Peyton Finishes Her Middle School Cheer Season

Second from left = Peyton

Cheering for your middle school isn't that cool or at least that's what many of the classes that came before Peyton believed. Therefore, they would have only a few cheerleaders cheering at the boys basketball games. This year, one of Peyton's rec cheer (Falcons) teammates convinced all the girls who go to their middle school to tryout. She said you got to ride the bus with the boys so that was a good reason why all of them needed to do it. 

So they did. They all made the squad plus a few girls who do not regularly cheer with them. But they soon found out that they don't ride the bus with the boys. In fact, they don't cheer at the away games at all. Peyton expressed regret trying out but I'm glad she did it. She made some new friends and got to be a part of her middle school. Cheering for basketball was certainly different because she had to be aware of the players and errant basketballs flying through the air as they cheered from the baseline of the court. 

Either Tom or I attended all of her games (and Hailey came to a few as well). Hailey said she's out for cheerleading next year (she wants to try volleyball) after two years of her team making it to State. But I get it. No other girls from her school are on the team and while she's met some new friends and is actually pretty decent at it, it's no fun when your friends aren't doing it with you (especially at this age). Peyton is on the fence whether she will continue with rec cheerleading. She has one more year to finish out the season before high school. She thinks she doesn't want to cheer in high school and is really committed to playing more team sports now (wish she would have thought more about this when she was younger). She still wants to do swim but now is interested in basketball (which she hasn't played since the 3rd grade) and travel soccer (which I told her that ship has sailed and also hard to do with travel swim). 

Peyton and Hailey are so different than Austen. It's taken them longer to find a sport/something they love and for them I'm not sure they really have found it yet. They still have time but it certainly gets more competitive at our high school to make some of the sports teams with so many kids as well as many kids playing travel sports from a young age. So I say, don't quit just yet! Stick it out! 

Doing her thing