Join Cheer

So it’s almost time for the new academic year to begin and it’s also time to think about recruiting new people for Cheerleading!

If you’ve read my blog before you’ll see that I do love Cheerleading and I’m so happy that I joined in my second year of university. It’s a great way to stay in shape, improve flexibility and of course to meet some great new people. Both men and women are welcome as we compete in co-ed (mixed) competitions.

So, what is cheerleading? We get together twice a week for practice and this is when we learn the routine which we shall take to competitions. We normally do some stretching, learning the routine, and sometimes conditioning and finally a cooling down period which is also mainly stretching.

Competitive cheerleading is a mix of dance, cheer, tumbling and stunting all put together into a two and a half minute routine. It’s hard work (as some people have to lift others, whilst the flyers are being thrown into the air) but it’s so rewarding when you successfully put forward a routine. Our last competition was at the end of June, where I *sprained* my ankle (I think it’s actually more than a sprain as this was 7 weeks ago now and it still hasn’t healed! Maybe I should get it looked at again…) but it was an overall enjoyable competition!

Of course, it’s not just competitive cheerleading, we have fun practices. Like a few months ago the squad had an army *Smoed* themed practice and I sadly missed it but it looked like so much fun! We also hold soooo many socials, there’s a Team Greenwich event at Sparrows every Wednesday. It’s not all drinking though, we do hold other events for the non-drinkers (although you are welcome to come along to Sparrows if you don’t drink of course!!!), and we go out for meals and have movie events at the university.

There’s also a DANCE SQUAD and a SPIRIT SQUAD if you don’t want to be on the cheer team itself. The SPIRIT SQUAD goes to other Team Greenwich games such as American Football and we cheer them on with our pom poms (obviously poms had to be in there somewhere), afterwards Cheer and American Football go out for a few drinks to all get to know one another.

For the DANCE SQUAD, they usually compete at the same competitions as the CHEERLEADING COMPEITIVE SQUAD and they compete at regional and national levels in Pom, Hip Hop and Jazz.

And then of course there’s TOUR, which Team Greenwich goes to every year. I’ve been twice now and it will be my third time next year! It’s an amazing experience and if you join Cheer (or any other sports team) I would recommend going, it’s so much fun and you get to know your squad so much better. You don’t have to be a drinker to go on Tour, you can come and enjoy yourself without drink!

Our Cheerleading squad is full of lovely people, so you can come along and see us at both of the Freshers Fairs (Greenwich 24^th September/Avery Hill 22^nd September) and have a chat with us about joining. See you in September! J

What am I going to do now?

So, now I’ve graduated from University of Greenwich, I have to decide what I’m going to do with my life now. Of course at first I was interested in a career in Film. I still am, I think it would be an amazing career. Imagine that, working on a set of a film! To me, it sounds like great fun. However, I’m not the only one who thinks this type of job sounds great and therefore struggled to find a job in this sort of area.

So I decided to think about what other careers I was interested in. I remembered that when I completed a few weeks work experience at a local primary school for secondary school work experience that I really enjoyed it. But I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy doing it full time and for the rest of my life so I decided to get some more experience to make sure.

I began some more work experience at another primary school for two more weeks, and even though it was exhausting (they were a year 5 class), it was really rewarding. To see them learn and enjoy class was amazing and was extremely enjoyable. To work in a field where you are helping others, to me, sounds great.

After this I decided the time was right for me to make an application to the University of Greenwich for a PGCE in Primary Education. Luckily, this is funded by Student Finance England otherwise it wouldn’t be possible for me to complete it. I went to an interview and was put on a waiting list, a few weeks after this I was given a conditional offer. The only thing that held me back was the Skills Test. I had taken the Numeracy Skills test twice and failed both times, I’m not sure why, because I revised, but maybe (*obviously*) I should have studied more…

So what’s in store for me now? I think I’m going to work for now and reapply for the PGCE next year, which gives me plenty of time to revise for the Numeracy Skills Test. I’m also going to apply for Camp America. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I can’t wait!

Taking a year out to do other things can be scary, but they will be worth it.