Forget the Glass Slipper This Princess Wears Cheer Shoes

We might be drooled over because of our sexy bodies, sassy attitudes and legs to die for but there is more to us than only this.

Hi everyone, my name is Eleone and I am a 14 year old cheerleader. Cheerleading is a sport that consists of tumbling, jumps, dance, cheer and stunting.

In movies they make us look like the most unpleasant difficult people who prance around in short skirts all day.

Cheerleading is much more than that; it is a sport which teaches you leadership qualities and makes you explore some of your possible talents. A lot of people say cheerleading is not a sport or that it is easy but they have no idea how much strength, determination and injuries it takes to be a real cheerleader.

I have only been a cheerleader for a year now but I have learned so much already. My team and I had the opportunity to compete at South-African Provincials and Nationals where people are so determent to win that they will do anything.

I have seen people being carried on and off the field with broken legs and noses but they dance, lift and fly as if nothing is wrong. The reason for our determination is that we only have 3 minutes to prove ourselves.

I don’t know about you but I’ve never seen a football player that is so determent, in actual fact I have seen them miss balls which only weigh 1kg but cheerleaders hardly drop girls who weigh 50kg.

The week before Nationals was one of the toughest weeks of my existence. We went on a cheer camp and from the moment we woke up till the moment we went to bed we were intensively training.

You literally woke up at 7am had breakfast, stretched and then started training. We had a lunch break at 1pm everyday and then started training from 2pm until 5pm. After which we had supper and then a team building exercise.

All the hard work finally paid off when we achieved second place in champion of champions South-Africa.

Everyone has an inner cheerleader, can you find yours?