Sport has the potential to teach young children invaluable lessons in leadership, teamwork, sportsmanship, and other spheres. For me, cheerleading has been an integral part of the formation of my personality and aspirations. Cheerleading helped me overcome many psychological and emotional challenges in my life, while teaching me discipline necessary in excelling in many fields, including academia. In addition, it facilitated my connection to the community, as I learned the value of helping others through volunteering and supporting in other ways. Thus, I believe that now I embody these best qualities that cheerleading has taught me in all aspects of my life.
As I have been doing sideline and competitive cheerleading since the age six, this sport influenced my development profoundly. One of the major challenges in my life was my parent’s divorce. It took a toll on my mental well-being as a child. However, cheerleading was always there to distract me and teach healthy ways to cope with my issues through hard work and discipline, which also improved my academic progress. As I poured myself into practice 5 times per week, I grew closer to my teammates. I learned the necessity of teamwork not only for success but even for daily practice routine. I was motivated to establish strong bonds within my team and strived to help and accommodate everyone’s needs. Therefore, I was selected to the varsity, and later I was chosen as a captain after two years.
Even before acquiring managing position, I possessed skill of leadership, but I learned so much more in the position. Leading the team has taught me its true importance and difficulty. For me, the main aspect of leadership is not in ordering around but helping people to grow and giving back to the community. In the past, I had a feeling about its true meaning and, thus, I volunteered extensively for San Diego Food Bank and Coast Keepers. My position as the captain only helped to further realize this fact and my wish to contribute to my community.
I learned the need for healthy sportsmanship naturally, as I developed my skills and interest in leading and willingness to help. Good sportsmanship is essential for healthy competition (Courel-Ibáñez et al., 2019). I realized how difficult and necessary it is to teach this lesson to children when I started to be a mentor for youth. Nevertheless, I managed to establish great relationship with children and help them to adopt the values of sportsmanship and teamwork. Through this experience, I learned that compassion, empathy, communication, and approachability are important to earn the respect from students, which is essential in teaching process.
Overall, I believe that my life and values were greatly affected by cheerleading, as it taught me crucial concepts of leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship. It inspired me to pursue my wish to help others and contribute to my community through volunteering and mentorship. Now, I can give back by teaching and leading the new generation of children to learn the same essential lessons.
References
Courel-Ibáñez, J., Sánchez-Alcaraz, B. J., Gomez-Marmol, A., Valero-Valenzuela, A., & Moreno-Murcia, J. A. (2019). The moderating role of sportsmanship and violent attitudes on social and personal responsibility in adolescents. A clustering-classification approach. Plos One, 14(2). Web.