5, 6, 7, 8

Cheering is much more than simply chanting with a crowd at a sporting event. For Terri Sims, cheering is her life and has been for many years. She begins her days with 8 am competition practices beginning with her cheerleaders, all matching wearing red athletic shorts and white t-shirts, gathering into a musky high school gymnasium. Terri shows up to practice dressed in all athletic clothing, her light brown hair tied up into a pony-tail, and she’s wearing her glasses which have a light pink frame. The gym lights take a while to turn on, so for the first ten to fifteen minutes the morning sun dims the gym by peering through the trees from through the windows, into the gymnasium. Despite the early hour, her cheerleaders are awake and ready to practice. Warming up their bodies with basic exercises, her cheerleaders begin with doing jumps, extensions, and liberties. With sweat dripping down their foreheads, the five groups of four girls work together as Terri walks around, spotting the groups, yelling, critiquing, and coaching the girls. Her bubbly and positive attitude keep the girls motivated, however her cheerleaders know Terri means business when she repetitively yells "ladies" to get everyone's attention. They all listen to Terri's numerous and specific demands, despite her coffee breath. They continue to practice doing various types of jumps, tumbling (gymnastics), dancing, and stunting. You can hear the echo of their sneakers landing on the carpeted foam mats throughout the gym, and Terri's counting, "5, 6, 7, 8..." echoes through the surrounding hallways. 

Terri cheering for the Houston Oilers in 1984

Terri’s cheerleading career began when she was only 12 years old. She cheered for a recreational team in her area for one year, however after that, the cheerleading program was part of the middle school so try outs were required. Believe it or not, Terri did not make the team, but that did not stop her there. Ten years later, Terri was influenced by her mother to try out for the Houston Oilers NFL cheerleading team. Not having cheered in ten years, Terri was slightly reluctant, however she thought to herself, “What the heck, why not?” There were over five hundred participants, and to her surprise, Terri was one of the forty applicants who made the team for the 1984-1985 football season!

Terri’s passion for coaching began when her youngest daughter decided she wanted to cheer for their local recreational football team at the age of five, the Belvidere Wildcats. The organization needed volunteers to help coach the little girls so again Terri thought, “What the heck, why not? How hard could it be? Little did I know!” Terri had no idea that she was going to end up being a coach for fourteen, going on fifteen, consecutive years. She coached her daughter and her team all the way up to high school, which means she has coached the same girls from five years old, all the way to eighteen. Terri had become very attached to these girls because she watched them grow up. Terri reflects, “It brings tears to my eyes whenever I think about those girls. I’m so proud of each and every one of them that I have coached over the course of thirteen years. I feel like they’re all my little babies.” Since her daughter graduated high school, she now coaches for a local recreational team of middle-school girls in her area.

At a regular cheerleading practice, a routine is always followed. It begins with the team working together to roll out their mats. With each blue mat being fourty-two feet long and six feet wide, it usually takes between three to four cheerleaders to roll out each of eight heavy mats. Once the mats are in place, the girls gather into a circle on the blue carpeted mats and begin to stretch as a group. A chalky scent fills the gymnasium from the dust trapped within the carpet of the mats; this scent is ever so familiar to these girls. Following the stretches, the girls break up into five groups of four and begin to warm up their numerous stunt sequences that they have recently been working on. Walking around in her cropped black Nike workout pants, a light pink Nike sports tank, and her white Nike sneakers, Terri visits each group giving them important pointers to execute their stunts flawlessly and without injury.

The dance portion of the practice follows the stunt sequences. Terri’s cheerleaders line up without being told into their set positions, forming a triangle with the point being the front line. Terri turns on the music nice and loud from the small equipment closet located in the back of the gymnasium. Cheerleading music isn't necessarily a song that the girls dance to, it’s more of a remix of many popular fast-paced songs with special effects added into the music which correspond with what the cheerleaders are doing to add effect. For example, voice overs within the music play the phrase “Lopatcong, Panthers”, sounds of dings at the time the girls hit specific motions, and the music ends with a gunshot sound at the moment of their last move. For a better understanding of what cheer music sounds like, see the video above. The music really adds to the performance, making it that much more exciting.

As the practice goes on, Terri’s cheerleaders become tired which cause them to being to struggle to execute the numerous difficult stunts in their routine. Terri continues to motivate her cheerleaders by using her favorite quote, “Do or do not, there is not try.” Terri explains that she loves this quote because she believes that you either work hard enough to succeed, or you don't work hard enough and you fail. Finally after three hours of hard work, the girls can go home drenched in sweat, but with smiles on their faces. “The look of accomplishment and pride is what I love to see from these girls”, Terri proudly remarks.

Terri’s favorite part of coaching is being a coach throughout competition season. Competition season usually begins the last week of October and lasts until the end of February, depending on how far a team makes it that season. “I’ve been coaching for fourteen years and would say my best moment (as a coach) was in October 2007 when my team won their first, first place ever in a competition! And I’m proud to say that I have had a team win first place in at least one competition every year since then. But that first win had to be my proudest moment.” Terri loves to see what comes out of all the hard work her and her girls spend in the gym. She loves to watch the girls grow and preform to their best ability, knowing that she has helped them reach important milestones. “Cheerleading is more to me than cheering at football games and looking pretty. That’s the glamour of it, only a cheerleading coach really knows how much hard work, time, and effort is put into this sport.”
         One may think to themselves, “cheering is a piece of cake, how hard can coaching really be?” Many important aspects come along with being a cheerleading coach. It is the coach’s responsibility to ensure the safety of every cheerleader, to organize fundraisers, to plan practices well enough to work around everyone else’s schedule, as well as her own, and to make sure the cheerleaders get the best experience out of it as possible. For the past fourteen, going on fifteen years as a coach, Terri has dedicated her life to cheerleading. Not only is she extremely dedicated, but she does not get paid for what she does either. She has been a volunteer for all of these years, changing and influencing these girl’s lives every day. She has managed to raise three of her own kids, worked a full time job, and coached a cheerleading team every year for fourteen years straight. Terri reflects, “I love coaching because of the girls I coach! I like to have fun, be crazy and work hard! While winning is nice, I really love to see how the girls develop over time and become more confident in themselves and their cheering abilities. I like knowing that I have made an impact in their lives, no matter how big or small.”