Cheer Competition 2010!

Today my squad spent 4 minutes showing off what they have been preparing for since the first week of August!  It's a quirky thing:  they work so very hard for all those weeks, have great weekends doing sideline cheering, but get just 4 minutes to showcase a routine and be judged on what they've accomplished over the season.  And they get out and do it knowing they are being judged.  And it's a gym FULL of people.  And it's a huge high school gym floor, even though they've been practicing on a smaller elementary school gym floor.  THAT is a whole lot of pressure for these girls.  My group of 19 (4th & 5th graders) were very nervous.  Their warm-up this morning was very mediocre.  The stunt was shaky.  I was worried.

Beth with one of her sweet friends, Grace

And the 4 minutes?

They ROCKED it!!!

I am so proud of this group of girls.  They competed against eight other squads.  And they were indeed nervous.  And now that I've read over the judges comments?  They were highly complimented on their confidence!  Wow.  It's amazing what slapping a happy smile on your face and going out and having some fun can look like!

When all was said and done, they took first place in the high school Spirit Award, decided on by 5 high school cheerleaders' scores, and first place in their age division, decided by the three main judges!

I am so happy for them.  They made me so very proud today...and all that hard work paid off!

And Brenna's squad went out and gave a phenomenal performance!  I am so amazed at what this group of 21 seventh graders did!  They were truly amazing.  One of the stunts was complimented by a judge as "the best stunt of the whole day"!  When all the scores were tallied, they came away with the high school Spirit Award  and second place in their age division.  Their scores were so high, it must have been a very narrow margin between first and second.  But in any case, they could not have done a single thing any better!  So proud of them!!

Wind?  Rain?  Nothing but fun with the fabulous Coach Christina!

Brenna at the tip-top of the pyramid

Happy girls with their silver medals!

Love, love, love these girls!  They make life so cheerful!