What Three Letters Spelled Success in My Life...

What Three Letters Spelled Success in my Life… NCA While growing up my parents put me in all kinds of sports; baseball, basketball, soccer and the list goes on. One day, at the age of six, while my mom and I sat at the dining room table looking at the Sunday paper we saw an ad for cheerleading tryouts. She thought I lost my mind as I beg her to let me try out. She failed to realize that eleven years later I would still be cheering competitively and won many national titles from coast to coast. On a cold February morning, or what we consider cold here in Texas, we pulled up to the Dallas Convention Center. There stood thousands of cheerleaders from all over the United Stated hoping this would be their year to win nationals. NCA, National Cheerleaders Association, is the largest cheerleading competition held in the world. There they stood, cheerleaders of all ages and sizes, with hair slicked back tight, glitter from head to toe and shoes as white as a freshly snow covered mountain. My cheer team, Spirit Celebration, practiced almost every night for the last month and could practically perform our routine in our sleep. This competition is what we prepared for all season. As our team gathers together, we stretch listening to our music over and over reviewing the routine in our minds. As we walk to the practice gym we glance at the other teams and laugh when they mess up. We performed our routine on the warm up mat perfectly. Walking to the on-deck area, we talk among ourselves with not a worry in the world. As we stand on deck we prayed not only to hit a clean routine but to have fun and that no would one get hurt. The emcee announces, “Performing now from Richardson, Texas, Spirit Celebration”, and it’s time to compete. The lights are bright and I can see nothing beyond the blue performance mat but black spots. The music starts and the crowd goes wild blowing air horns, banging wooden blocks together and trying to make as much noise as possible