What I wanted most as a child

Written for the Post40Bloggers blog prompt Number 82

Something you desperately wanted when you were a child

When I was younger I was terrible at PE. I mean terrible. I had no balance, I was slow; running seemed so easy for everyone else, they made it look simple and fun, they didn't get left behind or fall over and graze their knees. But from about the age that 'Sports' Day' became a huge memory in  my childhood (aged about 9 maybe?) PE day became a day of horror.

I would try all manner of feeble excuses to not take part, faking coughs, sprained ankles, headaches. I would take an age to get changed, volunteer for anything that needed doing that didn't involve actual sport. Fetching the basket balls, handing out and collecting the tabards, setting out the cones...

But Sports' Day itself was a nightmare. Even back in the 70s schools tried to be inclusive, but I didn't qualify to be in any 'proper' races, mine was the ignominy of the 'special' races, full of fat children, wheezing breathless asthma sufferers, and wobbly weak kids, kids like me. And even in these races I did not surge to victory, we stumbled and gasped our way down the 100 yard track like unenthusiastic hamsters, passing the finishing line with the simple joy that it was all over for another year. Nearby the rest of the school waited watching, I imagined them hating us all for being so pathetic.

I didn't join in running games in the playground, I was dreadful at catching a ball. When I turned 12 I briefly enjoyed cross country running, mainly as we all departed at various times, spaced out, there was no way to see how badly you were doing (until arriving back last after the showers were finished and everyone was already in Maths) and you could jog/stumble along the paths in the woodland as slowly as you liked, with no one judging you.(except the aforementioned maths teacher!)

I dabbled with throwing the javelin at age 13 and no one was killed, so I'll take that as a success, but despite my height and long arms I didn't seem to have the strength to fling the javelin very far.

As soon as I was in the sixth form I eschewed sport altogether. Finally I had the power to control my own free time at school and I chose chess. Again I was with the nerds and the geeks, but I was used to it by now, they were my people.

So where is this post going? with its whining and self pity? Well at age 34 I was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathy) and suddenly it all made sense! The weakness, the bad balance, the stumble, the tripping due to foot drop. I wasn't dreadful at sport! I was not bad at all considering I was disabled!

So this post is a reminder to myself. What I desperately wanted as a child was to fit in, to be sporty, to be one of the runners, to be a winner on sports day. But I'd have settled for knowing why, knowing why I was last.

Cheerleading

My daughter is a cheerleader. She has been for several years now. When you think of cheerleaders I expect you think of short skirts and pompoms and to be fair there are pompoms and short skirts some of the time. But the reason DD likes doing cheer is that it's acrobatic, dangerous, exhausting, difficult and fun!

American style cheer has been growing in popularity over here and it is more about pyramids and throwing people into the air than pompoms most of the time. A proper sport has grown from what started as a few skimpily glad young women on a touchline supporting a team, cheering them on to win.

In the US Cheer leading is one of the most dangerous sports with huge numbers of injuries (I'm not sure that's anything to be proud of!) mostly as the girls are keen to be held or thrown higher and higher, and with the introduction of boys into the team the girls are often tossed higher than ever!

If you don't know what I mean, check out this amazing Cheer leading competition video.

One of the problems with being a cheerleader in the UK (apart from everyone assuming you just shake pompoms all day) is buying decent cheer kit. Dance and running gear is not what you need for cheer leading. Having decent cheer trainers (white, with support but flexibility, and light weight) is important, and it's nice for a team that plans to compete or do any displays to have a decent matching uniform. And while you can wear leggings or shorts and a T shirt for practice, it's nice to have dedicated 'cheer' items. Cool down kit is also popular with the girls in my daughter's team, comfy trousers and warm sweatshirts.

Cheer Cool down pants

So I was delighted to find that we can order Cheer kit online from a UK based supplier. Living Cheer are based in Telford (home of several cheer competitions) They have a great range from trainers to T-shirts, even bags and cute bows and badges. We were sent some trousers and shorts for DD to try out and she loves them, fashionable and comfy, she has taken to wearing them around the house as well as to practice each week, proud to show off her sport. Living Cheer even have uniforms, so if you are thinking of starting a team (and why not!) you can get everyone into a matching kit. At the moment they don't seem to have a range of boy's uniforms, which is a shame as there are more and more co-ed teams (many boys have realised the benefit to hanging out with fit young women in short skirts, or revel in the sparkle and glamour themselves) but hopefully Living Cheer will start to stock boys kit in the future.

If you want to know more about cheer in your area try contacting local leisure centres or the BCA (British Cheer leading Association)  or UKCA (UK Cheer leading Association) or Future Cheer.