactly and have the best visual performance as possible, there is no room for individuality when it comes to appearance. If a girl is wearing different shoes all the attention goes directly to her and the overall performance of the team is unnoticed and damaged. Just as if a girl is out of formation or missing motions, attention is drawn to the mistake. Cheerleading is a team sport is you have ever seen one, synchronization is key.

Competitive season cheer tryouts consist of learning the mandatory motions for round two. In most cases, I find it best for round two to begin with the mandatory sequence so that they are executed with great detail and get over with right away. These motions are changed every year and determined by the NCA. Each coach must go to meetings to get handouts and directions to what these motions are. Girls learn in mass at tryouts. The girls also get a chance to use the mats to warm-up and demonstrate any tumbling skills that they have. During try-outs we would also test out some new stunt groups.

sometimes girls are assigned numbers when trying out. In my tight-knit community however, we pretty much knew every girls name so this was not necessary.

Blog#2 (Movie Review)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I would categorize this movie as a romantic comedy. I got pretty much what I expected when it came to that genre; few funny moments, romance, that’s pretty much it.

The story line follows Peter, who works as a sound technician for a crime television show similar to CSI or NCIS. The beautiful blonde star of the show, Sarah Marshall, has been dating Peter for five years. Right off the bat we witness the rather anti-climactic breakup and montage of this depression thereafter. Peter realizes that he deserves a getaway, what better place than Hawaii. Soon after arriving at his resort he spots none other than his ex, the famous Sarah Marshall, and she is not alone. Despite the fact that he came to a getaway to “forget Sarah Marshall” the cute and friendly hotel employee Rachel convinces him to stay and enjoy himself. The next few days are filled with convenient and repetitive awkward run-ins with Sarah and her British rock-star boyfriend. These run-ins didn’t provide as much comedy or laughs for me as I would’ve hoped, like sitting at the table a crossed from them at dinner, attending the same yoga class, or getting the room right next door, just seemed very expected and dull to me. Putting it in those lines, it followed the romantic comedy “rules” very well seeing as those movies always seem to be predictable. There was however an unexpected twist that makes you question if the movie was leading you the wrong way. Another romance sparks between Peter and Rachel (who personally, I vote for). Peter seems to befriend most of the hotel employees in his four days there. The movie sticks true to its name; it is all centered on the breakup and his getting over it. I also sense that there was some kind of message, lesson, or relationship wisdom you were supposed to pick up at the end, but I was unsure as to what it was. In the end it did leave you with a goodish feeling, as true with most romantic comedies, when they stick to the rules of course. The feeling of the movie can be easily compared to Knocked Up or The 40 Year Old Virgin.

An example of stereotypes to quickly introduce a character would definitely have to be the character of Aldous Snow (Sarah’s new boyfriend). He has/ needs no background because they classify him as the British rockstar; the audience automatically assumes everything else. I am not sure why “male British rockstar” is a stereotype but I can think of several examples: Zenon The Zequel, Confessisions of a Teenage Dramaqueen, and Get Him To The Greek.

I was slightly disappointed in this movie. I believe I would’ve enjoyed it much more if it wasn’t “hyped up” or spoken so greatly to me by other people. I enjoyed the quirky charm of this movie, and thought the casting of Jason Segal as Peter and Mila Kunis as Rachel was perfect. I disliked however the casting of Kristen Bell as Sarah Marshall. I am not sure whether I just didn’t not like Sarah Marshall as a character or what but she just came off a snooty b*tch the whole time. I did not connect with that character at all, just felt like it was bad acting. I believe that it is one of those movies you have to watch with friends when you are in a goofy mood to laugh at. Overall, it was a nice movie that might give you a few smirks or small giggles. Worth watching on a rainy day, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.

Blog#1

Cheerleading is a wonderful sport. Yes, sport don’t let idiots fool you, cheerleading is a very physical an active sport that requires a great deal of skill and energy. I was recently a varsity cheerleader at Goodrich High School from 2006-2010. We were a competitive cheerleading team like most nowadays. Being a competitive cheerleading team means that you compete in competitions, the competitions consist of each team performing a series of three routines. These routines are referred to as rounds. Competitive season lasts from November to March http://nca.varsity.com/.  In the fall is football season cheer in which we do simple chants for football games and pep assemblies. It is kind of viewed as training season for competition.

            Recently I ventured back to my hometown of Goodrich, Michigan for the school’s homecoming. At homecoming, the alumni cheerleaders are welcome to cheer the third quarter of the game out on the track with the other cheerleaders. It felt great to be back out there. I did a couple of bac­k­­- handsprings with some old friends, even got put up in the stunt. Man, do I miss stunting. I loved being out there cheery and happy having the fans watch me again. It gives me a little rush of excitement. Cheerleaders are also very vital to football season. Half of the homecoming experience is having the cheerleaders there, what would high school football be without spirit? It would be lacking the happiness that cheerleaders bring to the community.

Also on homecoming I came up to the school early to watch my old team (minus the seniors, plus a few) perform their pep assembly routine. Pep assembly is a routine we could get really excited about. It is almost like all rounds of competition smushed into one, but without all the thousands of rules constricting/ limiting us. Pep assembly also is put to a mix of music, which recently (my freshman year of high school 2006-2007) was removed for the competitive cheerleading world in Michigan as well as many other states. Routines most be spoken, and loudly with inflection. Voices are judged and scored very strongly. Most people are hoping to have music be restored because it brings more of a fun an entertainment factor to it all, especially for spectators that don’t really know the cheerleading world.

I took this picture in Daytona Beach, Florida in April 2010 on spring break when much to my surprise my friend Jenna, who cheered with me at Goodrich for three years until she graduated in 2009, was competing with the MSU all girls team. She is a backspot in the center-right group.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7gF5HHHxjI

couldnt figure out how to get this video up but it is Rochester, one of my all time favorite teams that we competed against. They always impress me.