Word: cheerfulness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Catholic School in Dallas, is forever practicing, even if it means commandeering a grocery aisle as her stage. Her mom Jill Cale, who was a cheerleader herself, believes Kelsie's experience on the squad has made her daughter "more of a leader." And it shows. When an inner-city cheer team struggles to finish its routine at the S.M.U. camp, Kelsie gets the St. Pius squad and all the other squads to chant "Good job! Good job!" to encourage the rival team. Later, when asked if she can think of any negative effects of cheering, she's quick with...
...athletic demands have made cheerleading less of a haven for the In crowd and more of a meritocracy. "I don't care if it's the wallflower girl in the corner. If she can cheer, I want her on my squad," says Lisa O'Bryant, who supervises cheerleaders at St. Pius. O'Bryant has brought in independent judges so that tryouts don't devolve into popularity contests. "The majority of my girls are probably popular, but I also have a handful who don't say boo at school...
Some requirements for cheerleaders haven't changed. They are still expected to be well-turned-out fashion plates, hair pulled into a tight ponytail, uniform just so. Tans--from a bottle or a tanning salon--are a must. "The girls have to be picture perfect," says Euless cheer sponsor Kelli McDaniel. Monica's mom Daphne Brigham keeps a sharp eye on her daughter at the S.M.U. camp, monitoring her for slips.--and, naturally, finds one. "Didn't we talk about this?" she asks Monica, pulling her aside for a wayward bra strap. "If your top is pink, your...
Rivalries within the squads are inevitable--between those with boyfriends and those without, between those with money and those with little, between the flyers and the earthbound, between those who can do a standing backflip and those who can't. Beth Hammack, a Euless cheer sponsor, swears that most of the fights revolve around boys: "Junior-high kids are just hormones running around in tennis shoes, "she says with a knowing look. Then there's the perennial friction from freshman "fishes" lording it over the lowly eighth-graders. "My flyer and me got into it again today," says Breanna, whose...
Meddling moms, or moms who are just being protective, create problems too. Everyone remembers the Texas cheerleading mom who killed off the competition, thereby providing the story line for two TV movies in the early '90s. "Parents really do get crazy," says Henderson cheer sponsor Washington, who sees some parents pushing girls to perform stunts they're not ready for. "I think the parents like to get involved more than the coaches," observes Breanna. "It's like they want to be a teenager again...