Kidsday: Getting into cheernastics

I am in fifth grade at Mandalay Elementary School in Wantagh. If you are like me, you have a lot of hobbies. One of my hobbies is cheernastics.

Cheernastics is gymnastics that are especially for cheerleaders. There is a lot more to cheerleading than just doing cheers and learning the words. I practice cheernastics every week at All American Gymnastics in Bellmore. Even though I've been cheering for six years, I only started studying cheernastics two years ago, and it has really made a big difference.

In cheernastics, you might be surprised that we don't make up cheer routines. Instead, we practice things that you need to know to improve as a cheerleader. I recently learned how to do a standing back-handspring. This was not easy. At cheer competitions, back-handsprings and other tricks help your team to earn points.

Cheernastics is very important to helping cheer teams to earn points. If a routine is too simple and plain, the judges either take away points or give you very few of them. But if you perform cool stunts or gymnastic tricks like round-offs, forward-handsprings and, of course, back-handsprings, you will definitely gain points. By the end of the competition, whoever has the most points wins first-, second- or third-place titles. There are also spirit awards that go to the teams who show the most spirit by cheering for the other teams.

Since I love cheerleading and practice sometimes five times a week, it made good sense to start studying cheernastics, too. Three types of cheernastics that could help you to improve your cheering are round-off back-handsprings, back tucks and front-handsprings. The best way to learn it all is to practice, practice, practice. I am slowly starting to improve my skills.

A tough lesson in fish care

One day, my sister won a goldfish at a Greek festival, and she named him Nemo. She had him for two days. It was my job to feed it. I went to feed it, and Nemo's bowl was so dirty that you couldn't even see him. I decided to clean the bowl. Little did I know that when changing a fish's water, you can't put the fish in cold water. I changed the water, I put in ice cold water and killed Nemo. Now, my sister won't speak to me, and tells everyone I'm a fish killer. It makes me very upset because I didn't do it on purpose. I am not a fish killer. I love fish! They are so cute. I've learned my lesson, and the next time, I will do it the right way.--Kidsday Reporter Amber Catalano

CLASS OF THE WEEK Mark Perlman's campers at HORIZON DAY CAMP at New York Institute of Technology