A Cheerleader born to United States Soldiers
This is natural, says one expert, though she stresses that many of these children will need help from parents and adults to work through these emotions. "Parents need to assume that their children know enough about what is happening to be disturbed by it," says Dr. Ellen Abell, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System family and child development specialist. "Children need calm explanations from adults about what is happening, so that children will not imagine even more upsetting events and possibilities." For children who have a close family member involved in the war, parents should filter out the potentially inaccurate news and only share the most reliable information about what is happening. Avoid responding to children's what-if questions by sticking to the facts of what is known for sure.
Nicole Stewart of Clarksville, Tennessee is no stranger to the military or the aftermath of a solider in combat. Both her mother and father, Wayne and Marcia Stewart, are members of the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. Marcia works as a Staff Sergeant for the 129th Corps Support Battalion. Wayne works as Chief Warrant Officer II for the 584th Maintenance Company.
Over the past eleven years Nicole's parents have been deployed several times, some deployments longer than others. At times, mom and dad are gone at the same time. Previous deployments include Wayne being in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, each of which where six month deployments. A one-year tour in Korea was the longest tour prior to Iraq. Marcia's deployments include three six-month tours to Saudi Arabia and a nine-month tour to Afghanistan. This totals over half of Nicole's life that one or both of her parents have been deployed or at some type of training.
When Marcia and Wayne received orders of their dual deployment for Afghanistan and Iraq their first concern was who could care for Nicole. They chose a close friend for Nicole to stay with for the next twelve months they would be gone. The family friend felt that an extra curricular activity would be an outstanding way for Nicole to keep her mind off the fact her parents were deployed. Cheerleading tryouts were coming up and Nicole was excited to be trying out for the CCE Panther All Stars. Nicole never cheered or tumbled a day in her life and was thrilled to possibly being a member of a great program. At tryouts, her tumbling was only a cartwheel.
Nicole made the Youth Team and began working very hard at cheerleading and tumbling. She looked up to the older team members so much that she began coming in on her days off to condition. Nicole wanted to gain the talent the older cheerleaders had skilled.
Each Saturday, during practice, Mom and Dad called to check on Nicole and catch up on the past week's events. Cheerleading was always the topic of choice. She always wanted mom and dad to know how much she enjoyed the sport and what new skills she was working toward.
Throughout the year, changes to the routines were made and members changing caused for Nicole to be asked to help with the junior team, as well as continue competing with the Youth. Nicole became a great asset to the junior team. She realized that being with the older team required more hard work and ded-ication. Mom and dad thought it was a great idea. They too realized that this sport helped Nicole cope with the realization of mom and dad being at war. This required an additional six hours each week of practice time. Some days were harder than others; however, Nicole began growing as a cheerleader and a person. She realized that her time at home had to be used wisely in order to maintain excellent grades and continue competing on two teams.
Nicole sometimes had a hard time dealing with mom and dad not being there as her cheering section during the competit-ions; however, the parents of Clarksville Cheer Extreme were always supportive of Nicole and understanding to the reality of mom and dad being overseas. The family that cared for Nicole while Wayne and Marcia were deployed tried hard to fill the gap of her parents being away. But, if you asked Nicole, she understood why mom and dad were not in attendance and would tell you they were proud of her. Nicole was always positive of the fact they would be home before the competition season was over.
The competition year was going well and mom was granted two weeks of leave to come home. Everyone was so eager for Nicole because they knew she wanted her parents to see her compete. The gym enjoyed finally meeting Marcia. She timed her visit perfectly. CheerNation Nationals were the following weekend in Nashville, Tennessee and Marcia at last watched Nicole on the competition floor for the first time. She saw first hand how her daughter had grown such a heart for cheerleading. At this point, Nicole had mastered her backhandspring and working on her tuck. Mom was in tears, she was so proud of her daughter.
It was time for mom to return overseas just when Nicole had become familiar with mom being home again. Nicole stated, "I have enjoyed mom being home; I just wish she didn't have to go back so soon."
Dad's tour overseas was coming to an end. He was going to make it home in time to see Nicole in Chattanooga at Athletic Championships. Nicole was energized to know that dad was coming home. She worked hard so dad would see how much she had accomplished. Wayne attended the competition and was amazed at the talent his daughter had for cheerleading. His comment after the junior team performed was, "That was amazing."
The season was coming to an end and Nicole was gearing up for the upcoming years tryouts. Nicole's age would no longer allow her to compete with the Youth team. She wanted to compete on two teams again. Nicole wasn't sure what she would do in her spare time if she wasn't at cheerleading practice. Therefore, she talked with her mom and dad hoping they would agree to allow her to tryout for the Junior and Senior All-Girl Teams. She completed tryouts and her tumbling for this year was a round-off, backhandspring, tuck. She had accomplished so much over the past year; it was amazing to her coaches.
Over this past summer, Dad was sent to West Point to work with the annual summer training program for West Point Cadets. Nicole says that "it is much easier to handle one parent being gone than when it is both. I understand it is something they have to do for work, but when mom and dad are both gone, it makes it harder."
The season is going well and Nicole is competing with the Junior Intermediate and Senior All-Girl Novice teams. She is in the gym ten hours a week for practice and has one hour a week of private tumbling lessons. Nicole is a straight "A" student.
As you can see, cheerleading has been a great way for Nicole to handle mom and dad both being soldiers for this great country. Her parents are two of many that serve this country so that we can have the freedom we all have today.
With CCE being so close to Ft. Campbell, several members of the teams are military families. Clarksville Cheer Extreme is appreciative of all the mil-itary families of the program and thank you all of your hard work and dedication to our country! l