THE CHEERLEADER
I don’t remember when my dad started dating Terri, but we moved into her house at the beginning of my sophomore year in high school. She had two daughters, Monica and Mandy. Monica was 3 years older than me, and Mandy was a year younger than me.
At first, living with them was fun! I had sisters again, but they were pretty cool, and my dad was happy again. Terri wasn’t the same kind of mom that I had known my whole life, and her girls seemed to embrace the freedom that I had grown to know.
Moving in with Terri meant that we left our home in Summerfield, and the last piece of my “roots” faded away. It also meant a new school, a new high school, as a sophomore. I was so anxious about the move and being in a school where I knew no one. Thankfully, Mandy had grown up with these people and knew what felt like, everyone. She introduced me to a lot of people, and I started finding my place there.
Before school had started, Terri had been very encouraging of me beginning all-star cheerleading. I joined a local gym that had a COED team and cheered with them for a season. I had a few friends there, and I was at the gym as much as possible. There was another cheerleader there that went to my school and we carpooled a lot. My time at that gym made a huge impact on me, and I really didn’t want to leave. However, the gym was pretty far away, and practices were inconvenient for us. I had tried out for the cheerleading team in 8th and 9th grade at my old school but didn’t make the team either year. The first time, it made sense to me! I had zero experience and no idea what I was doing. The second time, I was angry, and I knew a big part of it wasn’t related to my skills; it was related to my non-existent popularity. Switching schools and spending a year training in the all-star gym gave me the confidence to try out again at my new school.
When I walked into the tryouts at the new school, I quickly met another cheerleader my age. Her sticker said that her name was “Cera”, and she was pretty funny! We were instant friends, and I didn’t know it then, but we would be lifetime friends. Her mom turned out to be the cheerleading coach, and she also played a pivotal role in my life. “Mama Mo” or “Coach Mo” as we called her, had a huge impact on my world, which all started with a phone call from her telling me that I had made the team. I answered the phone in tears, and I still remember the entire phone call!
“Hello?”
“Is this Jessica?”
“Yes, this is Jessica.”
“Hey Jessica, this is Coach Mo, and I wanted to call and congratulate you on making the Varsity team this year!”
I sobbed, and through a flood of tears, I thanked her and told her how excited I was.
I was finally good enough to cheer at school. I was finally accepted into a club that I never thought I would be a part of. In addition to making the team, I was one of their flyers. Had I ever flown before tryouts? Nope! But I spent hours and hours stretching and working on balance and body positions. I walked into tryouts at a new school and told them I was a flyer! They put me with a group of girls to stunt with, and I went up and stayed there! It was the best feeling ever. The adrenaline rush of flying is like nothing I had ever felt. I was absolutely going to fight for this. The first time they put me up, I pulled a scorpion. Girls on teams now can kick scorpions and even do needles, but at this school, no one had ever done a scorpion. I remember hearing the shock in people's voices and the hush that fell over the gym when I did it. We came down, and everyone made me feel like a rockstar! High fives and good jobs, and other people wanting to stunt with me. After that moment, I lived for being in the air. I stayed in school so that I could cheer and so I could fly. The next couple of years were a roller coaster for me, and cheerleading was the constant that I needed.
I cheered at school for 2 years and learned so much about the sport. We hired my coach from my old all-star gym to do our competition routine my junior year, and my senior year, I choreographed it myself! I mixed our music using a recorded mixed tape with music chopped up from other routines I had heard or seen, and I loved every second of creating it, teaching it, and performing it.
Our school was a part of a small basketball tournament that allowed eight area schools to play each other in a multi-day event until there was a champion. It was called the Little 4 Tournament. I honestly have no idea where the name came from or what happened to the tournament, as it isn’t played anymore. We played each year at the Greensboro Coliseum, and all eight cheerleading teams performed together during the final game’s halftime at both the Girls' & Boys' games. Coach Mo was in charge of organizing the halftime event with all of the cheer teams.
In my junior year, Coach Mo hired the same coach from my all-star gym, who I had cheered for and who worked with our school directly, choreographed, and taught the halftime routine! I knew her style and how she worked, and I learned from her very quickly. I picked the dance up quickly and ended up working with girls at multiple schools to teach them the dance as well. The next year, when Little 4 rolled around, and I had already choreographed our competition routine, Coach Mo asked me to choreograph it! So, I did! It was so awesome seeing a routine come together that I had put together! I was so proud of it. Eight teams danced & cheered together, and I had created it.
The year after I graduated, Coach Mo asked me to come back and do the routine for Little 4 again, and now that I was out of high school, I felt like a real coach. I was choreographing routines for multiple events and teams, and I was getting paid for it!
Coach Mo left my high school soon after that and began coaching at another area school. She hired me 2 more years to do their competition routine, and I traveled to Myrtle Beach with them to teach them their routine during summer camp.
