Growing Up in Cheer: What Stays With You Long After the Last Routine

I started cheerleading when I was four years old.

That was back in 2001, growing up in the DFW area, long before cheer looked the way it does today. Before social media, before Worlds bids were common language, before the industry exploded into what it is now. I was just a kid who loved tumbling, movement, and being part of a team. I also happened to be one of the only boys doing it.

At that age, I didn’t know I was “different.” Cheer was just my normal. It was the place where I learned discipline, commitment, and how to show up even when things were hard. It gave me structure before I even knew what that word meant.

As I grew up, cheer grew too. Gyms evolved, skills evolved, the industry evolved. And I was lucky enough to grow alongside it. I cheered at smaller gyms in the DFW area, competing at local competitions, attending NCA Nationals, which at the time felt like the most prestigious stage you could be on. Worlds wasn’t even on my radar yet. I didn’t know it existed.

I collected NCA jackets through Spirit of Texas and Excite Cheer. I was part of Rush, a Level 4 team that earned Excite’s first NCA title. At that point in my life, I thought that was the peak. I thought I knew what cheer was.

Then came my first “last year.”

I hyperextended my knee and ended my season early. Around the same time, I was moving to middle school, and everything felt like it was shifting. I decided I was done with cheer. I didn’t want to be known as “the boy cheerleader” anymore, even though that was the only version of myself I’d ever known.

So I tried to walk away.

I joined middle school football while recovering from my injury. I tried tumble and trampoline at a gymnastics gym near my house. It was fine. It kept me active. But it wasn’t cheer. Something was missing, even if I didn’t want to admit it.

The following season, I tried out for Spirit of Texas again. That ended up being my final year competing with that gym before my life changed completely.

In 2013, I walked into tryouts at Cheer Athletics Plano.

And suddenly, the world got a lot bigger.

That same kid who had been cheering for over a decade had no idea cheerleading existed at the level Cheer Athletics competed at. Worlds teams. Global stages. Elite programs. I made Cheetahs with barely a double, and it cracked my understanding of what was possible wide open.

That moment changed everything.

Since then, cheer has continued to be a constant in my life, even as my role has changed. Athlete. Teammate. Coach. Mentor. Business owner. The industry keeps evolving, and it’s been incredible to watch it grow from the inside.

One thing I’ve learned is this: cheer doesn’t just give athletes skills. It gives them a foundation.

Routine. Accountability. Teamwork. Discipline. Confidence. The ability to fail and get back up. The ability to commit to something bigger than yourself.

And when the athletic career eventually ends, those things don’t disappear.

Everyone says they’re “done” with cheer at some point. And almost everyone comes back. They miss the structure. They miss the feeling. They miss the identity. Whether it’s trying out again, coaching, judging, choreographing, or finding another outlet for that same discipline, cheer leaves a mark.

To the moms reading this: what your daughters are gaining goes far beyond medals and routines. They’re learning how to move through life with confidence, how to manage time, how to handle pressure, and how to belong. Those lessons stay long after the uniform comes off.

Cheer didn’t just shape my childhood. It shaped who I became.

And I wouldn’t trade that journey for anything.