The Art of Cheering

Some people are natural born cheerers. It's true. I've seen them. They can actually customize their cheers to each individual that races by, and each cheer is unique and fabulous.

 I have never given my cheering abilities much thought until after Lamon's family all competed in the Dino tri last month. I was there, and cheered for all of them. But after watching the videos I discovered that I have a serious cheering problem!! But don't take my word for it . . . Watch for yourself! Here is the now coined "Wahoo" yell . . . over and over again. . .

Should I get depressed about this lack of cheering talent? Should I vow to never cheer again? . . . No!
Some of us are born with it . . . Some of us just have to rock what we've got. And I did rock the WAHOO in the Ironman.

I cheered my little guts out. So who cares if I said the same thing to each person? I looked each person in the eyes as I said it. The cheers I like best are:

1. Alright (insert name)!
2. WAHOO!!
3. Good Job!!
4. Way to Go!
5. Go Go Go!

But I add some variety here and there. I try to mix it up by combining the phrases. Sometimes I say, "Alright Lamon! Wahoo!"Sometimes I say, "Good Job! Way to Go!Wahoo!" Sometimes, "Good Job! Go Go Go!Wahoo!" You can see the possiblities with the combination method. There are a lot of possible cheers. Sometimes I add a "fist pump" as I yell it. Other times for fun I slow down or speed up the tempo of the cheers . . . just to add variety. There's a lot that you can do. The most important thing is the eye contact and the smile. If you have those two things . . . it doesn't really matter what you say.

In fact . . . come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that I simply yelled, "You guys are CRAZY!" a few times. But I did it with a smile as I looked into their eyes. And I'm pretty sure that I bonded with many of the Ironmen and women that day. I really think they respected me. I mean, it's pretty hard on your hands and your feet to clap for that long, but I was willing to make that sacrifice! Me and Lamon did the math and combined with his racing and my clapping we probably burned 10, 300 calories all together. :) (who cares if 10,000 of that was Lamon . . . )

I don't know . . . maybe I was born with it.

Wahoo!!!!!