We got THIRD at Nationals!!!

He said

To say that this week and weekend more specifically was completely focused on one thing, Cheer, is the understatement of a lifetime. More than a year ago when Emelia made the switch from Competitive Gymnastics to Cheer, she really got the bum end of the stick as season one was sidelined by COVID and what was salvaged out of that season was done virtually. This year was her first “real” year of Cheer Competitions and man what a difference that made for Emelia. And to be honest, Danielle & I too! Those that know Emelia well enough know that she likes to be part of something, and that deep down, despite being painfully shy, she loves to compete and perform!

This year we had the luxury of in-person competitions again and very quickly we saw the immediate positive impact it had on Emelia. We had comp in Oshawa, then one in Mississauga, and then, finally Ontario’s in Kitchener. With each comp we saw a little bit of the competitive side in Emelia return and the delight in performance too. Sure, the nerves were there—for use and her! But, so was the excitement and feeling she was part of something special. In their first (Oshawa) comp they finished first. In the second (Mississauga) and Ontario’s (Kitchener) they finished second place. This comp, the Canadian Nationals pitted them up against the best that Canada had to offer. There were teams from all over Canada.

With a weekend away in Niagara and a hotel with no workout room, my mind naturally went to wondering how I was going to get in my bike rides. With a pickup truck and the Niagara River Parkway a stone’s throw from the hotel the problem was solved. And let’s be honest no one needed me hanging around the room for the more than an hour it took to get the girls Cheer-ready! Yesterday, I headed to the falls and picked up the Parkway heading south for a 20km out & back ride that included beautiful and new-to-me scenery. Today being decidedly more cold and windy I opted for a shorter version going north towards the Niagara Gorge whirlpool and back to the tune of 16km. It was great to be able to get in my rides in an otherwise busy weekend, but without affecting the plans.

I will let Danielle talk more about the specifics of the weekend their performance, but suffice it to say we are beyond proud of how the team did and how Emelia did too. We’ve really seen her blossom this year and especially on the biggest ‘stage’ that Canada has to offer for Cheer to see her do it with such poise, beauty and confidence was an absolute delight! I am not sure I can nail down which performance was better between yesterday and today. But what I do know is that 7 other teams didn’t finish where they did. And, the 2 that finished ahead of them put down some amazing routines! Everything about this year of Cheer has been everything we wanted for Emelia and more. And the good news is, there is still one more weekend in Ottawa to go!

She said

What an amazing weekend! This has been the weekend that Emelia has been focused on and excited for. The build the this competition really feels like 2 years in the making. You cannot even imagine the insane energy that goes into these events.

For the last few weeks the team has been laser focused on the changes and adjustments to perfect their Nationals performance. These kids and their drive is nothing but inspirational. They have had to overcome so much not only as individual athletes but come together as a team over so many hurdles. But all the hard work has been worth it for this weekend.

When we arrived mid-day Friday we got settled into our hotel and waited for the Sherwoods to arrive. We hung out and headed out to be tourist. We have not been to the falls since 2014 so Emelia was very excited to get back and see the sites. We walked all the way down to falls the girls just loved it. We walked all around the core and headed back to for a great dinner and back to the hotel for the girls to have a swim. We headed to bed at a decent hour because the next day was a big one.

We woke up and were really right at it pretty quickly after breakfast. To get the girls cheer ready is about an hour for Emelia’s hair alone so we wanted lots of time to get ready. Once the girls were dressed and ready we were off to walk to the event. There were lots of nerves and excitement by the time we arrived. As the rest of the team started arriving the kids were getting more and more excited. Once again the kids performance was out of this world. Their routine has so much energy and once again they hit zero. They came out so happy and proud! We went from the competition to a small team dinner. The kids were so happy and it was great for some of the parents to get to know each other. Once we were done dinner we settled back at the hotel and then went off to see more of the sites, this time at night. We did some of the cheesy attractions and then headed down to see the falls all lit up. It was another great night.

We headed back to the hotel and both the girls crashed hard after a long and exciting day. This morning we woke a bit later letting Emelia get some much needed sleep. After repeating the routine from the day before we got packed up and headed for day two. The girls again today were equally as nervous as they were excited. As we got closer to the performance I think it was the parents who were the most nervous. Once again they came out and just nailed their performance. Another hit zero run!

For the first time since we joined cheer the kids finally had a real in person awards extravaganza. And man what an event! They really go all out. After all the hard work in a flight of the 10 best teams in their division and team sizing they placed 3rd in Canada!!! They were beyond thrilled and so were the parents.

We are so proud of Emelia, beyond grateful for cheer and her coaches have given her over two long years. Sports for some kids is everything, it certainly is for our girl. Thank you CSR for everything you have done over the last two years for our girl. We love this team!