In life you are forced to make a lot of decision. These can be all kinds of decisions that may have a big impact on your life or somebody else’s, or might not have much of an impact at all. I have had to make a lot of decisions in my life. Some were big decisions and some were small. I've made good decisions throughout my life and I've made my fair share of bad ones as well. We're human though and we all make mistakes. You just have to use the bad decisions as a learning experience. I have made the same bad decision over and over though. I am stubborn and tend to do things my way, though they sometimes turn out badly. Finally one day something came over me. I decided to try something different for once to see what the turnout would be. I was faced with the decision to give up or keep trying. Giving up was the easy way out for me. It's what I did with everything when it got too hard or I didn't get my way. In this situation I decided I would try something new.


My whole life I have been a cheerleader. When I was younger I did Falcons cheerleading. While on that team we won the National title in Orlando Florida. Flacons Cheerleading was a team that everybody made there was no tryout required. Cheerleading always came easy to me until I entered high school. That's when things got much more competitive. Going into freshman year, I tried out for the cheerleading squad. This was an agonizing experience because I was so anxious. I had butterflies in my stomach because of all of my anxiety. I had multiple doubts flowing vigorously through my head. All day everyday all I thought about was cheerleading. It’s like cheerleading was on replay in my brain. I didn’t think I was going to make the team but to my surprise I, Amanda, was a new member of the cheerleading team. I had made the JV team and was overly proud. Over the year I progressed tremendously. By the end of my freshman year I was told I had a good shot at making the varsity team next year. With that, I practiced every day. I enrolled in tumbling lessons two times a week. I practiced all my skills and made sure I was fully ready for next year’s tryout. My life slowly but surely became revolved around cheerleading.

The time crept up on me and before I knew it, the tryout I was waiting for arrived. I was so nervous it was unbelievable. I walked into tryouts at the conclusion of my freshman year panicking on the inside but confident on the outside. The butterflies crept into my stomach once again and I was bombarded with anxiety. The tryouts were held for three days, three hours each day. The first two days we learned a dance, cheer, a jump sequence, and a tumbling sequence. Finally the third day was here. I had to go in front of five coaches and perform my skills. As I walked into the tryout room I felt my palms become sweaty. My face turned red and I felt as if I had a fever. I had the same butterflies in my stomach, but this time they were worse. I was overwhelmed with a wave of anxiety as I stood before the judges. I then began to perform everything I had learned. Done! Finally! It was over and everything I had worked for paid off. I preformed like a star. Everything went perfectly I didn’t make one mistake. Walking away from that tryout I was self assured that I had made the varsity team.

The last tryout day was a Thursday and the list with teams was supposed to be posted up Friday at 7:00 p.m. Finally, Friday came and I was thrilled to see the lists. I waited outside the Jock lot anxiously waiting with butterflies in my stomach. My stomach dropped like I was on a roller coaster, when I saw my coach walking down the hall with papers in her hands. She then walked over to where we were all sitting and posted the lists on the door. Everyone got up and stampeded the lists. All the girls’ faces were beaming with smiles, and they were jumping up and down for joy. They clearly made the team they were hoping to. I slowly walked over to the list feeling like I was about to throw up. I looked at the Varsity list and sure enough didn’t see my name. Disappointment. That night I left school in tears.

I was so angry with my coaches. They built me up just to let me down. I didn’t understand what I did wrong. I was shocked by the results and was just about ready to quit cheerleading once and for all. That is when I was faced with a crucial decision: quit cheerleading, which was the easy way out, or try my hardest on JV in hopes to make Varsity next year. All the times before when I was faced with a hard decision I took the easy way out. Looking back on that I realized at that moment I never got anywhere by just quitting. That’s when I decided to change what I was doing. I made the decision to keep trying my hardest.


At the first practice I came in with a positive attitude and ready to work my hardest. It was so hard for me to keep a smile on my face when inside I was falling apart. Through the next week I continued with my optimistic approach. At the end of the first week my coaches kept me after practice to talk to me. I was scared to find out what they were going to say. After a long drawn out conversation, to my surprise they told me I was going to be moved up to varsity. My hard work in the end paid off. They realized that I was fit for the varsity team and it was a mistake to put me on JV.


This is a decision that has ultimately changed my life. I learned that you should never give up because things get tough. Through this experience I see that I am my own worst enemy. If I would have made the choice to give up like I have always done in the past, I most likely wouldn’t have been moved up. I would have continued getting the same outcome that I have my whole life. This decision has impacted my life greatly because it helps me remember to always keep tying because you can’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.