By Allison Rippy
Cheer and STUNT | Class of 2021
In my 16 years of cheerleading, I never thought I would be walking into a sisterhood that is so strong.
The competitive side of OBU Cheer has been rapidly built from the ground up in as little as five years. I walked in on the second year of OBU being a competitive squad and I have been pushed beyond my limits and taught so many new skills.
And I'm still learning.
The amazing thing about cheerleading is it's constantly evolving. New skills and new variations of abilities are always in the works for high school teams and all-star teams. It's mind-blowing what coaches and choreographers come up with for their athletes to accomplish. Then you get to college and that's a whole other kind of level. But we will learn these skills and perfect them until we think we can't go anymore.
Like all teams across the nation, no matter what sport you're a part of, the ultimate goal of the team is to win, and the coach is the one who will push you until you're beyond sore.
Coach Stiles made us believe we could keep going until we thought we couldn't anymore.
Our NCA routine is two minutes and 15 seconds of constant lifting, flipping, and jumping, while also performing for a crowd and judges. If we mess up in the middle, the music will stop, and Coach Stiles will make us do it again from the beginning until we get it right. If we wanted to win, that's what it was going to take.
In 2018, we ran spring break practices as usual – running full-out routines constantly, sweating to death, and wanting to get that first full-out hit. We wanted all of our hard work to pay off while also being reminded that, win or lose, God has a plan for us.
That year we took the mat day one of nationals and placed high enough to move onto finals day on the bandshell in Daytona, Florida. On day two, we had a few mess-ups but we kept our heads up. We knew it was all a part of God's plan. Awards were about to happen and during awards we ended up placing third, which wasn't where we wanted to be, but all we could do was keep our heads up and keep working for that win.
Then fast forward to day two of our competition in Daytona for both teams in 2019 – the most emotional day I have ever experienced.
Walking into the day both of our teams were in first place. Our Gold (intermediate) team went early in the day so we were able to watch them perform, but our warm-up time conflicted with their awards ceremony, so we didn't know what had happened at their awards and no one on Green (advanced) wanted to know until after they competed.
Then, Green went.
My heart pounding, adrenaline through the roof and our whole team and coaches praying "Your will be done God." Then the routine was over. I swear my world stopped. We did it. We hit day two. We did our best and win or lose, we knew we gave it our all.
We walked backstage and saw the trophy Gold had and we knew they had won. There were so many tears of excitement and happiness, it was incredible. Later we were on the mat for awards and then the announcer said "In second place …" It felt like the LONGEST pause I had ever heard. Our name wasn't second.
We did it. We won.
We were the first OBU cheer team to ever win an NCA national title. That feeling is indescribable and we all were so grateful.
And this year we knew we had to live up to that standard, so we did it all again – pushing our routines, getting stronger and better every practice. But then, the world stopped.
Literally.
On March 12 we got the news that we couldn't come back to campus for our annual spring break practices. We were going to do our best to work through the uncertainty and it reinforced the belief that God had a plan and we were going to be okay. Then, March 13, my class was actually about to start and I got the notification that we weren't allowed to come back to campus for the rest of the year AND we couldn't compete at NCA.
My heart broke. My world stopped. Everyone had no idea what to do. Most, if not all, the girls on both teams had been cheerleaders for years and we've grown to be such a great family and now, we were told we couldn't see each other again. However, there was a key word I said above, did you catch it?
I said MY world. But the reality is, this is not my world.
Yes, I want to be with my team going full out until we think we can't anymore. I want to be in a classroom and barely be able to sit down because my body is so sore. But God closed that door for hundreds of athletes across the nation. I, like many other athletes at first, wanted to be angry, sad, frustrated, confused and all the other emotions that come with this.
But I refused to believe that there is not a reason this has happened.
To me, the answer was simple – we must be still and trust Him.
I can sometimes get back in my head and think, "Okay, wait, what? I'm supposed to be still?" Quite honestly, I'm never still. I'm always doing something to keep going, especially during the spring semester.
I got to thinking – He probably took away cheer for me, and athletics for hundreds of people, because we all, including me, needed to stop focusing on the world. Specifically put, Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
People's minds have been so focused on the world and now quarantine has us all so bored. But, what better time to focus on God and God alone?
