What constitutes being a good teammate? This question is so complex, yet so essential to know, considering cheerleading is all about collaboration and coordination. To really achieve in cheer, everyone has to be working together. Plus, your teammates are your family. Good days, bad days‚ your teammates have seen it all! You celebrate big wins together, and get through the losses just as united. For all the things that your teammates do for you, how do you give back to your team? Unfortunately, there’s no definitive answer, since team dynamics differ around the world. Movies about cheerleading, on the other hand, do tend to point out some qualities and actions over others‚ whether they are accurate or not is another story! Here are some signifiers that cheer movies taught us about being a good teammate: 1. Saying “sorry ” allows you to say anything. [Source: Giphy] Cheerleaders in the movies are always trash-talking each other instead of showing each other support. Say the meanest thing you can think of‚ double kudos if it rhymes‚ and follow it up with a deeply insincere, almost sarcastic apology. Teammates need tough love, you know?? 2. Never consider anyone else’s opinion, especially if you’re Captain. [Source: Giphy] Cheer captains wield a great deal of power, but cheer movies really emphasize this role as being the all-encompassing dictator of team decisions. It’s good to be a leader‚ within reason. If you’re a captain and finding yourself ignoring the alternative opinions of your teammates, maybe you have taken cheer movie stereotypes a little too far‚ 3. Bodyshaming is part of the program. [Source: Giphy] Getting fit doesn’t happen overnight, so put-downs regarding your teammates’ appetite might help to curb their cravings. You’re only helping them out in the long run, so they might as well get used to being called out! 4. But, the best bonding comes from over-indulgence. [Source: Giphy] Completely counterintuitive from #3 is stuffing your face after practice alongside your squad. What’s better than being inexplicably contradictive? Chocolate. Chocolate is better. 5. Nothing says “cheer BFF’ more than disrupting class together. [Source: Teen.com] Forget AP English, cheerleaders never stop cheering! Making up a secret cheer handshake with your besty is the only true way to show how much you care about him or her. Your teacher probably had nothing planned that day, anyway. And, you never know‚ the handshake could stand as your only identifying factor if you magically transform overnight into another person after stealing enchanted thrift store earrings. Be warned, it could happen. 6. Morals don’t matter, as long as you’re fabulous. [Source: Giphy] Being united as a team means that you will do whatever it takes, even if that means breaking the law and getting into trouble. Follow your squad right into a holding cell to show your team pride, but first, lemme take a selfie! 7. Go full out with team PDA. [Source: Giphy] Win a competition, kiss your crush: it’s how every cheer movie concludes, the go-to happy ending everyone was waiting for. Why not try it in real life, and see what happens? There will be absolutely NO repercussions‚ what, with your parents and coaches standing by, and the judges watching, and siblings and children, and the whole world tuning in on television‚ OBVIOUSLY, none of these lessons from cheer films are good advice. To be a great teammate, you have to be cooperative, dependable, trusting, empathetic, hard-working, and a million other positive adjectives that all bundle into one solid cheerleader. There’s no “I’ in “team’, so make an effort to appreciate your teammates a whole lot more than movie cheerleaders do. What other silly stereotypes do you see displayed about cheerleaders in movies? Let us know in the comments!
How to Be a Good Teammate According to Cheer Movies (in GIFs)
