I cringed a little when my daughter pulled out this picture. Apparently, daughter 2 had been packing it around and showing it to all her friends. I’m not sure how many have been afflicted thus far…
I remember my mom taking these photos. As I look at them now I’m thinking why did she let me paste all that gunk on my face? Oh boy! 
Anyhow, I loved sports and cheer leading was my favorite. It was physically demanding but super fun. And very girly. Plus, you very rarely got hurt. Squad members each had a specific job. Some were strong bases and some were light flyers. Others would spot behind so there would be a set of hands ready to catch you if you fell.
I usually drifted back and forth from spotting to base and occasionally would “fly”. I remember one home game I was standing on top of my friend’s shoulders for a cheer. I heard somebody give the “down” command (we had a verbal command for everything) and so I began to bend down to reach for her hand so I could step off her shoulders. It sounded like somebody from the crowd had called it and since I was pretty much a whole person taller than my friend the range of sound was different for both of us. She didn’t hear it. So as I was bending down she was forcefully pulling me upright again. It must have been a sight as we struggled against each other :0
When the cheer finally ended she was a tad bit upset… but I stayed upright the whole time and nobody got hurt. If I could just locate the joker who called that out it might have ended differently!
Hennekes At Home 