“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
-Nelson Mandela
I first saw this speech quoted a few days ago and it was truly inspiring. What can we all truly aspire to when we choose to ignore the negative thoughts another person may have about our successes? Get out of your box, stay inside law and ethics, and go out and do something amazing; what you do may yet inspire someone else to take hold of their own potential. We are all going to have bad days but, remember, that’s just called “how it is.” So, whether it be in cheer, the workplace, school or anything else, we can all do something significant. Play big and serve God so that you can leave a legacy of your own design in this world.
Thoughts???
-Mike Sims
I would like to start my first “Cheerific Talk” by explaining the direction and motive behind what you will find in this section. Making a difference in peoples lives through sharing personal experiences, life lessons and aquired knowledge is my intention. Understand that I do not have all the answers and though I may strongly believe and practice ideas and concepts, I understand that different methods or views may not agree with my own though in some instances obtaining the same end result. These talks, I hope, will benefit your life personally and help you creatre a big picture understanding in certain areas of cheer, relationships, view of God and many other exciting avenues. These are not being published for sake of arguement though opinions and feedback are always welcome and encouraged.
Enjoy.
Tim Hydzik, tim@cheerific.ca
Why be involved in a sport that involves pompoms, cheers, megaphones and dancing? For me these areas were not considered fun nor did they contribute to my male pride. Actually these were the things that I was most embarrassed of when confronted about being a cheerleader. Before I personally tried cheerleading, my brother Jon sent me a picture of him and his stunt partner doing an “extension”. He also told me that this was the sport he chose at high school. At that time I lived in Poland where cheerleading did not exist, it would have probably been considered a circus performance if it did. So when I first looked at the picture, my thoughts were “that’s not a sport” and “you are doing it only because of the women”. I am so glad he didn’t phone to ask me what I thought. The next year I moved to Canada along with my parents so that I could begin grade 10. Let me tell you, going somewhere where you have no friends is really tough. My brother and his friend Shelby were my only ticket I had to getting out of home. After a week or so, Jon asked me if I wanted to go to the gym with him. Of course I did! I loved working out. I got my clothes ready and we were going to the “gym”. I walked in and thought that Canadians went crazy!!! No waits, treadmills or equipment just trampolines, mats and crazy looking beams. Little did I know that this was a Gymnastics club where he practiced his “cheer thing” along with people from his school. I think you know what happened next. He had me doing an “elevator” which I thought was the coolest thing ever. Holding somebody above my head for the first time was a very different yet exciting experience. As soon as I received my driver’s license I would pick my brother up from cheer practice. At the beginning of the season I walked in to one of his practices to pick him up, Steven the coach at W.P. Wagner asked why I wasn’t doing cheer with my brother. (My brother claims to have a different reason as to why I joined, because a girl asked me to) I really had no excuse why I wasn’t cheerleading, I had nothing better to do with my time, so I agreed to come and try one practice. After school I would go to practice with my brother. I lost 20 pounds doing cheerleading and can do more than one push up. It was lots of hard work and sometimes I had trouble getting up for school the next day. Very quickly I realized that the training involved in Cheerleading is extremely difficult and physically demanding. After my three great years of being on my high school team, I did what everyone in Edmonton dreams of doing. Towards the end of my grade 12 year I joined the Edmonton Eskimo Cheer Team in 03’. All of my friends who thought cheerleading was a joke would come and watch what cheerleading was really about. They admired the tumbling, stunting and dancing to the extent that some even apologized for joking about cheerleading throughout high school. It is a very rare experience being on the field performing in front of thousands of people. I have accomplished something in my life that I never could have imagined myself doing. Just imagine the stories I will be telling my children, “when I was your age, I threw people 50 feet in the air”.
Tim Hydzik, tim@cheerific.ca
