School spirit makes her life brighter

When she was almost 13 years old, Qhiara Brooks started in cheer, but she’s been the captain of the Armijo Royals since she started on the squad as a freshman.

She said that she was inspired to start cheering when she saw girls in movies who were doing it. She thought that it looked fun and it was something she wanted to do. The only things that held her back were financial reasons, but she conquered those issues and has been cheering ever since .

Cheer has had a big impact and did so much for her. “It taught me maturity, to be more social, and many more life lessons,” she said.

Brooks is very close with the others on her team and they trust each other. There is a clear level of love and loyalty within the squad and the girls have a bond like sisters. “My coach has taught me so much and, without trust, there’s no team.” Part of that trust involves knowing that your teammates respect the expectations of the squad as a whole. “I think I would be really upset [if members came late to practice] and I would have to talk to the whole team about showing up on time… and practice team bonding,” she said. One person absent really makes a difference on the whole because it affects the practice for everyone.

Because maintaining grades is important to staying involved in sports, cheer keeps her motivated to do well in her classes and she looks forward to the practices. It can be a complicated sport and requires a lot of strength and flexibility. The top three cheer positions are flier, base, and back spot. She generally fills the back spot position, but she has struggled with some of the tumbling in the past.

Brooks was considering doing cheer when she gets into college, but decided to focus on her education and possibly being part of the track team.