Becoming Captain

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My senior year of high school I became captain of my varsity cheerleading team.

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At first, I was super thrilled to be able to tell all of the younger girls what to do and yell at them when they did wrong. I was finally ready to not be the baby of the team.

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I was there to make sure that the girls were in line and did what they were supposed to do. Making sure that they did not mess up was my job.

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Everyday I had to teach them new cheers and stunts. We practiced three hours a day and six days a week.

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Mid-way through our cheerleading season, I realized that being a captain was much more than just yelling at the girls and making them respect me. I was there for support.

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Whether it was balancing school and cheerleading or helping with boy problems, I was supposed to be there for them. They looked up to me as a leader.

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I needed to be a role model for this group of girls as much as I could. As a captain, I had to lead the team to better themselves as a team and individually.

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I had to make them feel comfortable in their own skin. The younger they were, the more I was supposed to be there to help them through the roughest parts of high school.

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I had to respect them back. That was the most important thing that I learned. If I wanted them to respect me, then I had to respect them back.

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I suppose my learning experience was taught by no other than myself. My teammates had also played a big role in teaching me that if I wanted respect, then I needed to give respect.

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This is, by far, the most important thing that I have ever learned. Being a leader means to not look down on your teammates. It means to step up and help them feel like a part of the team by including everyone.

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This lesson learned has impacted my life drastically. Respect is part of everyday communication.

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If this lesson had not been learned, then I would probably have never made such close connections with my cheerleading team.

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