- November 25, 2024
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After a grueling 12 hours of in-person tryouts, rising UCF sophomore Jessica Lyle found herself enjoying some team bonding as she sat in a circle with some of the other girls.
Since 9 a.m., these hopeful athletes had endured hour after hour of showcasing their stunting and tumbling skills, all for the chance to earn a spot on the prestigious UCF cheer squad.
Then, out of the blue, something happened that Lyle said she was not expecting — she made the final cut.
“The coaches came over and they were like, ‘OK, whoever is left that is sitting here is the team,’” Lyle said. “And then they brought over a box that had all of our shirts in it. I was shocked because I wasn’t really expecting anything going into tryouts — I was just doing my best and going for it.”
When Lyle was just 2 years old, she found a creative outlet for herself through dance, which lasted until sixth grade when something changed. She wanted to challenge herself with something new, and that’s how cheerleading came into her life.
In seventh grade, Lyle had talked with some folks who were in All-Star cheer, so she decided to join the Top Gun All-Stars.
“I started at the very bottom, because I had no cheer experience,” Lyle said. “And then I was doing All-Star for seventh grade and eighth grade — so I was on the Level 1 team my seventh-grade year, then my eighth-grade year I skipped a level and went to the Level 3 team.”
The time at Top Gun paid off immediately, and Lyle found herself on the varsity squad at West Orange High in her freshman year. That same year, she decided to drop from All-Star and focus on high school cheer.
During those four years on the sideline — and in competition — Lyle grew as a cheerleader and overcame some of those early stressors that pop up when you’re front and center with all eyes on you.
“I wasn’t used to doing cheers and dances and stuff on the sidelines in front of a bunch of people,” Lyle said. “At first, I had no idea of what I was doing, and I felt stupid, and so I had some of the girls help me because I had to learn all new stuff.
“I’m used to being in front of people because of dancing and cheering, but it’s just like, everyone is staring down at you, and you’re doing cheers,” Lyle said. “As a little freshman, it was very intimidating, but then I ended up loving it, and my favorite thing about cheer was football games.”
Learning to overcome the fears of the spotlight ended up proving to be a big help for Lyle in the process of becoming a UCF cheerleader.
The first step required Lyle to submit a video that included a short interview of herself, as well as her performing stunt and tumbling with a friend she had made on the team. A week later — on May 14 — she got the news that she had moved onto the in-person tryout that would take place June 4.
Leading up to that big tryout, Lyle said, she spent every single day of the week practicing her stunting and tumbling. By the time of tryout day, Lyle was stressed out, but once she got in there, she knew what she had to do.
“Throughout the day, it was just staying focused, and you have to give 110% the whole day — there was no 50% or any of that,” Lyle said. “If you want to make the team, you have to put absolutely everything into everything that we did. We had evaluations throughout the day, so before lunch, we had an evaluation for stunting, and then we had another evaluation at the very end of the day.
“I was so exhausted,” she said. “I felt like I couldn’t think straight, and I was like, kind of forgetting what I was doing because I was so tired. But I just had to keep going, and we stunted so much, and once I got through it, I was so relieved because I did all my stunts.”
By the end of the day, Lyle’s focus and talent helped pave a way to a new adventure that she is more than excited to start.
The team is already going through practices now, and she knows that she’ll be cheering for football, basketball and volleyball when the new sports season starts. For Lyle, there’s a lot to look forward to in the coming months.
“I’m looking forward to really forming a family with the team — that’s honestly what I’m most excited for, because I’ve met everyone on the team, and they all seem super nice, and I just can’t wait to make friendships with them,” Lyle said. “Then, of course, I’m excited for football games because that’s just going to be a whole new thing to me.”
