One Heart by Heather Merritt

This has been quite a long but much needed summer break.  I have missed my faithfully fit morning girls and am excited to get started again with them in September.  As I was thinking and praying about our new fall session “All Stitched Up” I felt I was at a loss as to what to share with you all, but then remembering it’s all about unity I had words fall into my lap. (I guess they didn’t just fall, I’m sure God placed them there carefully). 

As many of you know I own and coach Valley Cheer All-star’s at The Rock.  There are seven different teams of all ages of girls ranging from 2 years old to 18 years old.  Each team has a different team name and different coach, and each of them have a completely different two and a half minute routine that shows off each girl’s individual level of talent.  Although my coaching staff and I feel it is important to let each individual girl shine we all know that they have to be one when performing to make the routines work. This is why my staff and I came up with our gym’s motto “One Heart”.  It is on our practice shirts, in our music, and is recited over and over in the cheer portion of our routine by each cheerleader. 

We chose “One Heart” as our motto to show the importance of us all following the same dream and working hard towards the same goal.  I asked my cheerleaders what “One Heart” meant to them, they told me “everybody needs one heart, without a heart the body is dysfunctional.  We all have to work together to keep the heart beating.  If one thing is wrong or off the heart won’t beat right and the body won’t function”.  They said even though we are all different and have different backgrounds we all come together as one here at The Rock, we are like one big family.  This is true, we are a group of diverse people combined together to be successful.  I love the Celine Dion song One Heart, some of her lyrics include “If you got one heart you are following one dream”.  I hope each of my girls know that yes we are there to be successful and work hard to reach our goals which is to compete and perform well at competitions but it is so much more than that. 

Recently at The Rock we have had one of our highest highs and one of our lowest lows all within 24 hours.  Jessica Neville a senior and longtime member of Valley Cheer was named the Distinguished Young Woman of Roanoke Valley.  We were all there cheering her own and so excited to share in her glory.  Little did we know just a few hours later we would all be at the hospital praying for the Jean family.  A family that has been a part of Valley Cheer since it began.  It was amazing to see the love, prayer and support for both families at two totally different times in their lives.  I am so honored to be a part of a family that comes together to support one another no matter the situation.  There were two cheer moms who captured our “One Heart” motto into perfect words.

“Cheerleading and Dance are just a sport? not for THE ROCK family. Our cheerleaders couldn't stand the thought of having practice knowing their sisters were in Raleigh worrying about their dad so we went on a field trip! We took 20 girls to Raleigh and surprised our Jean family.  We are all praying for Scotty and the entire Jean family and cannot wait to see them home soon. “One Heart.”  We are all one family and I am so grateful to be a part of it.”

                                                                                                            Angel Carter

 

“As it was said earlier today, it's more than just cheer and dance, and trophies and medals... it's about family, love, support and prayer. We are ALL blessed my friends.... far more than we deserve. This gym, as well as everyone in our community loves and supports each other, and as we have seen over the last 48 hours, prays for each other.  That’s worth more than any award.

Treva Neville

It is an overwhelming feeling to know that our little words of “One Heart” have become so important to every person at Valley Cheer.  As we make our quilt of life I hope “One Heart” is a piece of it that will never be forgotten.  “One Heart” started as a cheer motto but we want everyone to adopt this motto and be a family, support and pray for each other.  We want the Faithfully Fit girls to become a part of our “One Heart”.

“All the believers were one in heart and mind.  No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.”

Acts 4:32