My Last Cheer Camp - Melanie Cheesman 3

Around this time last year, I was at Arkansas State with my old cheer squad. We were attending the National Cheerleading Association’s cheer camp because it is a requirement to be allowed on the team. Little did I know at the time it was going to be my last cheer camp ever. Unlike everyone else on my team, I absolutely loved cheer camp. I liked getting to meet people, spending time with my teammates, and being pushed to the limit all day long. However, I was worried for this specific camp because I was one of the youngest on the team and my stunt group was the least experienced; the flyer was a new girl, one of my bases was a rookie, and I had not been a backspot for more advanced stunts. Because of this problem, I did not try my hardest or make the best of this camp because I thought I would have more camps in my future. My stunt group struggled through most of the camp, but we ended up improving a lot; for example, we realized what we were doing wrong and ended up hitting a lot of hard stunts. I did not get nominated for All American because I truly just did not try the whole weekend. My squad and I ended up winning first place and getting a bid to nationals, but I know that I could’ve tried harder and made a better time out of it. When my mom told me that we were moving and I decided not to cheer is when it really hit me that I would never have the opportunity to make up for that time. The moral of my blog is to show y’all not to take things for granted because anything can be taken from you when you least expect it. I would do anything to be able to go back to that weekend and make the most memories and meet more people and try just a little bit harder.