You had to admit, cheerleading was a lot more work than you’d thought. You hadn’t had to do those exercises where you tossed someone up in the air and then caught them, thank god, but there was a lot more physical activity than you’d expected based on the occasional snippets you’d seem of them waving at the TV on camera when your dad had a football game on. You’d had to do a lot of stretching and warm up exercises—something which Holly made look effortless, and made you wish you’d spent a little bit more time actually trying in gym class— and then gotten into groups.
The counselor in charge, Sammi, then showed everyone a few basic moves ranging from the obvious—smile at the crowd and wave(“and especially at the boys”, she’d said with a wink which made you cringe internally) to a literally doing a backflip that made your jaw drop. How, exactly, she expected you to replicate that, you had no idea. Sammi seemed to realize how dumbfounded you were and smiled. “Of course, we don’t expect the girls without gymnastics experience to try anything too crazy just yet.” She said with a laugh.
She then had the small groups begin working on the basics. “Another major part of this is coordinating moves, so it looks good in front of a crowd.” She said. “If you aren’t quite ready to try the more advanced stuff, that’s a good place to start.”
Not even wanting to contemplate trying one of those flips, you suggest that your group work on the dance moves, and they all readily agree. You all watch a video of some moves Sammi wants you to try, and then start trying to replicate them. To your shock, your body pulls them off effortlessly, almost as if you’d been doing them your whole life. Was that part of the magic? It must be, you thought to yourself. You almost start having fun as you and the other girls finish your routine to the applause of some of the other campers who’d stopped to watch and an impressed nod from Sammi.
Almost too soon, the practice ends, and Sammi sends you on your way to the next activity......