Pros and Cons of High School Cheer

Hello everyone!

After writing my “High School Cheer Q&A” post (go check that out if you haven’t already!), I came up with another cheer post idea. When you’re considering joining a team or activity, it’s important to consider the pros and cons that come with it. I’m going to share my personal opinion of the pros and cons of being a high school cheerleader- your opinion may differ since this is based off of my own experiences, but most of the things I’ll mention are pretty general.

PRO: You get to be involved in a school spirit activity that everyone recognizes – The cheerleaders are an essential part to getting everyone excited at games and rallies. It’s pretty cool to see the crowd’s reactions to your routines.
CON: It’s a huge time commitment – If you have a lot of other activities or a bunch of hard classes, you might have a tough time balancing it all. You’ll probably have some conflicts or just a lot of late nights; make sure you’re prepared. This is the same for any sport though.
PRO: You’ll get a good workout every practice – Most cheer coaches LOVE to have you condition a lot as you need to be strong for stunting. It’s a lot more intense than people think.
CON: You will be sore and tired a lot – Long days practicing or cheering outside and stunting until your legs feel like they’re going to fall off can get difficult. It’s not any easier than other sports, so know that going into it.
PRO: You get to be part of a close-knit team – I find that cheer teams are usually really close because it’s easier a half-year or full-year sport which is a lot longer than a lot of other sports. You’ll have a lot more opportunities to bond with the other girls.
CON: You have to deal with cheer stereotypes – People may think you’re only doing cheer to be popular, or that you have some other ulterior motive for doing it. This most likely isn’t true, so you just have to ignore those people and make the best of your cheer experience!
PRO: You get to watch football games from a whole other perspective – Seeing the action up close is very cool, and gets you way more excited. It definitely passes the time inbetween cheers/routines.

I hope this post gave you a bit more insight about some of the benefits and drawbacks of being a high school cheerleader! I’m super excited for football season coming up and all of the game day experiences to enjoy. Let me know if you guys have any other cheer questions or any requests for future posts. New content is coming soon!

-Brooke