I asked Second Life Cheerleading Squad (SLCS) Cheerleaders what SLCS means to them.
SLCS means family, teamwork, and fun.
Christine Riley
Honestly its Amazing!! The People are all awesome, friendly and just welcoming!! Truly feels like a family when joining in on the fun and activities. A Way of Life if you will to always strive to be your best self to the team the family and to others that you meet in the world. The Values of being a part of such an amazing team just shines!!
Raelyn Rayne
SLCS is a great place to make friends, learn skills, and even do some of the things you might have done in real life, like be a cheerleader or stage performer. You can also parlay your experience on the squad into other activities in SL, some of which might offer decent remuneration. There’s always something to do and be a part of at SLCS.
Maddy Perennity
SLCS means a lot more to me than just cheering and dancing. The SLCS squad means family, sisters, friends, and a team. Knowing that I can depend on any of my cheer sisters is something that I have never had before. I feel free to open up and be myself, pimples and all. And there are absolutely no judgements. I know if I have a problem with anything they will be there to help me solve it. I count myself so lucky to be part of such a very special team and be surrounded by such amazing and talented group of ladies. They inspire me to be a better cheerleader and woman both in SL and in RL. I look forward to many more years of cheering and having fun together.
Brooklyn Morningstar
I like doing security and cheerleading.
JoAnne Royal-Stark
I enjoy the like-minded fun community, and how we outreach to others across the grid. I enjoy supporting SLCS with my building ability and occasional cheering.
nance clowes
To me, SLCS truly does mean family. It’s like family in every regard I can imagine, from having each other’s back… to sibling squabbling. It’s offering support and ideas, in addition to just being able to talk with each other. It’s accepting us for who we are, being loved despite (and sometimes because of) our differences. I haven’t had this in RL for over 30 years, and I miss it. SLCS fills this void in me.
Lady Ren ‘Jinx’ Flow (ren.float)
I love the sisterhood of the group. When I joined SLCS I was having a really hard time on SL. Everyone made me feel so welcome and was so nice. To be honest I have never seen so many females together, working together, and just having fun without there being drama. This group of wonderful ladies is so amazing together.
Corrie Jean Stallion (Corrie Guardian)
The challenge of doing cheerleading and being part of a very nice big family.
Aline
I was invited to SLCS by Charlize and since then I have made so many new friends. Sometimes when RL permits, I get to hang out and have a few laughs and conversation, but the days we get to cheer I adore the most. So much camaraderie and fun (with the occasional screw up which adds to the fun!) A greater bunch of cheer sisters you probably wont find. Just wish I could spend more time with the SLCS! A short answer…. SLCS to me means “Fun Sisters” 🙂
Bronte Koskinen
I was only a month old in SL when I first came to Cheertopia, and it was a no-brainer to join SLCS at that time, for I knew this was the place to put down roots! When I graduated from High School, I missed being on the squad there, but SLCS is a squad where you don’t have to worry about graduating out. I have fond memories of friends and events we have done together, and precious are many of my memories here with you all 🙂 Those who are new to the squad, cherish the times you have here. Above all other groups in SL I value the Second life cheerleading Squad. It is worth taking care of, protecting, and nurturing 🙂 Long may it endure!
Lumyai
Its about a sisterhood, being together, friendship and supporting each other. I love metrics and love the chats we have.
Charlotte (charlottepetiteblonde)
SLCS, to me, is a squad who uplifts spirits and brings awareness to various charities. They are also my friends and my teammates. We help each other out in every way we can and that is something I cherish.
TsuyoiOnna82
Friendship and Sisterhood.
Charlize Bellic
Friends, togetherness, support.
Taylor Temper
It means creating many positive memories, habits, and relationships on a team. SLCS gives me the ability to be with great people I may otherwise never met and form a bond, as well an opportunity to try my best for them. It provides the chance to step up and set a positive mood for others and have confidence in oneself.
Hunter
SLCS means that I have a group of friends (and family!) that I can turn to when I am in need of help or just want to have fun with. SLCS also pushes me to be better than I was yesterday and helps me to give to those in need.
3641Candy
Family and Friends!!! Fun and just a great amount of Awesomeness!!
Raylen Night
SLCS means friendship and acceptance. It also represents amazing fundraising events and performances, that bring joy to my heart. All of this while dancing and cheering to upbeat music in unison with my sisters.
Rose Diamond
When Philip Rosedale was 2 years old, 33 years before he would launch Second Life, George Harrison asked a question in a song, “What is life?” It’s a question we humans have been asking for all 6,000 years of recorded history. Those who came before us probably gazed into the night sky and asked that same question for all 40,000 years of cultural history. And perhaps our kind has asked it for all 100,000 years of our species history.
A tired, hunched over woman pushes her tiny, frail son in a wheelchair. He wears a padded bonnet so when he has an episode he won’t do further damage to his brain. The latest James Webb Space Telescope images of billions of galaxies, humbling in their vast beauty, travel a million miles from the telescope to the giant antennas of the Deep Space Network and then across The Internet to become background screens for our phones and computers.
Is there other life in that night sky? Probably. Does the universe care? Not really. Unlike we humans, the universe is neither cruel, nor compassionate. Neither capricious nor circumspect. The universe does not tally the fall of every sparrow. If there is meaning to be found, it is only what we make together.
In 2011 I was thrilled to join SLCS. Then in 2012 I fell off the edge of the SL world. For a decade!
The most amazing thing about SLCS is that when I returned in 2022 it still existed! I had folders and folders of LMs for dance clubs, art galleries, and shops. And they were all gone. Their moment had passed. But Cheertopia still stood proud! Still welcoming cheerleaders, strangers, and even Prodigal Cheerleaders like me.
In a virtual world of constant change it is remarkable that SLCS continues so strong. And that weirdo cheerleader-van-winkles are welcomed back with such open arms.
I also learned that the cheerleader who had trained me and my BCFF (Best Cheer Friend Forever) Abbie Bulloch, Srooc Skytower, had passed during my long absence. And how devastated the entire squad was. And that they’d named the stadium in her memory. I discovered trivia that trainee Aero never knew: the unusual name “Srooc” did not, as I’d imagined, have anything to do with “OOC” or “Out Of Character,” instead it was simply “Coors” spelled backwards!
The love and community that so many cheerleaders work so hard to foster every day is amazing. SLCS is a place where everyone is welcome. Where we all do our best, whatever that is. SLCS has the most glorious uniforms, the tallest human pyramids, the most beautiful choreography, the klutziest dweebs, and the most love and community you’ll find anywhere across this amazing grid of limitless possibilities.
It is extraordinary to think that such a wonderful community all started with a tiny pom pom.
I’ve worn many hats and tried on many identities as an avatar. I’ve been young and I’ve been old. Skinny and full-figured. Black and white. And red and green. A cheerleader and a derby girl. A barista and a host. I’ve seen so much love and beauty, so much desire, so much hunger for love and connection in the virtual world. I’ve seen that hunger and need expressed in unhelpful and destructive ways. Ways that can make living in this world as frustrating as living in the first life we came from. I’m touched by the tiny acts of kindness that surround us every day. If we can make it here, we can make it anywhere.
