My Cheer Package

I'm from the Midwest, so I am accustomed to cheering during football season in temperatures ranging from 90 degrees to 30 degrees, rain, shine, snow. I've done it all. And every year I realized that my team, though everyone was from the Midwest and had experienced our crazy weather changes during football season, was never prepared with the right outerwear for the conditions. If it was raining or snowing we would put on a black or red jacket or hoodie and black or red pants. None of us ever matched. If it was really cold the upperclassmen would put on their letterman jacket. But the thing is that no matter what the temperature was at the beginning of the game we still had to wait until halftime to put on warmer clothes. The first half of the game we HAD to wear our uniform with no jackets or pants. Gloves were frowned upon because you had to take them off to stunt. The coach hated that the flyers wanted to wear pants like the rest of the squad because it was just more things to deal with when we went to stunt. It was just a ridiculous situation. If it was warm we looked fine, but the second the temperature dropped we looked like a bunch of people who walked off the street who happened to know the same cheers. It was so embarrassing.

My senior year was the first year that the coach thought it would be a good idea to get warmups for the whole squad. She went to the local sporting goods store that sold our high school wear only and bought some windbreaker jackets and pants for the squad. I hate the swish noise of windbreakers when you walk. The thing was that they weren't specialized for our squad so half of the crowd wore them too. No, just no. Warmups are part of your uniform. It's not a uniform if half of the crowd is wearing the same thing. Part of the reason she didn't order through the Varsity rep (which we always ordered everything through because it was the previous coach's daughter) was because my coach wanted to cut costs for the squad. She didn't consult with the squad if it would have been difficult to pay for Varsity warmups. Nor did she ask us if we liked the ones she got. Her clothing choices are one of those things about high school cheer that I do not miss.

All of this pent up irritation with my coach has given me the idea to put together my own cheer package. The practice wear, the uniform (which I think the seniors should have the option to buy at the end of the season), the bows, the shoes, the makeup, the warmups, the team wear, the poms, the bags. Everything.

Uniform: My squad is known for having a ridiculous amount of uniforms. During a season we will rotate through probably 4 uniforms, and still have 6 different uniforms in storage. Most of them are from the 80s and 90s. I know of only 3 that have been bought in the 2000s. One was bought before I started high school. One was bought my freshman year (2008). The other was bought just this year and let me tell you, it is hideous. It's plain red with the mascot's name on it in white and black. It's gross. My freshman year's uniforms were super cute. Made of the same material as all-star uniforms, same kind of design. Full top. Slitted skirt. No cut outs in the top. It's fashionable. It also looks horrible on anyone who has a BMI over 20 though.

I personally am (surprisingly) enjoying Varsity's most recent catalog. Generally I would hate Varsity, but today my opinion has changed. I like the red and black uniform. Their the motion-flex material, My squad had uniforms made of the same material (I think) and they were amazing. They're kind of pricey. The top is $70 and the skirt is $60 (Though Varsity advertises it as their $100 package??) We've always matched our shell with our skirt but I really like the white shell with the black skirt. It's something that you don't see around my area. It's classy, fashionable, and different.




I am also really liking UESports.com. Their uniforms are traditional and if I want to go that route I would definitely choose their uniforms. I'm not sure on prices because they require you to call. This is not a design that my squad has personally gone with before, but the school across the county has ones similar and they look great on. I think it would look best with a white body suit and maybe the white wedge where it crosses at the hip should also be black.




Bows: There are so many amazing bow manufacturers in the market right now. It would be hard to choose one. For my freshman, sophomore, and junior year we ordered our bows from Varsity. They were tolerable, but there were a lot of other squads that had the same bows. I HATE showing up to a game and having the other squad have something in common with us. I want to be our own squad with our own gear that no one in our area has. Since my junior year we have made our own bows. One has turned out fabulous. It's my favorite bow ever even if it isn't very big. The others have turned out like utter crap. I will be buying all of my bows unless there is a girl on my squad who shows me that she can consistently make perfect, uniform bows every time. Most bows I've seen range in price from $10- $25. I want as many as possible for my squad. Your bow makes the uniform and allows the squad to participate in student section themes, like gangster, camo, or holiday. If there is no theme fora  night, glitter bows are the way to go.

Some of my favorite bows include: 

Bags: My freshman year we had great bags. It held all of our uniforms, shoes, bows, body suits, spanks, makeup, purse, small child, kitchen sink. I'm just saying that it was enormous. My sophomore year the bags were like half the size. Like what? I can barely fit my uniforms in there, let alone the rest of my stuff. It was pointless. I am looking for a bag that is about 28- 30 inches long, about a foot wide, a foot tall, with 2 straps to carry with hands, a shoulder strap, and is durable. Preferably one that has the ability to be customized. I will do all embroidery and customizations myself. Every bag I have found that fits this description is about $50. I want it to roughly look like this:


I also love this glitter duffel from Varsity it's just super sparkly and absolutely beautiful.



