One of the most convenient things about living so close to home is that I can make the somewhat-quick, thirty minute drive, to stop in and see my family. With working 40+ hours a week this summer, I haven’t been able to spend as much time in my hometown as I have wanted, yet I’m happy for the time I do get to spend with my family. Every time I come home, no matter how short, it’s always nice to see what has changed yet what has stayed the same. With my town as small as it is, it’s not uncommon to run into familiar faces and sometimes run into people I haven’t seen in years.
I had one of those experiences during one of my more recent trips home. I was at the grocery store near my neighborhood and, in the midst of picking up groceries for my grandparents, saw someone I surely wasn’t expecting to see. It was my cheerleading coach, Eric, who I hadn’t seen since my freshman year of high school – keep in mind that I’m now a rising senior in college. After doing competitive allstar cheering for three years at the gym he owned, Kentucky Wolfpack Allstars, he decided to close the gym and moved away to the west coast for a couple of years. He just very recently moved back to our county with his family, which I didn’t know until seeing him at Kroger, so it was certainly a surprise when I thought he still lived on the other side of the nation.
Seeing my cheer coach, someone I looked up to for years and to this day respect so much, was a subtle reminder of great memories from my past. I grew up doing gymnastics for 8 years, then within months started all-star competitive cheerleading with Eric at Wolfpack, stayed there for three years, cheered for my high school for three years, and then cheered at Bellarmine for two years. Because of Eric and the Kentucky Wolfpack Allstars family, my love for cheerleading kept me going, continually inspired even through college.
With all of the hustle in bustle of striving to live in the present and to arduously prepare for my future, it was nice to take a look back and remember some of the good times. Oh, what I would do to cheer one more routine with the Wolfpack team…
Wolfpack days – at dinner with Courtney and Calyn after a competition – note all of our crazy glitter performance makeup was washed off ![:)]()
Fast forward to high school – all of us seniors celebrating senior night!
Fast forward again to freshman year of college where BU Cheer traveled to Daytona, FL for our national competition!
Tagged: Basketball, Bellarmine, cheer, cheerleading, coach, college, competition, competitive cheer, daytona beach, football, hometown, inspiration, Kentucky, oldham county, Student, wolfpack
