We Will Rock You

Remember this song? I remember when this song first came out, I remember this song rocking our high school basketball and football games, our college games and now it rocks the cheerleader's high school games. The cheerleader goes to a high school where there is high spirit for each sport. The school dominates just about every sport there is. Even cheerleading is taken seriously and considered a sport. A title that the cheerleaders have worked hard and fought hard to achieve.

I could go on and on about our teams but since I am the mom of a cheerleader and the cheerleaer has made cheering her life, this is what is on my mind, today.

It was a crazy weekend of basketball games, cheering and then a cheer competition, yesterday. The cheerleaders ruled and brought home the 2nd place trophy in their division. It always brings a bit of a tear to my eye as they are announced as winners. I know it's not about the winning but as a cheer mom, I know the amount of dedication, tears, sweat, injuries, time, frustration and excitement that goes into cheering. Our cheerleaders not only cheer for the school games but they also are a competing cheer squad. That takes a lot of dedication. They give up having a life just to eat, sleep and breathe cheerleading. Every cheerleader on both the Varsity and JV squads is an honor student. All of the senior and junior Varsity cheerleaders are members of National Honor Society. They aim high, they aim big and they succeed.

This post is taking on a tone that is all about the cheerleader when what I really wanted to talk about is how being a cheer mom has shaped me and how I have spent the years from my daughter's 4th grade years to now junior year as a cheer mom. I walked into the competition, yesterday, and in my ever changing mood, I realized something. That after all of these years of being Alpha Cheer Mom....the torch has been passed. At some point, the moms of the seniors and juniors are now the laid back, spectator moms. The underclass freshman and sophomore moms have taken over. After I recovered from the shock that those moms had done all of the decorating and prep work, a new feeling took over my ever changing mood....and it was a feeling of relief. This new role was actually okay. I have done the work for many years. And, I am now at an age where I know it's okay to let other moms do the work. It doesn't make me look bad or like a failure or that I don't care. It makes me the mom of a Varsity cheerleader who can now just go and enjoy. Being the moms of the older cheerleaders has earned us a ticket to become background moms instead of alpha moms. And, this is the way it should be. The never ending circle of moms coming up in the ranks. I liked being able to just focus on the competition. I used to think that the parents of older students were so out of the loop because they were the background parents and we were doing all of the work. But, I was wrong. They had just earned their passage, like we have, to advance to the next level.

I know that there is still much work needed from us parents in the year and a half to come before our kids graduate but it's nice to know that the torch and crowns have been handed off for some of the stress and work.

As a cheer mom who has done it all and is now looking at the other side with the other cheer moms, I have to say that even though the torch has been passed, we still rock!! In my ever changing mood, this new concept is being well received by me...