So proud of my team and how hard we worked!

He said

What a weekend! Initially with the Cheer Comp weekend falling so close to Emelia’s 16th birthday we decided to see if we could make it a bit of a more special weekend for her. Initially the thought was to go out for dinner with a few of her closer cheer friends, but we also planned on making a weekend trip out of too. Even with the generous schedule that would have given us the time to wait until Saturday to drive down to save the cost of hotel Friday night, we wanted to give Emelia a bit more of a weekend away feel.

But, then one of Emelia & Olivia’s former flyer, Flo, who had to drop out of Cheer earlier in the season, decided to come for the weekend to cheer on her former team and help Emelia celebrate her birthday. And then, quickly after that we found out their former teammate from last year Keira was also able to make the trip and hang out with us for the weekend too! Add in that Emma, Emelia’s other Cheer bestie was able to come down the day early with us and our room was filled with laughter and energy on Friday night.

Friday we got down earlier in the day and spent some time shopping at the Outlet Malls where Emelia and all the girls found some good deals. After we were done spending a significant time shopping there it was off to get checked into the hotel and do a little bit of relaxing while waiting for others to arrive. The plan was to do Emelia’s ‘birthday’ gathering with her close friends on Friday night, and literally steps outside of our hotel was TGI Fridays which made the perfect spot for us to dinner at. The girls had their own table and the grownups had theirs. It was a great night out and we headed back to the hotel to continue you the fun, which of course included lobby cheer routines.

Saturday was the first competition, The Battle At The Border. The girls were all bundles of nerves as they prepared, but their later start did allow them plenty of time to go over and cheer on the other teams there representing CheerStrike. But, soon enough their turn came and they performed. They have been working so hard and have come a long way from their first couple of competitions where they did not get anywhere near the result they were capable of. Everything this performance was looking lightyears better than even what they had been working up right up to their last practice this week. The only downside was that Emelia’s stunt group had a drop almost at the very end of their performance.

Emelia was devastated—she has never had a drop in her stunt group in a competition. If you asked her how they were going to place she would have told you they were dead last. Or, even worse. However, when they called the 5 teams forward to announce the placing, they were not the first team called (5th). Nor were they the 2nd or 3rd called. They managed to place 2nd overall and picked up a silver medal! To say the girls and families were surprised was an understatement. When it came to today’s performance for the Border Showdown, the girls picked up on yesterday’s performance and bettered it. However, the trick with this competition is they are up against every Level 2 team which made the competition pool even that much harder and bigger. They did pick up the Judge’s Award for Stunning Stunts, but in the end couldn’t crack the top 5 which was disappointing,.

We’re home now and digesting a very busy but great weekend. Sure the girls didn’t come home with all the hardware they wanted, but I am so proud to see how far they have come and know much better they are for it. I saw a lot of character and team building happening this weekend. And, I saw a lot of smiles and laughter.  This will all go a long way to getting them to where they want to be at the end of the season. But the best part of the weekend was seeing Emelia’s friends and their families really pull out all the stops to make her feel a little more special and a whole lot loved. Thanks to everyone for helping make that happen!

She said

What an absolutely amazing weekend!!!! This year for Emelia and her cheer team has been beyond challenging. They have been hit with three major injuries on their team, the worst being Olivia’s torn ligament in her hand that put her out of training for months. Add in loosing one of their strongest flyers and one of the girls best cheer friends to health concerns, this year has thrown so much at the girls. They had a very rocky start of the season but this weekend they were miles ahead of where they were even a few weeks ago.

The weeks leading into comp I went to watch each of their practices to see how they were doing and to put it bluntly, it was rough. The girls were feeling more and more defeated. But for some reason in the last week they really turned a corner—there is still work to be done but man they have come together not only in their performance but as a team. And every comp to date they’ve always managed to pull out their best versions of their routine when it matters the most.

They didn’t get all the results they wanted (they REALLY wanted and honestly deserved) a Canadian Finals bid for Nationals but they came out with a second place finish yesterday. Yesterday at first was pretty rough on Emelia, she is beyond hard on herself, she works her ass off, and has proudly never dropped a stunt ever at comp. So when their last stunt fell she was crushed. She was convinced that would knock them out of any chance of a medal. Well their strong routine with high levels of difficulty it didn’t matter that one miss, they placed second.

So with all the challenges over the last few weeks and months going into Sunday to the Showdown the girls were actually going in more confident, they finally medalled and knew the could fix the issues. So in an incredibly strong group the girls placed 6th and just out of Canadian Final invites. All the parents and some other teams were shocked they didn’t place in the top 4! But where the big win is for today is that as a team they won top stunting for their entire level AND they placed in the top three for best choreography. Remember this is a group that was having a heck of a time keeping their stunts up and they won best stunts!!!!

One last note, I wanted to thank all our friends for making this weekend super special for Emelia for her early birthday celebration in the middle of a crazy busy weekend. Thanks to Stephanie, Justin, Olivia, Jessica, Stéph, Ashlyn, Bryson, Rob, Marion, Flo, Emma and Keira!!!! It was an amazing weekend!