After 2 years of coaching alongside her at that school, she moved on to Greensboro College! I was honored when she asked me to come with her and do tryouts. She wanted me to teach a dance and score them to decide who would make the team.
I now had 6 routines under my belt and was even hired by another cheerleading coach to create music and a routine for another area school. I considered opening a business at this point, but I was young and dumb, with zero business skills! So, I let this be a hobby that I enjoyed and got paid for! It was officially my side hustle! It allowed me to keep doing something I loved long past high school.
I tried out for the cheerleading team at UNCG and made it my freshman year of college, but college and I didn’t get along, and I quit the team and school pretty quickly. I also tried out for a cheerleading team for an indoor football team in Greensboro called the Greensboro Revolution. I practiced clear up to the week of the first game, but this was not a cheer team! It was a dance team. I really didn’t have dance skills like this, and I was forcing myself to do something I didn’t like. So, I ended up leaving this team, too.
Choreographing with Coach Mo allowed me to do what I loved without being an athlete. I will forever be grateful for her trusting me enough to give me those opportunities. I worked with her right up until my daughter was born! I was teaching stunts and showing the girls how to fly, back, & base while I was pregnant with her! I remember a sweet baby Abbie playing in her travel pillow with toys while I scored try outs at Greensboro College!
That was the last time that we worked together, as soon after I moved to Virginia for my husband’s job. I was so sad to leave that part of me behind, but I was a mom now. I couldn’t devote the time I needed to choreograph and be a mom while living in another state. I loved every single project we had during those 9 years, both as an athlete and a coach.
Years later, when I started coaching my daughter’s cheerleading team, Coach Mo kept in touch with me via Facebook and would always send sweet and encouraging messages! I coached her team for 2 years, choreographing two more competition routines, halftime shows, and various performances. We even took that team to Florida to compete in the first Rec Cheer National Competition, The Quest. We had to earn a bid to that event, so we attended multiple other events where bids were offered and won! We were so excited to go to Florida, and we pulled into the venue to check in for the competition on March 12, 2020. The competition was held at Disney’s Wide World of Sports, and we were eager to both compete and spend time in the parks!
We all know what happened in March of 2020, and it spiraled while we were in Florida. When we arrived, we were told the competition would now be a 1 day event instead of 2, the only fans allowed to watch each team were the parents and coaches that we traveled with, and awards would be virtual. While we were a little disappointed not to get the full experience of the event, we made the most of it! The girls performed their hearts out for us, and they won! After getting medals and taking pictures as a team, we were fitted for our championship rings! I couldn’t believe we accomplished all of this with a small town rec team, but it was awesome!
When the competition was over, we spent the rest of the weekend in Disney World parks, riding everything we wanted with no lines! Disney closed for Covid on March 15th after their last fireworks show. We were there for it. They locked the gates behind us on the way out and didn’t reopen for two months. I was so grateful for that trip. Going home to a lockdown was depressing and scary, but we literally just had the time of our lives! Obviously, the COVID lockdown prevented team sports from moving forward, and when they returned to practices, it was 5th Grade, and we were not able to do competitions. No venues would host competitions, and we sadly watched the season, and any opportunities for another chance at it slip away from us.
When my daughter moved onto middle school, I thought my coaching career had come to an end. However, a local middle school reached out and offered me a coaching position with their team. This was my first official paid coaching position, and I received the sweetest card in the mail from Coach Mo, telling me just how proud she was of me! I absolutely loved my team. The athletes were amazing, and we had a blast at practices and games. Unfortunately, the season was broken due to the second wave of COVID and the Delta variant.
I caught COVID in October of 2021, and I was hospitalized for 5 days, requiring constant oxygen and an antiviral treatment. Recovery for me was slow and painful. I lost 20 lbs while I was sick and had long COVID symptoms for a year after. We did compete our routine at States that year, but I had no guidance on what the judges in this event would be looking for. I created a routine in my typical style, and the girls nailed it. We were the only team in our division to hit zero. If you cheer, that means something to you. If you don’t, it means that we had no deductions in our performance. Despite an amazing performance, they came in last place. I was both confused and angry. Confused as a coach and angry for the girls. I did contact the competition to ask what happened, and they told me that our cheer was not the right style, so we were essentially disqualified.
As upset as I was, I was still struggling with my recovery; we purchased a new home, and I had just gotten married. With so much going on personally, I decided to part ways with the school and not return. I think that decision was a mutual one, as I had issue after issue with scheduling and COVID.
My cheer coach career had finally come to an end, but it also left me with 20 years of memories as an athlete, coach, and cheer mom! As cliche as it may sound, cheerleading changed my life. I still love the sport to this day. I support my daughter as an all-star cheerleader now and try to avoid “coaching” her as much as possible!
