Second Job...If You Want to Call it That



The entire squad after their scavenger hunt to find their uniforms.



A few months ago I started a second job, sort of, if you really want to call it that. For me it's more like an extra curricular activity since I enjoy it so much. What is it you may ask? I am one of the cheerleading coaches for Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM). For many of you who know me you know I have always loved cheerleading. I cheered in high school and for two years in college at Troy University and I have always missed cheerleading ever since. Now, obviously I have not stayed in as good of shape as I once was and I cannot do most (all) of the tumbling I used to be able to do, but I enjoy teaching what I do know to this group of girls. It's a lot of fun most of the time, but also a lot of work and frustration at times when the girls are not getting a certain stunt or when they are frustrated with themselves. Overall, it has been a fun few months and myself and the other coach, who cheered at Auburn University for two years, have really enjoyed getting to know our squad of eight, energetic and enthusiastic girls. After their tryouts in September we planned a lock-in and spend-the-night event (per their request) for the squad. During the lock-in portion at the campus gym we worked on motions, jumps, stunting and basketball chants. The girls worked hard and caught on pretty quickly, considering several of them have never cheered or haven't cheered in quite a long time. After the three hour lock-in we treated the girls to Chik-fil-A and then ventured out to my family's fish camp, as we refer to it, and had a slumber party. We played several ice breaker and get-to-know you games and the girls all quickly warmed up to each other and myself and the other coach. We enjoyed a lot of junk food and made s'mores around the bonfire that I, yes me, started all by myself with out any lighter fluid or other flammable materials. Around midnight the girls finally started to get a little tired after all their hard work and laid out their sleeping bags on the bunk beds. I think it was around 3:00 a.m. when I finally heard the last whispers and giggles. However, 8:00 a.m. came quickly since several of the girls had to get back to town for class, work and other weekend activities. On our way back to dropping the girls off at their cars or dorms they laughed and talked about how much fun they had and how glad they were we didn't spend the night in tents, like I had sort of lead them to believe! They even said they wanted to do this again! I was so glad they had a great time and I look forward to the rest of the year with them. Their first basketball game is next week and I think I'm just as excited as they are for them to show off their talents.

Below is a video of some of the girls on the squad and a stunt they nearly mastered in about thirty minutes at practice Monday night! So proud of them!!