TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – They say the older you get, the more you realize your parents are always right.
“My mom cheered, and she talked about that and how much fun she had with it,” said Florida High senior Chyleigh Sheffield.
So at the urging of her mom, Sheffield tried out for the cheer team.
“I pushed it away for a while, said I don’t want to do cheer, my mom did cheer so I want to do something different, but I feel into it.”
She fell in love with it.
“When she was in eighth grade, super shy, watching that come out of her has been awesome,” said Florida High head cheerleading coach Kelly Parker. “It’s why I like to coach, not just seeing them develop as athletes, but develop as people.”
“I took one big step and it changed my whole life,” added Sheffield. “I know not to be scared to try new things. I learned how to be a harder worker, and what hard work can do for you.”
From the basketball court to the sideline at football games, it’s competitive cheer that really brought Sheffield out of her shell, and all the time put in has helped lead them to a bid to nationals.
“I’m very glad to be able to do that for my last year because I don’t know what I would have felt like if we didn’t have!”
The same commitment that got her to nationals has her near the top of her class, as Sheffield has a 4.39 GPA.
“She’s one of the ones they look to for this is how we should be acting,” said Parker. “This is how we should be behaving. If Kylie is doing this, we should probably be doing this too.”
“Just keeping a good balance of this is school, I have to do this and make sure this is right first,” said Sheffield. “Being able to see that my grades are still as high as they are and I still do this so much, I’ve been really proud.”
And proud of the person she’s become along the way.
“It’s brought me so much, it’s taught me so much, and I don’t know where I would be without it.”
She said she wants to study psychology.
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