HOCKEY CHEER
I served as a co-captain of the hockey cheer team for my junior and senior seasons. This role had varying tasks between the two years due to the pandemic. My junior year, the pandemic had cancelled the opportunity for us to perform at games. But I was not ready to let the season go because of the pandemic. I worked and coordinated with the band to allow for us to be a part of the virtual performance, especially for those that would be streamed at the hockey games. This included setting up recording times for us to record stand dances for the pep band tunes and also coordinating ice time for the hockey cheer team to do the “blinding lights” challenge that the band put on. In my senior year, we were back at the hockey games. So, my role involved creating ice shows and teaching the stand dances to the new members.
This role I would say had a little less of a team aspect and more of a partnership aspect. We could play off of each other’s strengths and weaknesses a little bit, but since there was only two of us, we were expected to do most of the tasks. I learned that I really do have more strengths and can do more than what I think I can do, I just need to be pushed to try to do it. For example, I did not think that I would be able to create a whole pre-game ice routine because I am not that creative of a person. However, when I was pushed to do so by my teammates, I think I came up with some pretty good ideas and designed a routine that would have looked good on the ice. My leadership strengths that the cheer team played to a lot this season was my ability to keep a cool head under pressure. As a team, we have had problems with our treatment by the athletic department and what roles we were supposed to play at the hockey games. The biggest conflict that we had with the department was being told that we were not allowed to skate this year. When we decided to question why this decision was made, we were told that the ice was not up to the standards that they have and our presence on the ice would further decrease the quality. As a team, we thought of several ideas to present to the department that we felt were fair to us as well as to their ice concerns. These ideas included coming onto the ice when the players came out and not three minutes before the team like in past seasons, limiting jumping passes, and even asking if we could just skate with the flags around the edges of the ice. The members of the athletic department and the civic center ice crew did not accept our recommendations and thus we had a season of no skating. All of us were pretty upset and angry at the situation in which we were being put, especially since we are all figure skaters and joined the team to share our love of skating and performing with the hockey team crowd. Throughout this season, I was able to take the lead and continue to have difficult conversations with the department about our concerns and was able to keep a cool head while having these conversations. I think that by me acting and expressing the concerns of the team with a cool head helped the rest of the team keep a cool head while trying to come up with a solution in which all parties would be happy. I think the weakness that I had was giving corrections. I am not a fan of giving corrections because I never want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But I was able to watch others in the past and through this year give corrections and that showed me more and more both how to give corrections and that it is okay to give corrections.
In addition to being a leader on the team, I also had to remember that I was a leader and a role model to all the little girls that attended the games. Some of my favorite memories from my years on the team are when the little kids would come sit by me and copy what I did the stands, when they wanted to take a picture with me or were just ecstatic to see me wave back to them when they waved at me. As cheerleaders, we are role models and are representing the school. It is so important for us to represent the school in the most positive way that we can. In this way, we are leaders by the actions that we perform. Our actions at the game always have to be positive no matter what the situation is. Some actions that we perform to keep this image is continuing to smile and be happy even when the team was losing, showing respect to the other team and their staff, and standing on the ice and cheering for the three stars of the game even when none of the honored players are from the Mavericks. These actions have a great influence on the young crowd, and it is important that we continue these actions, so they have great leaders and role models to look up to as they continue to grow up in the sports world.
Similar to what I saw in band, I think that the best leadership style is when you are able to have fun and build a community and the weakest leadership style is to try to be a dictator. It is fun to be good and look good, but it is also fun just to go to the hockey games with the team and have a good time with the relationships that with each other and the “little cheerleaders” that sit next to us at the game. It is so important to have fun with what you are doing, so it is important to have a leadership style that allows you to both have fun and look good when you are performing. I think that being on this team, I learned more about my personal leadership style. I really liked being able to learn how to lead in this group from the girls that did it before me. They always wanted to leave the team in better hands than what they started it in. I feel that by learning through them, I was able to teach the girls that will be the captains next year how they could lead them as well. Everyone has a little bit of a different way to lead, but by seeing what works and what doesn’t, they will be able to keep allowing for the team to be successful in the future. I think that each year I have been on the team, the team has grown to be a little bit better than what it was the year before. It would be great if the team could keep being great and growing so that in the future, it can be a team that everyone wants to be a part of both because of the talent and because of the relationships that the team builds.
