But 11-year-old Rory Grummett knew exactly what he was going to talk about for his entry in the Rostrum ACT primary schools public speaking competition.

He'd been cheerleading since he was three. He was good at it. Very good. He was a national champion. It made him feel fantastic. But the bullies had tried to ruin it for him. They called him names. They thought cheerleading wasn't a real sport. It was "only for girls''.

Rory's speech would be about brushing the bullies off and getting on with his life. But more than that.

"I wanted the speech to be not about bullying but about empowering other people,'' Rory said.

"I just thought, 'I have to embrace this and I have to let people know I am who I am and that I can't change that about me.'''

Rory's inspirational speech was shared on Facebook by his proud mother Andrea and it struck a chord, people moved and inspired by it.

The confident, articulate young man spoke about how the taunts had hurt him - they "left a deep cut'' - and made him consider giving up cheerleading.

"It was like people judged me based solely on the sport I’ve chosen to do. I wished I could just hide from school and stay at home all day,'' his speech read.

"So what did I do?? I embraced it- yes, I AM a cheerleader.
"Do I love doing cheer? YES
"Am I going to let small minded bullies make me quit - NO!!

"It’s been hard but I’m not giving up on something I love to do because of people's ideas of what they think boys should do.

"Cheer has taught me the importance of teamwork, commitment, dedication and hard work.

"I train ten hours a week and because of this I am extremely fit and healthy. I can flip and get thrown up into the air in some crazy stunts.

"I’ve made some amazing friends and have great role models, both male and female, to look up to.
I get to travel all over Australia and see wonderful things but nothing compares to the feeling I get when I walk on to the floor at competition.''

Mrs Grummett said she and her husband Simon were incredibly moved by their son's words.

"While reading his speech was hard, as his parents we are ridiculously proud of him,'' she said.

"To have his courage and determination to follow his dreams at such a young age makes us prouder that you can imagine.''

Rory competes in cheerleading with his school, Good Shepherd Primary in Amaroo, and his local club, Sirens.

Sirens Cheerleading owner Belinda Dawson said male members of the club ranged in age from five to 55.

She said people underestimated the stamina, strength and commitment needed for the sport.

"It's inclusive, it's athletic, it's a really good sport for boys and girls and it's just grown each year,'' she said.

Good Shepherd Primary School has a cheer squad of 80 to 90 students each year, the sport starting there more than a decade ago. Ms Dawson, the head coach, said it was the largest and longest-running cheerleading program of any primary school in Australia.

"Good Shepherd has been supportive of us the whole way through,'' she said.

Mrs Grummett said the school had a cabinet full of cheerleading trophies and actively addressed any problems of bullying.

"The school has been amazing dealing with it,'' she said.

"They even made the kids take part in cheerleading to see what it's like.''

Good Shepherd principal David Austin said the school was also proud of Rory.

"I thought his speech was inspiring,'' Mr Austin said.

"He's a brilliant cheerleader, he's unbelievable.''

Rory is in no doubt about his future in the sport.

"I want to do it for as long as possible,'' he said.

Rory's full speech is reproduced here:

"Was it worth it?

"Greetings ladies, gentleman and chairpeople.

"Today I’d like to talk to you about my time at primary school.

"I am a cheerleader. I’ve been doing cheer since I was three years old. And, yes, I’ve been bullied because of it.

"Just recently I asked 30 people: 'What is the first thing you think of when I say cheerleading?'.
"A few people said pom poms, some said football, randomly one said pizza but the majority said 'girls'.

"Girls? Really?
"This can’t be right - did you know that cheerleading was actually invented by a man and for quite a while only men could do it?

"So back to my time at school.
"Kinder was fine, no bullies, no worries.
"Then year one came along....sigh
"Bullies were everywhere-

“Girly cheerleader”
“Boys don’t do cheer”
“Why are you doing a girls sport??”
“You should quit cheer and do a real sport”

"This continued on and then in year 4 and 5 the name calling really picked up.
"Once again, I was called a girly cheerleader, gay, even homo were all directed my way.

"This left a deep cut. All those comments are what people have actually said to me. It made me feel miserable, like I wasn’t good enough.
"It was like people judged me based solely on the sport I’ve chosen to do.

"I wished I could just hide from school and stay at home all day.

"It made me come to the question- do I continue doing cheer or should I quit?

"So what did I do?? I embraced it- yes, I AM a cheerleader.
"Do I love doing cheer? YES
"Am I going to let small minded bullies make me quit - NO!!

"It’s been hard but i’m not giving up on something I love to do because of peoples ideas of what they think boys should do.

"Cheer has taught me the importance of teamwork, commitment, dedication and hard work.

"I train ten hours a week and because of this I am extremely fit and healthy. I can flip and get thrown up into the air in some crazy stunts.

"I’ve made some amazing friends and have great role models, both male and female, to look up to.
"I get to travel all over Australia and see wonderful things but nothing compares to the feeling I get when I walk on to the floor at competition.

"So through all the negativity and the bullying it leaves me with one question?
"Is cheerleading worth it??
"And my answer is- Yes- it absolutely is!!

"Believe it or not this is not a speech about bullying. It’s a speech that I hope empowers other young boys to always follow their dreams even though sometimes it can be hard.

"Thank you for listening."