Ring Size = 7

You may remember in my last post that my cheerleaders won a state competition.  It was run by a cheer/dance company that hosts competitions.  As our dancers are not an official sport in Florida, this was really their big statewide competition and they had a pretty big division with some serious talent.  This weekend was the official FHSAA (Florida High School Athletic Association) Cheerleading Competition in Kissimmee, Florida.  It is just outside of Orlando.  There are many divisions in cheerleading and we compete as a small coed division 2 team.  This means that we have 4 or fewer boys on the team and that we are a large school.  The school paid for a bus to drive us down for the day and we left the school at 8am.  We arrived at Downtown Disney at about 10:30 and set right to getting lunch.  The kids had voted and chosen the T-Rex Cafe.  I had nightmares from "Jurassic Park" so this was unsettling.  All I can say is that it was very noisy in prehistoric times.  I don't know how anyone got any rest.  The kids had a great time.  We got to eat in the ice cave that you see as the purple section in the background.  The lights in there changed constantly and it was difficult to tell what was in your food and it was a strain on the eyes.  Beyond that, the food was good and the kids were pumped to get going and start this competition.

T-Rex Cafe - 2 thumbs up

We knew going into the competition that if we could hit our routine, we had a chance.  However, we also knew that our competition was very good.  There were 20 teams in our division.  Most of them have been competing with boys for years.  This was our first year with boys.  The big thing about having boys is that they do different stunts with the girls.  All our boys but one are new to cheering and have learned it all this year.  We competed twice.  In the semi-final round, we placed 2nd - .55 behind the leaders.  We had 15 minutes to get ourselves ready and into warm ups for the finals.  We went first.  We nearly lost the pyramid, but the group muscled the girl back up into position and we finished out wonderfully.  Our tumbling was right on and synchronized.  Everything looked good.  The problem with cheer competitions is that they aren't actually playing someone and they can't control another team.  They can only do what they do and then the rest is out of their hands.  So then Bartow went after us and they have some good tumbling - one part of their tumbling is better than ours and one part isn't.  Then they dropped 2 stunts and I knew the door was open.  We waited for awards and, as you know, we won - by .1!!!

My captains- Vanessa, Leslie, and Christina; and my choreographer Cortnee

It was late and we were starving so we went to Steak and Shake for dinner (at 10:45).  Then the bus ride home...I got home at 2:30am.  Travis was so excited that he was still awake!!  I was exhausted.  I had spent all day feeling like I wanted to throw up from nerves.  I kept my body all clenched up.  I get so nervous for them and I have to play the music and pretty much be in charge of everyone.  I had to work on Friday so the alarm went off at 4:45am and I was up and going.  I stopped at Chick-fil-A to get a celebratory breakfast and realized I left my wallet at home.  So, not only had I not fallen asleep (not dozing, but asleep) but I had no food either.  One of the secretaries went and got me lunch when she went out for a lunch run.  I was shaking pretty good by then.  After school there was a dentist appointment and grocery shopping.  THEN A BASKETBALL GAME...  I finally got to go to sleep at about 11pm on Friday night and it was wonderful.

Thanks for reading my story and at least feigning interest.  I'm still really excited about it.  What is really fun, is that we get championship rings!!  I already know that I'm a size 7.