Not Just Flirts in Skirts

I am a cheerleader and I'm very passionate about it... been one since college and I feel very grateful I'm still "flying".

Typical introduction of a friend to a stranger:

Friend: "This is Karla, she's a cheerleader."

Stranger: "Ah, so you're being thrown up in the air?"
Karla: "Yes!"

Stranger: "How exciting! You're perfect 'cause of your size..."

(SILENCE)

Karla: "Ah... Thanks?"

FYI: Cheerleading is a sport. Cheerleaders are not just for entertainment! We get injured way more than other athletes. Yes, WE ARE ATHLETES. We practice at least 3 hours a day, 6 days a week, 12 months in a year for a two and a half minute routine. Girls are tossed up 20 feet in the air. Men carry people, not weights, in one hand... plus we do all these smiling and with poise. Can Tiger Woods do that? I don't think so. :p

Here are some pictures from my glory, lighter days:

From left to right: Tisha, Heather and Me after a game in Araneta, 2004!

I'm the one that's oh so perky in the middle with both my arms up :)

This is me doing a firecracker/popcorn toss (tuck then layout-not flipping). I think I just graduated from college here.

Here are more recent photos of me with the NCC
(National Cheerleading Championships)

With American Coaches Liz and Joe doing a Double-Cupie

NCC's camp poster. Yes, that's me doing a one-hand liberty with Coach Andro :)

With one of my best friends, Mic, judging in Cagayan De Oro for the Mindanao Regionals

Stunting with Valenzuela's CMIC Fighting Vanguards after their mini camp

"Not every girl can be a cheerleader, it takes a special kind. Cheerleaders are full of life and a little bit out of their mind."

*Cheerleading in the Philippines? Visit www.nccphilippines.com