HOLLY POND, Ala. — Holly Pond eighth grader Jaycie Pitts will be heading into her second year as a middle school cheerleader and has enjoyed the experience so far. She has learned so much from the girls and from her coach so far.
“The experience has been great. It has taught me many lessons about teamwork and made me learn how to push and challenge myself to many different limits. I’ve loved cheering with some great girls so far. Having my close friends around me makes everything so much easier knowing that they are by my side supporting me. I have learned that I love watching these girls grow as cheerleaders and how watching them challenge themselves gives the whole team motivation,” Pitts said. “I love my coach. She is the reason I have accomplished everything I have already this season. She has taught me to push myself above and beyond and believe in myself, no matter how scared I am.”
Jaycie has watched a lot of the varsity cheerleaders’ performances and has soaked up as much as she can from them. She has seen great improvement in her performance so far and will continue to get better as she prepares for this upcoming season.
“They are so amazing to watch. They have set my standard of how I want to cheer, and they are always willing to help me be a better cheerleader. I have learned that no matter how scared of how much you don’t want to do something, you need to do it for your team, so everyone can grow,” she said. “I have watched myself get out of my comfort zone to better myself and my teammates. I want us to continue to work on our team bonding with one another and to push ourselves to do things girls in our age group can’t typically do. I also want my team to be a team others look up to and use for inspiration and motivation.”
Jaycie has some goals set for this upcoming season and thinks this season will be a special one for the Lady Broncos.
“My individual goals are to work on being stronger in my stunting and my tumbling and my team goal is to make it to Nationals with a routine we know we can hit,” she said. “Our spirit and just overall vibes are so uplifting this year and from watching us and seeing how comfortable and trusting we are with each other, you would already know we can hit whatever we put our minds to.”
She talked about her role models growing up and the best advice that someone ever gave her.
“As a little girl, just watching the big girls do pep rallies and cheer during Friday night football games, I knew I wanted to be just like them,” she said. “The best advice that someone ever gave me is to not listen to what people have to say about you or your team. There are going to be people that say you’re bad and say you don’t deserve what opportunities are given to you, but you know how hard you’ve worked to get to the level you’re on. If you continue to push yourself, you will become even better and prove them wrong.”
Jaycie talked about what she has learned the most about being on the middle school cheer team so far.
“I have learned that many people disregard middle school cheer, because it’s not varsity, which I understand. But this is what sets the standard, because the coaches watch and they know what they want for their varsity squad. If you put a lot of work and effort into even just cheering on the sideline, the coaches will know and they will want you on their team.”
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