After 12 years of training cheerleading, I retired yesterday. I soft retired last year, but I found myself really missing it and wanting to get back involved. I joined the CheerGyms.com open team and cheered for them throughout the season. While I enjoyed cheering for the team, the logistics of the situation didn’t work out for me. The team originally said they would be splitting time between both gyms. One in San Jose and the other in Concord. San Jose was 30 minutes away, Concord was about an 70 minutes away. I decided to do the team anyway. The drive meant that I was up before 8 most Sundays. I couldn’t go out late with friends on Saturday for fear of being to too tired at practice. On top of the cheering aspect I coached a local high school. Coaching would take up Friday nights with football games, which meant that I really didn’t have a weekend.
So, I’ve made a decision, and this time I’m going to try to keep to it. I’m going to retire from cheering myself. I’m still going to coach. I don’t think I’ll ever be removed from the sport completely, but for now I’m a coach and not a cheerleader. I feel I can be a better coach then cheerleader as this point. If it ever comes back to the point where I feel in shape enough to cheer and find a team convenient enough to be on, I’ll revisit it. For now, however, stick a fork in me, I’m done.