How a High School Cheerleading Coach Impacted My Life

When I look back on my life, I think about those in life who have helped to shape who I am today besides those in my family. I look back and can say with great certainty that my high school cheerleading coach at East Providence Senior High in Rhode Island was Ms. Cardosa (now Mrs. Monteiro) was one of those influential individuals.

Most think that cheerleading is an easy popularity contest, but that depends really on your coach and school. For us it meant practices starting at 6:30 am in the summer and then again in the afternoon. It meant long runs and crazy cardiovascular exercise. It meant sit-ups until your stomach was sick and push-ups until you felt your arms would fall off.

Ms. Cardosa did not just offer us physical fitness techniques or drills, she was also very good at caring about our general well-being. She made it her job to make sure that all was well in our lives and that we were performing well in school. She taught us about life and most importantly work ethic.

It was not acceptable to be late to practice or to not show up, no matter how good you were or how needed. This I would later figure out was to help prepare us for life. She taught me in the three years she was my coach what it took to be a leader and not a follower. What it took to make it in life and how nothing would just fall in our laps. If we wanted to have a great squad it would take work. If we wanted to get into a great college it would take work. If we wanted to have a great job later in life it would take work.

Her lessons have stayed with me over the years. I credit a lot of my success to Ms. Cardosa for reinforcing the life lessons my family taught me.