Those long, painful and hard practices are what make you and your team fighters. Dancers and cheerleaders are seriously the hardest working athletes. Everyone else just plays a game. There are many very important life lessons you learn by being a cheerleader and a dancer that other athletes would never understand.

1. Team Bonding

Probably the most important aspect of a cheer or a dance team is the bond that is formed between its members. This is your team, your new family, you do not have to love them all but you have to get along with them all. For everything to be able to run smooth, for the stunts to hit, and the turns to be together, there must be unity among the team. You are going to have to learn how to work well with others.

2. Fake It Till You Make It

Not everything that you do will be perfect, you will not always remember the dance or what comes next to the routine. Bottom line is, you are going to mess up, and that's okay. However, you have to act like whatever mistake you made, was one that you intend on making. Stay smiling, own whatever you just did, and whatever you do; never give up and just stop.

3. This Is Full Out

Every team has heard their coach say, "This time it's full out," which is always followed by, "Okay, this time is really full out." This is that time where you are supposed to practice how you will perform, give your all before the big moment on the gym floor. Practice hard, and practice like you mean it; it's the only way for you to get better.

4. Formation

Formations are more than just your placement for a cheer or dance, it's your spot within your team. Your coach picked you to be there because of your skills and standpoint, but also because putting you there would place harmony among the routine. In the wise words of one of my coaches, "Are you in line with your friend?"(Comfort Johnson) actually means are you where you're supposed to be and are you doing what you need to be doing?

When you're a cheerleader or a dancer, your outside life is almost non-existent. This is where you develop your awesome measures of time-management. You know how to balance school, friends, cheer, and dance, and more importantly, food and sleep. Your schedule may always be full, but it's way better than having two much free time.

6. Haters Will Hate

With being a cheerleader or a dancer there comes a lot of stereotypes, and a lot of people who are simply just rude to you. Many people assume that we are a bunch of un-athletic, dumb, self-absorbed chicks when they could not be more wrong. If everyone only understood our sport (and yes, I said sport) then maybe we would all see a little more appreciation. At the end of the day, though, all that hate is only going to make you a stronger and tougher person.

7. Leave It All On The Floor

The performances you do are the best part of cheer and dance. Competition season is the time that everyone looks forward to the most. It's that two minute and 30-second routine that you all have been working so hard to perfect. You only get one shot at it so you have to give it your all, push yourself farther than you have ever gone. You never know when it is going to be your last performance, so make it count.