Things I Discovered From Being Annoyed by Cheerleaders
Okay. I’m going to open up and be vulnerable and honest with you for a bit. Cheerleaders get on my nerves. There I said it. Let me clarify. I don’t mean the cheerleaders themselves. I’m talking about the actual cheerleading during the game. For some reason, they seem to start cheering right as the next play is starting or right when they are announcing something over the intercom. Some of the cheers seem never-ending. A few of the cheers don’t even match what’s happening on the field. I find it to be annoying and distracting. I mean, after all, I’m here to watch my son play football not the cheerleaders! Sometimes I just want to yell, “Shut up!”
Now that you all think I’m a horrible person… 🙂
I think I should give you an explanation and some background information. In my younger years, I actually used to be a cheerleader. I cheered for five years, two of those serving as Captain of the cheer squad. Looking back to when I cheered as a young middle schooler and high schooler, I can now see that I was completely unqualified. I had no business cheering, let alone acting as Captain! I didn’t know anything about football. I think I may have learned maybe a handful of basics. Offense means our team has the ball. Defense means their team has the ball. A touchdown is when we score. That was about the extent of my knowledge back then.
Currently as a wife of an avid football fan and the mom of a young football player, I’ve learned quite a bit more about the game. I’ve especially learned more also as a participant of a fantasy football team (more on that story here). Understanding the game has actually enabled me to enjoy it more. If I were being honest, I think when I cheered in school it wasn’t so much because I loved the game of football but probably more the idea of it. I loved the games and the exciting atmosphere. I loved the comradery. I loved the competition. I loved getting up in front of people cheering and the attention I got.
This is me…the cheerleader that didn’t know football!
I’m a little bit embarrassed now after the fact because I can see areas where I may have been more of a hindrance than a help as a cheerleader. I didn’t take any initiative to learn the game. Had I known more about the game, I would’ve realized that our cheers should’ve been kept short and sweet and not prolonged to the point of making people think “Enough already!” I would have known more appropriate cheers based on what was happening in the game at that moment. I would have also known that the best time to cheer is not while play is underway because it causes onlookers to get distracted from what’s going on right that minute in the game. It would’ve been better to wait until there were breaks in play…in between plays, in between quarters and during time outs. I would have taken my cues from the way professional cheerleaders and commercial advertising does it now. If it’s not the right time to “go to commercial”, then it’s not the right time to cheer either.
I wish I would’ve known these things. I wish I didn’t just “play” cheerleader. I wish I would’ve learned the game better. I wish I would’ve taken the initiative to actually learn. It would have made me a better cheerleader. I would have been a help instead of a hindrance. And I probably would have been appreciated more! As a spectator in the stands, I can still see young girls following in that same cycle.
I was thinking to myself recently that they really should put cheerleaders through some kind of class or crash course on the basics and ins and outs of football. I thought, “Somebody needs to teach them so that they can be more constructive. How can they effectively cheer if they don’t know the game?” Then it kind of hit me… There are many people who don’t understand the game of “life”. How can we effectively live if we don’t know how?
So many people just “play” at life like I “played” at cheering. They just go through the motions without even really understanding how it works (or rather how God intended for it to work). They don’t really understand truly enjoying life and experiencing it to the full. I am a firm believer that God wants us to be blessed and live life to the fullest. John 10:10 (NLT) says, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
God never meant for us to just go through the motions of life waiting for the day we can finally get to heaven. He wants us to experience heaven on earth.
“your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” Matthew 6:10 (NIV)
If it’s God’s will in heaven, it’s His will on earth too. We need to learn to be educated players at the game of life. We need to be active participants. How can we be effective if we don’t know the game?
We need to know the “rules” in order to be successful and prevent ourselves from pitfalls. God’s word provides us with these guidelines by which to follow in order to be successful. Without guidelines and knowledge, we will run wild and make bad decisions. We’ll find ourselves “cheering” at the wrong time or spending too much time on something that should’ve been cut short. God could be saying to us, “Enough already!” We need to learn about life and how it’s supposed to work from God. We need to get wisdom, knowledge and understanding in order to truly be successful.
“Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them.” Proverbs 4:5 NIV)
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7 (KJV)
“My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.” Hosea 4:6 (NIV)
There are also many people, including Christians, that don’t really know or understand God. How can we effectively reach others for Christ if we don’t really know God?
How many times have we looked back on past points in our lives and said “Wow. If I only knew then what I know now. If only I had taken more initiative to learn. If only I had followed the “rules”.” Let’s break that cycle. Let’s start to take initiative and learn as much as we can now. Let’s stop going through the motions and just surviving life. Let’s learn to thrive. Let’s be a help to others not a hindrance. Let’s learn to look at life from a godly perspective.
Take Some Practical Steps:
- Take initiative to learn—know the rules. If you want to be successful (in a variety of areas in life), you need to learn as much as you can about those areas (whether it’s relationships, finances, careers, self-improvement, spiritual growth, etc.). Read books and articles. Watch videos. Listen to podcasts and messages. Hand around and learn from people more successful than you. Take the time to LEARN. Remember that’s the first step in the Formula for Success…follow the other 3 steps too to ensure your success!
- Always continue to learn about God and to grow in your relationship with Him. You can’t effectively impact or reach others if you don’t really know God yourself. Spend daily time with God…through Praise, Prayer, Quiet Times, Listening, and Learning.
- Ask yourself, “Am I a hindrance or a help?” Know that if you only know the basics in life and just go through the motions, you will be a hindrance not a help to those around you. You might even be kind of annoying—like those cheerleaders who don’t know the game (myself humbly included). Don’t think only of yourself. Think of others around you. You need to do more than just survive. You need to thrive and live life to the full. You need to be influencing, impacting and helping others. That’s a God-given mission given to each and every one of us.
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4 (ESV)
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12 (ESV)
- Get wisdom and understanding—Read a Proverb a day. The bible says that wisdom is the principal thing. One of the most helpful things I learned in my youth was from one of my favorite youth pastors. He told us how important it was to get wisdom. He gave us a challenge. He said, “If you want to become extremely wise. Read a chapter from the book of Proverbs every day. Do this every month for a year. By the end of the year, you will have read the book of Proverbs 12 times, and you will grow in wisdom.” I still follow this advice today. There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs—one for each day of the month. So today, October 20th I will read Proverbs 20. The date coincides with the number of the chapter so it’s easy to remember what to read any given day. The months that have only 30 days require me to read 2 chapters on the last or first day of the month. I also like to read from a different version or translation each month just to change it up a bit (which is easy to do with the Bible app from YouVersion) and see it from different perspectives. There are so many life lessons to be learned throughout the book of Proverbs. I have learned countless life skills about success, happiness, health and prosperity. I never stop learning either. There’s always something new or different each time I read them. I encourage you to do this too and see if you don’t grow exponentially in wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
- Shift your perspective from time to time. As a cheerleader I didn’t see things from a spectator perspective. Now that I’m in the stands I view things in a different way that I never noticed as a cheerleader. In life we need to look at things from different angles and different perspectives. Pray to ask God to open your eyes and to see situations and people the way the HE sees them, from His perspective.
Have you had any perspective shifts come from things that annoyed you? Leave a comment below (click on the post link to join the conversation if you’re viewing through e-mail) or take the conversation to your favorite social media channel (sharing links below).
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