The First Time I Hosted Cheerleading Tryouts

I have been the Jr. High cheerleading coach at Ayersville for almost a year now.  A matter a fact, it will be year on June 26 of this year.  Last year when I started my coaching job, there were already tryouts held and it just so happened that everyone made the team that year.  The previous coach before me decided that it would be best to take all of the girls, but in my opinion she really shouldn't have done that because a few of the girls she took weren't as experienced as the other girls and I thought that it would be embarrassing for those girls to be cheering.  I still worked with what was given to me, and I was very grateful for the experience I was given with those girls.  At the end of basketball season, I was starting to grow very excited because it was that time of the year when cheerleading tryouts are supposed to take place.  I made up all of the material and was super excited to get to know all of the girls and see how great of cheerleaders they were going to be.  All of the girls gave it their all during the tryout clinics, but I knew not all of them were going to make it simply because they all had different levels of cheerleading experience.  Some of the girls were gymnasts and attended tumbling classes, so that gave them an edge on their flexibility and tumbling, others were in dance, so that helped them catch on faster to the coreography that was taught, while some girls have never cheered a day in their lives.  I knew it was going to be really hard to cut some girls, but I knew it would be something that I would have to do eventually.  Tryouts were held on April 1 at 5:30 and they didn't get done until almost 9:00.  When the judges gave me all of the score sheets, I had to then add up all of the scores.  I was so nervous about the outcomes and my hands were shaking in fear simply because I don't like to disappoint people.  It was time to announce the girls who made the teams.  I called all of the girls into the big gym and had them sit down on the court.  I began by giving the girls a motivational speech because I didn't want the girls who didn't make it to give up if cheerleading was something they truly wanted to do.  After announcing each girl, I would stop and look at the expression on the girls faces when their name was called.  When the announcements were completed I didn't look at the girls that I had cut from the team, simply because if I see someone upset that will make me upset.  I am excited to work with the nine girls that I have chosen to be on the cheerleading team, and I can't wait to see what all we can accomplish this year.