Strick's writing Blog #4

     In Lisa Wilson Strict's writing, So What's so Bad About Being So-So, Strict has a really good point. Strict is trying to tell us that we should try new thins, even if we're not good at it and enjoy doing the activity for fun not for competition. I agree with Strict completely, being competitive can be good sometimes, but when you lose at the activity it can lower your confidence or self-esteem.
     In my own personal experience I've enjoyed doing things jut for fun, but in the year 2002-2003 I was in a competitive cheer squad called "Club Spirit Rockets. During the months of June, July and August we practiced every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, leading up to our first competition in August of 2002. After all the sweat, tears, sprained ankels and sprained wrists, due to tumbling the competition day was here. t was a warm sunny morning in early August and all of the cheer squads met at the gym from the Mini Squad (4-6 year olds) to the Seniors (high school and college age) and all the squads in between. We loaded up in an accordian bus and headed to Great America. We were all in our uniforms; blue, red and silver were our colors, had our hair peaces on and light makeup (we had to wear light makeup so that if it got on the flyers uniform it was easy to wash out.) My squad was on deck, I was nervous and shakey since it was my first competition and I didn't know what to expect. Powerhouse Cheer was our big competition, they had hot pink uniforms and were really good. We competed behind them. They were done and now it was our turn, we walked on the blue mat and the music started. We hit all of our stunts, landed all of our back and springs and back tucks and nailed all of our toe touches. We were done and rallied off the mat. The coaches and our squad  were extremely happy. After all that hard work it paid off. After all of the squads did their routines it was time to hear the results.We thought were were bound for first place. Usually, Elite Cheer is a big competition to us too, but they had dropped a stunt, so we knew that they weren't going to get too high in the results. We sat in a circle holding hands as we waited for the results. We were bummed to hear that we got 3rd place our of 15 squads, which sounds good, but not when you're the one competing, anything under 1st place is unacceptable. I felt like a failure, every competition after that we worked super hard. We got first plenty of times, but some competitions we didn't place period and that was the worst feeling ever. The following year in 2003 I was going to be starting high school at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento and decided I would try out for the cheer squad there. I ended up making the squad I was one of twelve girls that made it, about 50 girls tried out. I was ecstaticed when I got the phone call that I made it. I had given up competitions and started cheering for FUN! We cheered at the football games and the girl and boys basketball games. Now my uniform was green and gold and I felt proud to support my school and wear those colors. At the rally's we had to wear our skirts with our class t-shirt. Our skirts were yellow and our class t-shirt was red (that part sucked because we were called hot dogs, cause we looked like ketchup and mustard) but I was proud and I was cheering for my friends that were playing the sports, but most of all I was cheering for myself.
     Being competitive can be fun when you win, but it hurts if you lose and you may become a sore loser, and if that happens, no one likes to be around you. We need to do different things and try new activities. Personally, my bucket is a LONG list of all the new things I want to try. There's nothing that should be holding us back. I want to say, "Oh yea I've tried that befor." We only live once, so we should try all we can and make good mmories and have good experiences, whether we're good at it or not.