Hello! My name is Tyra and I am 27 years old and seven years ago I lost my vision due to an autoimmune disorder. It has been a journey, but I stay in good spirits.

Throughout my years of being sited I was very involved in sports. I cheered as a very young child, and I played basketball in middle school, and I played softball for a majority of my life. One of my favorite things about playing sports is cheering on my teammates.

I now currently live in southern Colorado in a small town and the middle school does not have a cheerleading team. My mother coached the basketball team last season, and the girls expressed that they have never had a cheer squad, and that the school hasn’t had one in many years! I took it upon myself to buy pom-poms to cheer on the girls basketball team but this year, for the 2024-2025 school year I am starting a cheer squad at the middle school.

My team members are very excited to start cheering, and very eager to learn, tumbling and cheers and jumps. But right now, my goal and intention is to send them to cheer camp where they can learn from experience people. They will learn how to hold their hands, how to do certain jumps, and how to keep up with their steps with counting. I ended up with 12 members on my squad, 11 females and one very enthusiastic young man. I’m so excited to work with these athletes and see what they can do. Many people think that cheer is not a sport, but it takes hard work to perfect a toe touch it’s not something just anyone can do.

I’m hoping to inspire these kids to step out of their comfort zone and do things no matter what anyone has to say to them. My intention is to raise enough money to send my squad to cheer camp and purchase all necessary uniforms and equipment.