Cheer Life
I honestly never thought I would be a cheerleader. I had been a gymnast since I was eight years old, and competed professionally from age 12 until the year I turned 18. While I was a gymnast, I thought that cheerleading was an easy sport; with the only requirements being, A) enough confidence to wear skimpy outfits in front of huge crowds (which is honestly quite difficult); and B) extreme perkiness. I was 18 when I retired from gymnastics. I started working as a financial advisor right after my retirement, but soon developed the desire to go to college. My mother gave me her blessing to go to college, as long as she won’t be burdened to pay for anything. “If you want it, you better work for it.”, she’d say. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to pay for college tuition myself so the best thing I could do was to apply for a sports scholarship. Lo and behold, I found that there was not a single collegiate gymnastics league in the Philippines. The only sport that I had on my “Try-Out For” list was cheerleading. It had skills similar to gymnastics, and I thought that maybe the dancing in mid-ribs and short skirts part wasn’t going to be too bad.
I tried out for NU, and thankfully got a full scholarship, a monthly allowance, and food provision. According to urban legend, everyone in the NU Pep Squad gets a full scholarship, dorm space, a monthly allowance, and three meals a day. It isn’t true; many of us come in with just a half scholarship if you are recruited. Only those who have been recruited from the provinces get a space in the dorms. Members who walked-in at try outs (those that weren’t recruited) also don’t get allowances and meals. You can apply for more benefits, after a number of years of service, and after an evaluation of your performance at our annual in-house ranking meet.
Our team is composed of 25 members for the Cheer Dance Competing team, which we call Team Gold; 5 members for the group stunts category, and about 25 more for our Team Blue. Team Blue does the halftime numbers, performances outside the city, and corporate shows. An annual ranking meet within the team members gives old members, new recruits, and hopefuls a chance to be part of the competing or performing casts.
Thank you Gary Viray for this photo
Cheerleading usually just takes up about 4 to 5 hours of our day. We practice from 7pm ‘til midnight. The rest of the day, we’re just like every student. Believe me when I say that we go to class, make time to do our projects, participate in org events, and the like. Most of us on the team take the morning schedule. We wake up at 7am, have breakfast at our canteen, and then come to class at 7:30am. Some of us finish classes at noon, some at 4pm; it depends on how much units we took up for the semester. A question cheerleaders ask themselves daily is, “Should I take a nap before practice, or should I finish this paper?” It’s a hard decision to make, but most of us would like to get out of practice in one piece, so naps usually win. Hooray for naps!
On weekends, most of us go to church together, clean our dorms, wash our clothes, and make time to do our homework. Team work still applies to all of these (just kidding). But because we live together in the athlete’s dorm, we’re always together. Most of us hardly have any time to go home on weekends. Some of us come all the way from the provinces and get to see our families only during the Christmas breaks. We’ve become each other’s siblings here in Manila. One of the best things about being part of the squad is that we genuinely love each other. I’ve been surprised each year on my birthday. We celebrate our special days with each other; we also grieve for those who are grieving. Many times, when a member gets sick, his team mates take him to the hospital and watch over him. We’ve travelled, gone on crazy adventures, and conquered several quests together. I’ve been blessed with about 50 other siblings and 11 more parents in the form of our physical therapists, team councilors, nutritionist, and coaches.
It’s hard for us to catch a break. We work all year-round. Our biggest event is the UAAP Cheerdance Competition that is usually held in September or October. We start recruitment and try-outs in May after the second semester closes; work on conditioning and developing new skills in the summer before our ranking meet, which is scheduled in the first few weeks of June. By July, we start preparing for the UAAP Cheerdance Competition and half-time numbers. The basketball season lasts for two months; so that means that every week we perform two unique half-time numbers at the games. After our Cheerdance Competition, we get back into the gym to prepare for the National Cheerleading Championships’ NCR Qualifiers in February, and then again prepare for the NCC finals round in March. We finally cap off the year with more training and one last competition -- the International Cheerleading Union’s World Cheerleading Championships in the last week of April. Is your mind spinning yet? Before it settles, we do it all over again.
Cheerleading is demanding to say the least, but as an old saying goes, “You will never have to work a day in your life if you love what you do.” We are in college because we want to secure a better future for ourselves in the “real” world; cheerleading just makes the whole experience a lot better. Through this sport, I’ve come to know strangers who later on have become my best friends. I’ve learned to work with people who challenge me to become a patient, persevering, and disciplined person. I’ve overcome my fears and self-doubts with more than one friend cheering me as I go, and I’ve spent so many happy memories in the mats.
Cheering for our school’s name is our main job as a varsity cheerleader. It is already a tough job. But the toughest job could be cheering for yourself when things get rough. A day in the life of a cheerleader at NU Pep Squad means deadlines, classes, chores, late nights, and practice, practice, practice. Each day is grueling and tiresome, but we know that each day just brings us one step closer to our victories. The years I have spent on this team has taught me to cherish the time I can have with my family and friends; it has taught me that talent doesn’t get you as far as hard work and team work can, and that you can accomplish all the things you have on your plate as long as you take action. Each friend I have made here and each challenge I have overcome is a victory in itself. I am grateful to be a part of this squad. Our squad has given the school several victories already, but the time that National University has given us will leave us with memories that will last forever, and lessons that we can continue to learn from many years after our graduation. There is no sweeter victory than knowing that you have spent your life fully; and each day in our cheer life, as we cheer with all our hearts, we know that we can.
Here’s to more victories to come and more memories to be made. Thank you National University!!!
Special thanks to Julius Domndon, Sir Raul Quintela, and Ken Natividad for these amazing photos
