cheer=my life

If you haven't figured out yet, cheerleading is very important to me and it takes up a lot of my time. I cheer for two squads and practice over ten hours per week. Cheerleading, however, is not a sport that you can excel in by just going to practice. Personally, on top of practice, I take private tumbling twice a week and I work out anywhere from four to five times a week. One of my coaches once said that if we aren't sore and tired by the end of each practice than she didn't do her job. Each week we advance on not only skills but on conditioning as well. That is why it is so important for every cheerleader to do his or her part in and out of the gym so everyone is prepared and in shape for the following practices. We are a team so if one cheerleader isn’t trying 110% then the whole squad suffers. For example, during conditioning we get yelled at if we run too far ahead of the team. Call me selfish, but I feel that this shouldn’t happen. I understand that everyone runs at a different pace but if you are running and working out outside of practice then every person on the team should be able to keep up with the leading runners. It’s all about giving 110% all the time. I always say that it’s mind of matter because I believe that every person on both of my teams is capable of doing anything if they have their mind set to it!              

picture from high school of me and my coach

Vacation time

Today I realized how excited I am for Christmas break!! We have a vacation booked to go to Cancun again and i cannot wait. This will be my fourth trip to Cancun and each time it gets better! I remember the first time I went, I was in fourth grade and we bought so many souvenirs that by the end of the trip we couldn't fit them all in our luggage. My mom decided to just shove everything into our suitcases that went under the plane since we needed to get to the airport. When we got home that night, I opened my suitcase to find everything broke! I was so upset because my sister put her stuff in her carry-on so none of her souvenirs broke. My mom felt so bad that she tried to go online and order the stuff I picked out but that didn't work so well. The second year we went we went with my parents, sister Jaime and her at the time fiance, brother Colin and his girlfriend, and a couple that is good friends with my parents. This year, however, my sister and I are both taking our best friends with us so I’m expecting it to be the best trip yet. Maybe this time I’ll be a little smarter and not put breakable items under the plane!

Cheer CHEER Cheer...

Last night I had cheer practice for my competitive team and it got me really excited for January! January is when we start competing and going to competitions. Our routine is looking awesome and we are almost half-way through learning it. The tumbling run is five eight counts and it looks so sweet! My favorite part of the routine so far is the jumps because we have three jumps connected followed immediately by back handsprings. I have five coaches and one of them was my high school coach so I think thats pretty cool. They are all really talented so iI feel lucky to have them all! I had SWIC practice tonight and it went really good too. We have fall try-outs next Thursday so we practiced the cheer we are going to teach them for their try-out. After practice my coach took us all out for ice cream! It was so good I got a chocolate frosty. Saturday morning my squad is volunteering at a 5k in Troy. We are going to hand out water to the runners. I’m kinda excited except for the fact that I have to get there at six in the morning! Hopefully it will be fun though!

About Me

My name is Carla and I am eighteen years old. I went to high school in Waterloo at Gibault. I love to cheer, I cheered all through high school and I am currently cheering for Southwestern Illinois College and a competitive team. I plan on transferring to Bradley University next year and cheering for them, as well as getting into the physical therapy program there. My goal is to be a physical therapist at St. Louis Children's Hospital when I'm done with school. In my free time I like to hang out with my friends, work out, spend time with my family, and volunteer at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. I am the eighth child in my family so I have a lot of nieces and nephews that I love to spend time with. I have two little Chihuahua dogs named Lu-Lu and Pumpkin. They are the cutest dogs ever and have been a part of my family since I was little. I work at the Monroe County YMCA and at the Power Haus cheer and dance gym. I coach two competitive hip hop teams at Power Haus and I work summer day camp at the YMCA. I also work in the Children’s Center at the YMCA sometimes but not as much now that school has started.