Shoes: I have always loved cheering in Nike One Spirit shoes. I have 2 pairs and they last forever! I still haven't worn out my first pair from freshman year and I'm a sophomore in college. They are the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned. I wear them almost everyday. They take a little getting used to if you've never worn them before, but they are perfect once you get them broken in. They are the type that have the changeable color in the Nike Swish. They're only $66, which I think is completely reasonable.



Currently my squad is wearing Varsity Spirit II. I don't know much about them but I've heard they have some great reviews. They just got them a week ago, so next time I see them I'll ask how they like them. They look great in the picture, but look a little funny on the foot. I think it is just the lacing that the picture has compared to how a normal person would lace their shoes to fit their foot. They're $72, which for a good cheer shoe I don't think that is a bad.



I have heard so much about Nfinity shoes that I am really eager to try them out. I was so sad when I found out that they are only for all-star cheer, BUT Nfinity has come out with a  shoe designed specifically for sideline cheer. It's called the Nfinity Game Day. I don't know anything about this specific shoe but I have heard rave reviews of the other Nfinity shoes and I'm sure these will be just as good. They look really similar to the Nfinity Evolution and those are really popular, so I can only assume that these would fit relatively similar. They are $69.99, completely reasonably priced. They look like they go up the ankle a little more than the Nike's I'm used to though, and I would love to know how that will affect jumps and any tumbling that we do. 



Warmups: I will require warmups for my squad. I will not allow my squad to look like a bunch of bums. I am absolutely IN LOVE with Varsity's cold weather gear. It includes everything that a squad would need to keep warm in the Midwest. The jacket costs $55.95. The gloves cost $19.95. The leggings can easily be made by adding a piece of ribbon to plain leggings, over all leggings can be bought very cheep (I got my newest pairs for $7 woop woop!) and ribbon is only a few dollars. The ear warmer can be bought relatively cheep (probably $5 at Walmart) and with the use of an embroidery machine can be personalized with the mascot's name or the cheerleader's name.


Poms: When I cheered we always had one red pom and one black pom. Last year was the first year for a new coach and she picked the ugliest poms ever. They are those two color poms in red and black. I was so glad that I had graduated and didn't have to deal with them. This year she decided to make the girls get WHITE poms. YUCK! They've turned yellow from their hand sweat and dirt. We had such nice poms and then this new coach chose the nastiest poms ever. I am also a fan of pink poms for breast cancer. I think that those should be purchased by the squad and used for the breast cancer pink out games, rather than have the girls buy their own. If the girls would like to they are welcome to purchase their own pink poms. Pink poms are only $21 and I believe that metallic red and black poms are comparable in price.

Makeup: My squad always let each girl did her own makeup, her own way. Recently I have heard of squads who make girls buy the same makeup and wear their makeup the same way. I think this is a good way to keep with the uniformity of the squad. My school's colors were red, black, and white. Red eye makeup looks scary, so I prefer to do the silvery white and black. Add shimmery, sparkly glittery stuff (I suck at makeup) and it is perfect.



Team wear: I love personalized team wear. Hoodies, oversized sweaters, t-shirts, tank tops, sports bras. I love it all with your name, mascot, school name, graduation year. These. just these. I love oversized sweat shirts with leggings, and I would have loved to have one when I was still cheering.


My squad bought something like this my senior year. It had our school name and graduation year on the front and out names on the back all in glittery print. They looked great on! I would definintly want some for my own girls.



I would love to have these for my squad. I think they are fun and I've only ever seen them on pinterest.



Practice Wear: It is the in thing for all-stars to wear sports bras and Nike Pros for practice. I'm not entirely sure if my school allows that. I think it looks best and if the school doesn't like it, I will just fight for it. We always got ugly Varsity t-shirts that were too busy. I like clean simple designs and Varsity's t-shirts are way too busy. I like these in red, white, and black with the school's name or mascot.


















If my girls can't wear just a sports bra, these t-shirts and tanks would still be cute to practice in. Any of these would also make really cute hoodies.

 





The popular choice would be Nike Pros for shorts, but Soffe recently came out with their own line of spandex shorts and I have heard that they are just as great as Nike's but only $20 compared to Nike's $35. I'm really interested in trying them out especially since I LOVE Soffe.