The Push To Be Perfect

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Katie was just 6 when she informed her dad that she was going to be a cheerleader in middle school, high school and "the rest of my school years." She started dancing lessons at age 3 and gymnastics at 6, and she's succeeded so far, winning a spot on the squad at Crandall Middle School two years in a row despite competition from girls with new tumbles and jumps. As a "flyer," who gets tossed or lifted in the air, Katie must rely on her teammates to catch her. At cheerleading camp, she ends up sporting an ice pack after one of them, inattentive for a split second, accidentally socks her in the face with an elbow. Katie's push to be perfect has left her with tendinitis in one knee, requiring a brace that she always carries in her backpack. Once, her vision faded to black, smack in the middle of a tricky tumbling run involving a back handspring and back tuck (though she kept going). None of that, however, compares to the sheer terror of getting a D, which could jeopardize her position on the team. Katie struggles at school, making mostly A's and B's, but the occasional C leaves her in constant dread. "Every time I get my report card, I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,'" she says, hands fanning her face.

Being a cheerleader is no longer an instant ticket to popularity, as Katie and her best friend, Lauren Wyble, 13, discovered this year when old friends started criticizing them. "Cuz I'm a cheerleader, most of my friends call me a prep," says Lauren with a mournful look. "People make fun of you for being one," Katie explains. "My mom says they're just jealous and to ignore them, so that's what I try to do." But Lauren is hurt by the attitude of old friends who now resent her devotion to the sport. "I just tell my friends, 'O.K., like, I can't just give it up,'" says Lauren.

Yet some girls seem to thrive under the pressure. Kelsie Cale, a cheerleader at St. Pius X Catholic School in Dallas, is forever practicing, even if it means commandeering a grocery aisle as her stage. Her mom Jill Cale, who was a cheerleader herself, believes Kelsie's experience on the squad has made her daughter "more of a leader." And it shows. When an inner-city cheer team struggles to finish its routine at the S.M.U. camp, Kelsie gets the St. Pius squad and all the other squads to chant "Good job! Good job!" to encourage the rival team. Later, when asked if she can think of any negative effects of cheering, she's quick with a "No, ma'am." Says Kelsie: "Everybody wants to be a cheerleader, and when you are one, all the little girls look up to you. But we don't think we're better than the other girls because we're cheerleaders."