My Name is Sam Harris, I am a freshmen at JSU and am on the
Cheer team there. As our JSU season was coming to a close Coach Dave approached
me with an opportunity to be on a competition all stars team. At first I felt
like I was not qualified to take on such a task, because JSU did not have a
competition team this year, and I had only cheered “sideline”. This year has
been my very first year cheering, I played Baseball growing up, as well as
Varsity Football in High School. But Coach was able to persuade me very easily,
and before I knew it tryouts for the soon-to-be “Chief Wahoos” were here. We
displayed our skills for the coaches and selections were made to form the
inaugural season of the level 4.2 Senior Coed Chief Wahoos. Later that night I
received a call from Coach Dave congratulating me on making the team. And so
began the journey of the best three months of my life.
After
practicing basic cheer fundamentals for about a month, we had our choreography
weekend. I had gone back home to Marietta, Georgia for Christmas break. I
received a call from coach while on my way back, he called me in a panic asking
“WHERE ARE YOU AT?” I told him I was en route to ACE and was currently in
Piedmont. He sternly told me to hurry up, it turns out our team snap app had
changed the time of the practice back to eastern (Georgia) time and I was an
hour late to choreography... not a good start to the season for me.
When
choreography weekend was complete I was feeling doubtful at best. There were so
many things that had to be moved around and rearranged. I was incredibly
thankful for “Happy's” patience with our young and unrefined team. I remember
leaving after a long practice on Sunday and thinking to myself “Is this gonna be worth it? Is this going to
amount to anything?” Before we all knew it, it was time for our show off at
ACE. As expected, tensions were high and no one knew what to expect for our very
first legitimate run through. As we took the floor you could see the anxiety
and feel everyone's heart pounding out loud. The music started and we were
underway. We NAILED our run throughs, and were prepared for our first
competition is Sevierville, TN.
We did not
do as well as we had hoped we would in our first competition, finishing second
behind an all girl team, who frankly was nothing special. This inspired my team
as well as myself to never let that happen again. When we came back for our
first practice back, you could see a determination and a fire burning in every
athlete on that team. You could tell that every single one of us was hungry,
hungry for a victory and hungry for revenge. When we competed in Destin, that's
exactly what we got. Warming up was one of the most nerve wrecking feelings
I've ever had. It felt like we were warming up in a cheap little “Fisher Price”
plastic tent, that's basically what it was. To be honest both our warm ups in
Destin were atrocious. Regardless, we took the floor and hit our first routine
very well, being a perfectionist, that was not good enough for me. The second
day of competition was here and we were determined to go out there and hit 100%
perfect. Once again, warm ups were a nightmare. But in normal fashion my family
and I went out and as Coach Dave says “Nailed THE HECK outta that routine”.
We've never hit that clean and the audience was in an uproar because of our
performance. Seeing all the other ACE teams from across the country supporting
us was a feeling like no other. I remember siting at awards anxiously waiting
for our level's awards to be announced. When the announcer proclaimed “And...
in first place.... From Rainbow City, Alabama. ACE CHEER COMPANY CHIEF WAHOOS”
a rush of adrenaline shot through our entire team, and every sacrifice we had
made was well worth it. Every bump and bruise, bloody nose, and dislocated
shoulder up to that point didn't matter, we had won. We fought and battled
every odd against our favor, beating teams that had been together for a year.
As our season comes to a close, I
realize that being on this team was the best experience of my life.
Relationships I had prior to this team are stronger, and I have formed life
long friends with people I would have never met otherwise. I am so thankful for
everyone I competed with and the coaches that pushed me to be a better athlete.
Being on this team has made me grow as an athlete, cheerleader, but more
importantly as a person. Being on a team this big really shows you how you have
to work together or nothing will get done. You have to rely on your brothers
and sisters to pull their share of the load to get the goal accomplished. And
as much as I hate to say it, our season has to come to a close. Although, we
sometimes had our disagreements and differences, we will ALWAYS have Chief
Wahoos. I want to thank my teammates and coaches for always encouraging me and
sticking with me through this entire season. I want to give a special thanks to
J.R. For all he has done for me personally and this entire team. This year
would not have been possible without him, and I am truly grateful. I told the
team before our last routine in Nashville, that I had never been this close to
any team I had ever been on before. No Football, Baseball, or Basketball team
I've been on can hold a candle to my Chief Wahoos. We will forever be a family
and have each others back. I love you all and would not have changed a single
thing about this season. CHIEF WAHOOS??! YOU KNOW! Go Tribe-Sam Harris
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