Cheer

On the TCIS cheer squad from Grade 9 to Grade 12, the last two years as captain. The competition routine I choreographed as captain was built alone, eight counts at a time, from the team’s own identity.

Joined · Grade 9
Co-captain · Grade 10
Captain · Grades 11 – 12
120-second routine · choreographed alone
TCIS · black and gold · the dragon

TCIS cheer squad team photo in black and gold

Routine clipSquad photo, black and gold

01 — Starting point

Identity before steps

Choreographing a competition routine for the first time, I spent an evening in front of the mirror with the music looping and could not produce a single eight-count. Chasing moves that looked like other teams’ moves went nowhere.

What worked was starting from who we were: black and gold, the dragon, a squad that had sat out the previous season and was coming back. From there the pieces came quickly. Arm shapes that spell T-C-I-S. Chants that tell the team’s story. Formations no other squad would think to do because they only make sense for us.

02 — Leading

Energy is built, not demanded

As captain the job was less about calling counts than about keeping the squad up when the scoreboard was not. The habit I kept: tap a shoulder, start our favourite, “We’ve got spirit!”, and let the gym pick it up. It worked at meets with Korea’s international schools, and it still works outside the gym.

03 — What carried over

The same habit in the systems work

The lesson I took from cheer is practical, not poetic: when I am stuck, I go back to what the thing is actually for. The ambulance network and the crosswalk signal both started that way, from a problem I had watched from a bus window rather than from a technique I wanted to use.

Squad holding a stunt in the gym — Fig. 02 — Stunt, gym practice

Several schools’ cheer teams gathered on the gym floor — Fig. 03 — Meet with Korea’s international schools

Circle of cheer shoes on the mat — Fig. 04 — Before a routine

Fig. 06 — Meet clip

Fig. 07 — Meet clip