I have spent the last 9 days in Utah. While I ALWAYS enjoy spending time with my children, this span of days has seemed the most normal and wonderful in a long time. I felt like a normal dad again…well, as normal as I can be!
One of the greatest things of this past week was going to Mariana’s cheer practice and then seeing it come to life today during a competition.
This isn’t the first time I have been around cheerleading. When I was a middle school teacher, I was very active with the cheer team and even attending some camps.
Watching Mariana and her team practice for two hours the other night was a great reminder of how hard these young ladies work, how athletic they are, and how much they can learn, as in REAL LIFE lessons, from their cheer experience.
Commitment.
Perseverance.
Timing.
Practice. Practice. Practice.
Interdependence.
Disappointment
Putting people in the right roles.
Forgiveness.
Trust.
Frustration.
Discipline.
Encouragement.
Leadership.
Evaluation.
Celebration.
As shown in the words above, there are many important life lessons available through cheer.
One of the things that I have noticed about Mariana’s participation in cheer is that she is very dedicated to continual improvement. Not only does she work hard on her role on the team, but she also wants the others to do the same. She is hard on her own performance and expects that same level of commitment from her peers.
And something else I have noticed is that she is resilient. She takes setbacks well. She will express her emotions and feelings about sub-standard performance, and then she moves on. It does not appear that she gets discouraged easily.
As I reflect upon these attributes of my daughter, I can’t help but be struck by the fact that they are the exact attributes that I need in my roles as a father, employee, co-worker, friend and human.
The Umenum 